A New Lease On Life

First visit to the splash park this summer.  I
don't know why I waited so long.  She loved it!

Six months ago, our first year lease was up in this apartment and the paperwork was on our door to let them know if we were going to stay or go.  Talk about pressure!  We didn't know what to do.  Do we want to stay?  No way.  Do we have to stay?  I'm not sure.  What is best for us?  What is best for Kinley?  We decided at the last minute, that we would stay.  But only six more months.  That's what we told ourselves.  That six month extension would bring us to August and by then we would know what school district I would be working in and be able to be doing our house search.  And then, we could maybe extend it one more month just to get us extra time to move into the house.
Ha!
On Friday, the notice came back.  Those six months came and went so fast.  And here we are again.  Not only is this a reminder of what didn't happen in the last six months, but it's a slap in the face as to what will we do now.

We really don't want to stay, but can't realistically leave either.  I still don't have a job.  And it's not looking too promising for fall either.  I can't even get the subbing coordinator to call me back to ensure that I am on the sub list for fall.  I am so over it with the teaching drama.  I started applying in other fields and am holding out hope for those options.

The stress of not being where we want to be in life, and the dread of resigning a lease to lock us in a "home" where we don't want to be was really taking a toll.  We were angry.  Our communication was nonexistent.  It was just not a good situation.  I remembered back to our marital counseling last year and knew that we were back in our pattern of not fixing or addressing what was wrong.  So on a whim, I asked a close friend to keep K for a few hours so that we could do dinner and talk this through.

Over dinner (and a margarita or two) we discussed our feelings about things.  We discussed moving.  We discussed staying.  We discussed options.  But most of all, we talked.  We needed to talk.  Moving crossed both of our minds.  Let's face it, we moved up here to better our lives--better Kinley's life.  And we're apartment locked.  That's not what we wanted for her or us.  But moving back would worsen our job situation for both of us.  Sure, we still own a house down there (but it's rented out through September and we already sent out the new lease).  We have friends and family down there.  It was an option considered.

But we have a pattern.  We don't hunker down and brave the storm.  When life gets down and we feel defeated, we leave.  We left Chicago-land before we were married because I was overwhelmed and just couldn't take it.  We then left southern IL because his job wasn't what it was supposed to be and the new jobs up here promised so much more for our family.  So we left.  And here we are again, not living how we expected to, and we discuss moving.  It has to stop.  We have to stop the cycle of just up and moving when we aren't getting things EXACTLY how we want them to be.  Most importantly, don't we want to teach Kinley to persevere through the tough times?

Sure we don't want her raised in an apartment.  But we won't be here forever (I hope not, anyway).  We have to brave through another lease and get over it.  I seriously wanted to drive over to the local shelter that night and talk to some of the people living with their children with no home.  no apartment.  How boo-hoo will we be then?  It's time to start being thankful for all that we do have and stop crying over what we don't have.

"I want to take my rest time with Monsters."
Monsters, Inc.  Her favorite movie.
She lasted all of twenty minutes before she was out.

Connie (the budget coach) told us that we will be in a great place to buy a house by the time that Kage is in the first grade.  That's when it starts to matter.  Yeah, that sucks.  That is a long time.  But in the big picture, it really isn't.  And won't we appreciate it so much more after enduring these years of hard work and perseverance?

I'm sure that I'll have to pep talk myself many times over during these years of a strict lifestyle.  But if that's what it takes...

We decided that we're going to resign for another year.  A full year.  But only because each time we resign, they raise the rent.  We are now going to be paying $1090 a month for a rinky dink two bedroom.  When we initially moved in, it was $995.  So in a year and a half we have gone up that much.  Crazy, right?

As another option, I did look into renting a house, but they just really aren't in our budget.  We can't find something decent for less than $1500 a month--and then the utilities on a house are so much greater than our tiny apartment.  To be able to live within our means and pay off the debt with the intensity that we are, we have to hunker down and do what's right.  Not what's fun.

Living within your means takes great strength.  Sure we could get a loan, buy a house, struggle and possibly lose.  But why do that to ourselves?  God speaks in different ways.  Right after I wrote this post, the K-Love Morning Show  Facebook page posted this status:

"Walking through a home under foreclosure, on one wall I saw the names of 3 children and their height measurements. I realized that I need to pray for the families who are losing their homes where great memories were made. Click "like" if you will join us in praying. - Amy"

We are doing the right thing.  As hard as it is, it's the right thing.

Christmas In July?

Normally, I am the one that despises the Christmas shopping.  The "who to buy for" list and adding up the cost of everything.  Oh, the cost!  But this year, I am pumped!  It's only July, but I have our list ready to go with who to buy for, how much to spend on each person and an {empty} spreadsheet with ideas for each person.  Obviously, it's July and the nieces and nephews haven't started their "I wants" yet.  But I'm trying to be proactive here.

Like I said, I created this spreadsheet--more like a chart right now...  But I want to be sure that we are planning for every person and every extra expense that Christmas may throw at us.  Right now, I am up to seventeen people (and Kinley, of course) that have made the cut.  We don't buy for the adults {aside from our parents and grandparents} but only for the kids.  We are blessed with lots of little ones!  But then I also added in the holiday cards, wrapping and postage.  What am I forgetting?

I have noticed that the last couple of years, the participating families sending Christmas cards are just dwindling.  It really makes me sad.  That is one of the best parts about the holidays.  You get mail that isn't a bill!  And normally, that mail has adorable family photos that you want to see.  Photos of people that you rarely get to see!  As easy as photo cards are these days {we do ours at Walmart} why doesn't everyone send them?!  So here it is July, and I'm asking you now, to send me a photo card.  Mmmm, K?  It makes my heart smile.

I did a quick search on my beloved Pinterest for Christmas photo ideas this morning and came up with nothing.  I want to be prepared!  I know that some cards have cute summer photos on them and I wanted to see if I could be inspired to take something now for the card later.  Okay, honestly, I am hoping and praying for this kind of card:

via

but I know that our chances are way slim.  So I'm planning for the family of three card photo.  And so far, nodda.  I'm hoping that I can con convince one of my fancy camera friends to take on the challenge of doing our family Christmas pictures {hint, hint}.  Last year=expensive nightmare. {and for whatever reason, I can not find a single picture from that photo session.  I will keep looking.}

We decided on a tradition that Santa can only bring three gifts to our house because of his sleigh only being able to hold so many toys for all of the children of the world.  We plan to continue that this year.  So her big gift will be from us and then Santa will bring her three more.  And this year, she just may be able to get in to the gift of giving and I am so, so excited.  And let me clarify--this is still going to be a Christmas on a budget. We are not being extravagant on gifts--because that to me {us} is stupid.  And since I'm always honest on here, I will tell you now that we will spend a total {and not a penny more} of $870.  That is for all seventeen people, Kinley, cards, postage, wrapping, and each other.  Is that high?  Do share--because I am honestly interested.  And if I can save money, you bet I'm going to do it!  My goal is to come on here in January and announce how UNDER budget we were from Christmas.

I was informed on my personal FB account this morning {have you "liked" Living on Trees on FB yet?  why not?} I was told that every Thursday through the summer, Target clearances their toys.  I will be there every Thursday for the rest of the summer.  I don't know what I am shopping for yet, but if I see a good deal, I am on it.

And I can be on it already, thanks to Connie--the budget coach!  We are almost fully funded for all expenses Christmas.  Yes, that is a first for me, ever, like--ever.  To not put Christmas on plastic, and not stress to holy heaven about how to pay for Christmas--you just don't even know.

I guess that's why I am writing a Christmas in July blog post.  I can finally ENJOY the holiday for what it's about.  Creating the memories, not the debt.  And if you haven't started your savings yet, it's not too late!  You still have 163 days left to save!

A Quick Step-By-Step

I have been asked on numerous occasions about our budget coach and financial planning "stuff" from Dave Ramsey.  I am always more than eager to share and pass along the good info...

So with that....

Here is the Financial Peace University class that we took through our church.
1. If you need to find a class offered in your area, click here.  Just put in your zip code there on the left and off you go.  I'll cross my fingers that there is one in your area.
2. If there is no class in your area, but you still want to get on board, you can.
3. The home study course is $99.  I know it is a lot of money.  Trust me, I know.  But I can honestly say that it will be the best $99 you will ever spend.  Save a little each month if you need to...or just don't eat out all month and save up.  
1. The benefit to the home study route, obviously, you won't need to leave home or find a sitter, or whatever.
2. It is the SAME DVDs and information that you would receive by going to the class.
3. You can study at your pace, speed it up/slow it down, whatever.
4. Following the completion of our course, we didn't know where to start.  We were a tad overwhelmed with the information and the resources.  We needed someone to help us get things organized and put "in order."  That is where our budget coach, Connie, comes in.
5. We found her by using the Dave Ramsey site and going to this page.
1. On this page, you will fill out your contact information and then they will get back to you via email with names of counselors (coaches) in your area.
2. Our coach offered the first class free to assess our situation and get her opinion on our finances.  From that point, we were able to decide if this was something that we wanted to do.
3. It does cost!  We paid about $500 (?) for her services.  Now, don't freak out!  $500 is a TON, Ton of money.  We didn't pay this in one payment.  We paid $165 over three payments.  She worked in those payments where we could afford it in our budget.  So we paid it over the span of 4 or 5 months.
1. If you feel that there is just no way that $500 is something you can do...you aren't alone. I thought for sure that we could never afford her.  There was no way.  We had zero money to spend on "extras."  Let me just tell you....we did it.  And it didn't hurt.  It was amazing to know that we were able to pay for this service, in cash, and not feel the pinch.
6. My one piece of advice to you, if you are interested in taking these steps, is to really be ready.  Be ready to allow someone to TELL YOU WHAT TO DO and HOW TO DO IT!  Your coach will tell you NO more debit or credit cards.  Your coach will tell you HOW to spend your money.  Your coach will HOLD you responsible for your spending.  Your coach will EXPECT you to be serious about your finances.
1. That said, if you feel that you are not ready to be serious and really put forth an effort, don't waste your or their time.  

Remember, we made a goof, we bought a stupid car.  But we learned so much from that goof.  You are not expected to be perfect.  Just to be real.  And don't ever feel that your situation is so bad that you are embarrassed of how bad things have gotten.  There is always someone worse off.  Our coach reminds us that she once had a client with over 400K in student loans.  Yeah, I know.  So never feel embarrassed or like you can't get help.  

A Good Deal

I am a huge fan of good deals, and love to pass on the word when I come across one.  If you aren't a fan of Dave Ramsey's FaceBook page, then you may miss his sale today.

He has everything in his store at least 50% off.

This is the program that we have and use, and at $99, it's a steal!  Especially since you get the DVDs with it. Excellent deal!

And then the envelope system is super cheap today too ($8.98).  But keep in mind, if you buy the Financial Peace University mentioned above, it comes with the envelope wallet.

For those who want to get all fancy, he offers a deluxe envelope system (just looks nicer and can be used as your wallet) is at $9.98, that's only $1 more than the basic.


I am in no way compensated for anything that you may choose to buy.  This is just me passing along word of a good sale for items that I personally use and love.

Psycho Wife Makes a Return

I started my fertility meds routine-yesterday-and I am already about to cry mercy.  A few hours after I took my first pill, I felt a bad headache and nausea.  I honestly didn't put two and two together until after the fact.  We were in the car driving home, so I took a cat nap to feel better.  It worked, for the most part.  My husband commented that maybe my salad at lunch didn't agree with me and I figured he was right.  Then I looked down and saw my prescription bottle in the cubby hole of the car door and thought---ooooh yeah.  I took one of those bad boys today.

I remember-vaguely-the mood swings and not so fun side effects but it's hard to really remember until you are right back in it again and experiencing them again.

Last night my husband told me to go and lay down and finish reading my book 3 (Fifty Shades) and he would put Kage down for bed.  I know!  Talk about my hero!  He knew that I was having a rough time and just wanted to disappear into my book.

He passed out in KG's room (as always) and didn't come to bed until after 11.  I had just finished reading book 3 and was sprawled out across our bed sideways.  I was whining to him about how lucky he is that all that he has to do is have sex.  He doesn't have to take meds, he doesn't have side effects to deal with....he just has to have sex.  It's not fair!  {I'm not kidding, I was throwing that tantrum at 11:00 last night.}

This morning comes and here I sit typing up my blog and brewing my one cup of coffee when KG wakes up.  An hour earlier than expected.  That totally throws my day into a tail-spin.  I was crabby, she was crabby.  It was not a pretty picture.

And then, stupid me, logs in to our online banking to touch base with my psychotic budgeting self.  Come to find out, my student loan payment hit twice!  Yes, that is over $300 extra out of our account that I had not budgeted for.  I calmed myself down and quickly dialed the number to the student loan people.  They would not work with me! Claimed that it takes 4-6 weeks for a refund and that they were "sorry."

Now, luckily, we have our super duper savings account and spreadsheet going and we had over 3K in our debt pay-off column.  I was able to transfer money to cover the goof, but that money is reserved for debt pay-off!  Not student loan payment goofs!  I was livid.

I screamed at the man on the phone, demanded his supervisor, screamed at him, and hung up on him.  The whole time that this was going on, KG was throwing a screaming fit because she wanted to leave the sliding doors to the patio wide open {mind you it's already in the 90s and the AC is running} while she's playing outside.  Her and I are going back and forth with opening and closing the glass door.

After hanging up on the supervisor, I put KG into her room and shut the door.  She needed to have her melt down and I needed mine.

I dialed my husband's number and would you believe that he didn't answer!?  How dare he!  :)  I dialed him right back and the flood gates broke.  I was sobbing, hysterically, into the phone and begging him to come home and help me deal.  With life.  With our screaming child.  With the student loan people that double processed a payment.  With me.

I guess he doesn't just have to have sex in this whole process.  He has to deal with a psychotic wife.  Maybe I do have the better end of the deal?!

And to think that this part of the medication process isn't even the worst of it!

Momma Called the Doctor and the Doctor Said....

Running a sporadic fever.  :(

So if you have "liked" Living On Trees on Facebook, you will know that I made the appointment.  I am actually not going to the doctor that I saw last time, as his next available appointment was July 31, and let's face it, I would have changed my mind four times between now and then.  And, I wasn't too fond of him anyway.  So I'm seeing a new {male} doctor and hoping that he's fantastic.  I am slightly excited.

The kind office lady answering the phone informed me that my Mirena IUD was removed on July 21, 2011. So that's almost one whole year of unprotected....ummmm, marital acts.....and no pregnancy.  I think it's time to take things to the next level, no?

I am happy to have finally made a decision.  That was the hardest part, I think.  But now what stinks is that before we can actually start the Clomid, I have to have a period.  And that is the difficult part.  And after some quick research on my fertility tracking app, I found that my cycles range from 28 days to 99 days.  So predicting when I will be able to start a new cycle with the Clomid is any one's guess.  So that really stinks.  I want to have my appointment and get started right now.  Not going to happen.

I actually told my mom last night that I was going in to start Clomid again and she wasn't mad.  I really thought she would be.  She'd remind me of all of the reasons {that we are well aware of} why we shouldn't be having another and tell me what a mistake it was....but she didn't.  She calmly said that now was as good a time as any and if we were going to have more, we should do it now before Kage gets any older.  Wow!  Something we actually agree on!

So, it's official.  We are taking the next step to expand our family.

I used to blog {I use that lightly, as I rarely posted and didn't keep it up, and I don't think anyone actually read it} about our infertility journey and right now, I am so glad that I did because now I have something to go back and look at to refresh my memory about what we went through before.  So if you're so inclined, I can post a link to that for you to take a look-see.

And on a completely unrelated note, I am in celebration mode.  Our savings hit the 4K mark today!  I know that isn't a lot of money to most of you, but for us, having started at a big fat 0 in February and in June are at 4K....that is huge!  So we're going to be celebrating a few things in our home tonight.  Go us!

O.K.

Yesterday, I started our July spreadsheet for our budget and was filling in our monthly income at the top...and it hit me.  My school salary will be coming to an abrupt end in August.  The days of throwing $1500 at debt each month are going to be over.  And I panic.

I know that Connie {the budget coach} said that we would be okay on one salary, but I don't want to be okay.  I want to be gazelles.  I want to get rid of this debt weighing us down.  I want to build that 20% down payment for our home.  I want to LIVE like no one else.  We can't do that on one income.  We will be okay.  Never before has that word sounded so blah to me.

I apply to at least 2-3 districts a week.  Sometimes, more.  Living in Chicago-land affords me several area districts where I can work.  And I believe that I have applied at all of them.  I send applications.  I send emails to the principals.  All that I get back are the "we filled the position internally" responses.  I am so defeated!  The district where I worked RIF'd over 400 teachers at the end of the school year.  I basically counted that out as an option for fall employment.

The past couple of days, I have been watching the call back list and the available position list.  Names were being crossed off and positions were filling up.  And then yesterday, the last name was crossed off.  And there are positions still listed.  Finally, a glimmer (although a very small glimmer) flashed before my eyes.  I typed up an email to my former principal asking if he's heard anything about what may or may not be open for me to apply to.  He claims that it is still too early to know for sure, but to keep in touch and he would let me know as soon as he heard something.

So, now I have some hope.  Maybe, somehow, someway, I may get back to the district where I was last school year.  I probably won't be at the same school that I was last year, but the same district.  Which is kind of what I wanted.  So I'm okay with that!

I guess that I just wrote off the idea of teaching for the 12/13 school year and now that there is a small chance, I found hope.  Hope that we will be "okay" but in a much higher level of "okay" than before.

Pinching Pennies

via

Happy Monday!  What a busy weekend we had!  My husband had to work on Saturday and on weeks where he has to work six days, it seems we never get that relaxed down time that we truly need.  We did have a beautiful weekend, nonetheless that I will recap for you later.

But I wanted to write one more blog post dedicated to finance and budget before I let go of this topic until anyone else has questions/comments that I can answer.  So with that....

Let's talk about pinching pennies.  This is written to be informative for you and in hopes that you will share tips with me as well.  Let's help each other out, shall we?

First, let's revisit the car.  I have mentioned it several times on here about the regret of taking on 10K in debt just to save money on gas.  We were dumb.  Don't do what we did.  But, to make any light out of a really dark decision, we are saving tons of money on gas.  Now that I am not working, I never really go anywhere.  Or anywhere out of a ten mile radius.  I can fill up my tank and run on it for a couple of weeks.  That alone, is a huge savings.  It has taken our gas budget from $600 to $400 and now down to about $300 a month.  Huge.  I plan outings that are super close to home.  We go on walks when we're bored.  I find things to do at home or in our neighborhood to entertain us.  Easy.

Coffee.  It's no secret that I am a die-hard fan of Dunkin Donuts coffee.  Medium, iced, cream and sugar.  That is my drink of choice.  But, at $2.25 a day, it just wasn't worth it to me. I mean, I love it-really, really love it- but I love paying off debt more.  So I have been (gasp!) brewing my own coffee at home.  It took a long while to find a brand that I could handle, and that didn't tear up my ever so finicky tummy, but I have found it and I really enjoy it.  AND, this weekend, I learned that I can take the leftover coffee from my morning brew and make a wonderful iced coffee in the afternoon.  Win!  It's Papa Nicholas brand, for any of  you wondering.  And I can't even tell you what it costs, because I'm not sure, but I do know that it was on the cheaper end--at it's way less than $2.25 a day.  As a side note, I did have a Keurig, but it died.  Which is fine cause the K-Cups are more than I want to budget for coffee.  End of the side note.

Laundry Detergent.  That stuff is not cheap.  I love the smell of Tide for Cold Water--but the price is just stupid.  I couldn't see paying that much for just the scent.  So now, I buy my detergent at the Dollar Tree.  It's a dollar store (and I'm sure it's nation wide) and they have detergent that is pretty decent.  It smells good, cleans our clothes, and is only $1.  Serves it purpose.  I also buy dryer sheets at Dollar Tree as well....and any other cleaner that we may need.  It's $1!  You can't go wrong!  Now, if it didn't do it's job--I wouldn't think it was a good place to pinch pennies.  But it does, so I do.  And, pinterest has recipes for homemade laundry soap that is equally as cheap, but it makes like 5 gallons at a time and I have zero space to store 5 gallons of detergent.

Aldi.  I used to despise Aldi.  I remember shopping there with my parents when I was little and I HATED it. I felt poor.  I didn't like it.  But you know what, my parents lived on one income and had a house and three kids.  We WERE poor!  My dad was a small business owner, in a small town.  He worked his behind off to provide for us.  --stay on track--  Aldi has come a long way since my days of despise.  I now do 98% of our food shopping there.  You save so much money!  I refuse to do extreme couponing.  I don't have the time, attention span or storage space to even begin that mess.  We eat pretty darned well each week for about $100 or less in groceries.  I have made recipes from pinterest using Aldi ingredients and they taste wonderful!  I can share those if you are interested.  There have been a few items from Aldi that I deem not acceptable and those are:  mac n cheese, coffee, and chicken nuggets.  So I still do use the "regular" grocery store for those items.

Yard Sales.  Let's face it, I'm a girl and I like to shop.  I hate feeling "broke" when we're not broke.  We're living on a budget and paying off debt.  But I still want to shop!  So I have dived back into yard sale shopping--occasionally.  It's just fun to get something new--and at a great price.  I don't go all the time, and you won't find me waiting on one to open at 6 a.m.  But we will venture out in the later morning if we have nothing to do and are up and moving.  This past weekend, I got an adorable basket, a pretty good sized one too, for K's room.  It now holds her current stuffed animal loves.  And, it was $1.  We also scored a stacked plastic bin thing in pink and purple for her room.  More organization for her mess of a toy box.  It was $3.  And then my big item, that was probably a dumb move, but maybe not....a desk. It's white and super cute and it was only $5.  Now, currently, we have zero room for it, so it's in the garage.  But my neighbor was into refinishing furniture before downsizing and moving in to an apartment, so I plan to pick her brain about painting it a bright pink and later putting it into Kinley's big girl room.  My next yard sale find, will be a chair to go with it that I can paint green.  I am super excited about it.  So you see, my shopping itch has been scratched and we spent $9.  Score.

Budget Billing.  I did this more for my spreadsheet planning than anything, but what the heck.  It keeps our gas bill at a steady $34 a month, every month.  No surprises.  You can set this up on (most?) utility bills.  I was able to do this online.  I just checked the box for "budget billing" and it estimated what our new bill would be, right there on the spot.  So now, I know that every month, I need to budget for that much for our gas utility.

Craigslist.  This should have gone after yard sales, I guess.  But I also do a lot of shopping on Craigslist.  I recently bought Kinley a new bedding set for $15.  It's a princess theme, which I don't like, but it's $15--regularly $50.  The lady bought it for her daughter, in hopes that she would start sleeping in her own bed, and it flopped.  So she just wants to get rid of it.  It's never been slept on.  So, Craigslist is not only a place to make money, but to find steals too.

Free Days.  For our daily outings, I scour the internet to find free events.  Kinley needs stimulated, or she makes me crazy.  Sitting at home day after day is not an option.  For me or her, really.  So I plan things out on a printed calendar (just used MS Word to print one) and fill it up with as much as I can.  The only "pay for" summer activity is her dance lessons on Tuesdays.  Other than that, it's free stuff.  We are super fortunate to live in an area with amazing park districts.  Which is why we stay where we are...  The park districts have so much to offer, and mostly, things that are free.  On Wednesdays, we are doing "Story time in the park" from 10-11.  Each week it's at a new park in the area.  They will be reading a story, doing a nature talk and discussing local wildlife, etc.  And after, we can play in the park or have a picnic lunch.
We also have a free splash park in our town.  Kinley loves the splash park!  The library often hosts a free story time, or we just go to sit and read and do puzzles.  Kage loves to check out puzzles and books to take home.  So if there are no free events for the day, I let her go to the library.
You can also just go on a nature walk.  Have your little one look for different leaves, or rocks.  On Friday, we went looking for rocks and pinecones and then brought them home to paint.  She had a blast!

Meal Planning.  We initially tried the e-meals program.  It was a great starting point for us, with both of us working.  It planned the meals, shopping list, recipes, everything.  We did the 3 month plan and I feel that we got our money's worth.  But with the start of pinterest and finding easy recipes there, I learned that doing on our own was just as easy.  I now plan our meals, staying on the cheaper to make recipes, for the full week and then some.  Then I make my complete list and head to Aldi.  Like I have said before, I am able to feed our family of three for $100 or less each week.  You just have to take the time to plan. We now have favorite meals that we cook almost weekly, so it's a lot easier than dreaming up new, fancy recipes all of the time.  We're living on a budget, we eat simple, but good.  We'll save the fancy stuff for when we're debt free.  Again, I will share some of my recipes if you are interested.

Hair-cuts and products.  This one was hard for me.  I was always accustomed to using salon products.  I paid $25 a bottle for shampoo and conditioner, and my hair products would run around $15-$20 each.  I spent good money on my hair.  Haircuts/styles would run me about $160 every 6-8 weeks.  Yikes.  Thinking about that now, I feel dumb.  Since learning to "live like no one else," I have learned that cheap inexpensive products are really, just as good.  I now use the Suave Professionals line of shampoo and conditioner and honestly, can't tell a difference.  I'm not joking.  I can not tell the difference from this and my Biolage.  I can't even tell you how dumb I feel after spending God knows how much for that expensive stuff.  Suave Professionals.  Love it.  And, it's like $2 for a big bottle.  Also, my products.  I have stupid hair.  If I don't do anything to it, it's the biggest afro ever.  I wrote a post about it, like forever ago, so you know that I can't go sans product.  I usually go curly, since I'm now a lazy SAHM.  Not saying that SAHMs are lazy....but this one can be!  So I need curling product.  My old stuff was $19 a tube.  Small tube.  Now, I use Garnier stuff.  It's like $4 and does almost the same job.  When/If I flat iron my hair, I go sans product.  Now, I know that this may be bad, but it's what I do now.  I do have some left over Chi product that I sometimes put in it before I dry my hair, but mostly, I just dry and iron.  And, I scored a new flat iron (my Chi died) for $19 (this thing was regularly over $150) on one of the "one sale a day" sites!  My haircuts?  Well, I decided that since I couldn't afford the $160 stylist, that I would just let it grow.  Not such a good idea.  It got crazy unruly.  So I held my breathe, and walked into a Great Clips.  Twenty minutes later, I walked out unstyled but trimmed.  And with tip, I paid $16.  I'm sure that she would have styled it, but it would have cost me more and I really didn't mind just putting it into a ponytail for the remainder of my day.  The next day, I styled it and loved the cut!

Energy Savers.  Luckily, we don't have the pay for water in our apartment.  One less bill, right?  But to make a savings on everyday chores, I always have our dishwasher on the "no heat" dry cycle.  It probably doesn't save much...but some.
And our washer, washes all clothes in cold water.  And I swear, I don't notice a difference.  Our clothes don't stink.  The only exception to this, is our bed sheets.

Those are just a few of the things that I focus on to pinch pennies each month.  They really aren't much, but it's a start.  I am working to add to this list and find more ways to start saving even more each month.  Our current "cost of living" is about $3530.00.  That's what it costs to run our family of three each month.  I know this because of our budget.  So I know that we need to make as much over that as we can to put toward debt repayment.  Or, my goal is to drop that number as much as I can by pinching pennies wherever possible and increase our income each month.  Do you run your family on less?  Can you pass along any good budget saving tips?

Budgeting With Envelopes

I was so excited to see that some of you are interested in the budget and envelope system that we are using in our household.  Like I have said many times over, I am obsessed with budgeting and am so determined to make this work for us.

So let's get to it, shall we?

I tossed around the thought of how personal I planned to get with this topic, cause let's face it, money is a hush topic.  For whatever reason, I honestly don't know why.  But this blog has always been an honest and open outlet for me regardless of the topic.  So why change now?

Where We Started
We took the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class through our church.  This allowed us to really get on the right mindset and be prepared to work as a team.  Dave Ramsey rocks.  After the classes ended, we were set out to figure out this budget thing.  Yeah, right.  We had no clue where to start.  We had all of the tools, we had the motivation but we didn't know where to start or where to go from there.  We felt defeated and discouraged before we even got started!  It was not a good place to be.

That's when we decided to hire a budget coach.  She is trained by Dave Ramsey's staff and because we completed Financial Peace University, she gave us $100 off her sessions.  We paid her three payments (over three months) of $146.  That "bought" us six months of in person counseling and a lifetime of phone/email contact.  The BEST money we have EVER spent.  Ever.  With the help of Connie, we developed a monthly budget, the envelope system AND the mindset to keep going even when it seems hopeless.

Budget
To build our budget, we were given a fancy schmancy spreadsheet in Excel.  It is a Dave Ramsey spreadsheet that has tabs for everything.  Budget (how much it costs to run our home), Distributed Budget (how our money is spent each month), Savings (our savings account micro-managed), and our Debt Snowball (a list of all debts, balances, monthly payments and interest rates).  There are several more tabs but those are the ones we use.

To make your household budget, you don't need a fancy schmancy spreadsheet.  You can use a sheet of blank paper.

1. Write down all of your bills.  ALL of them.  
2. Figure out your income.
1. Our income changes weekly.  My husband is paid hourly but each week he works different hours.  Sometimes he's at 40 hours and sometimes he works 60 hours (bless his heart!).  For our budget, we always use the 40 hour check.  Anything that he makes OVER that, is extra for debt repayment.
2. I am paid twice monthly from the school district.
3. Once you have your bills and your income extremely defined, you are ready to start your budget.
4. Decide how you want to work your budget.  We do weekly--because my husband is paid every Thursday.  If you get paid on the 15th and 30th, do twice monthly budgeting.  If you and your spouse are alternating, like us, then weekly may work for you.  
5. At the top of our spread sheet, we list the pay dates for the month.  We (normally) have four columns, but this month, we have five due to the extra week in June.  After each date, write it your expected income.  Like I said, for us, we write down his 40 hour check.  
1. For example, for our June budget, we would list:
1. June 1-- $100 (not really, but let's pretend that he makes $100 for 40 hours)
2. June 8-- $300 (this would be my two week check from the school + his 40 hour check)
3. June 15-- $100 (his 40 hour check)
4. June 22-- $300 (mine and his)
5. June 29-- $100 (his)
2. Now, let's say that on June 1, he got a check for 55 hours instead of the 40 that we budgeted, I would then edit my budget to show $150 instead of $100 like I initially budgeted.  That extra $50 would just go into savings (unless we were short somewhere and it needed to go somewhere).
6. Now let's talk about bills.  Our budgeted bills are:  Rent, Mortgage (yes, we own a home but have renters in it, so it's basically a wash when the rent income comes in), Auto Payment (darned car!),  Electric, Gas, Trash, Medical Co-Pays, Internet/Cable and Auto Insurance.  Those are our household bills.  These are bills paid by check or auto payment via bill pay online.
7. Then you figure in your debt repayments.  We have one two credit cards to repay (stupid student teaching!), a car loan (darned car!) and my student loan.  These are paid via check or online payment.
8. And now you have to look at your household spending.  For us we have Groceries, Eating Out, Clothing, Gas, Entertainment, Babysitting, Office, Blow Money, Paper Goods, Personal Hygiene, and Car Maintenance.  These are paid in cash.
9. You have to know how much you spend for each item.  The household bills are pretty easy, they come every month and usually are consistent.  If not, average high and go with that amount.
10. Debt payments, use your minimum payments for the budget.
11. The household spending categories are your envelope system.

Once you have all of those items listed and a $ amount assigned to each one, you are ready to budget.

You need to be mindful of your bill's due dates in order to schedule them appropriately with the pay check that is closest to the due dates.  You will need to shuffle the payments throughout the month between checks until you have every bill accounted for.  This will be the most difficult part of budgeting.  It took me about three months to get the hang of it, honestly.  But if you work it enough, it will work out.  

Now let's talk about the envelopes.  

The household spending categories that I named above in #8 are our envelopes.  These are cash expenses.  Things that you can walk in and use cash for.....NO MORE DEBIT CARDS!  Here is how we budget our envelopes.  We put a monthly total for each category.

Groceries:  $420 (we put in $105 a week)

Gas:  $400 ($100 a week, this came down from $600 while I was traveling to work)

Eating Out:  $95

Paper Goods (this is paper towels, cleaning products, baby wipes, etc.):  $50

Entertainment:  $50

Blow Money:  $80 ($40 each)

Babysitting:  $50

Clothes:  $50

Personal Hygiene:  $65 (hair cuts, waxing, make-up, etc)

Car Maintenance (oil changes mainly):  $25

We use the envelope system from Dave Ramsey and the course we took.  You can use standard white envelopes if you want, or baggies!  You don't need to get fancy.  But you do need to make sure that they are  travel-able.  Like, you need to take them with you.  Because, this is your spending money.  NO DEBIT CARDS.  You can even get an accordion style envelope and use that.  This is our system:

If you want to "make your own envelopes" you can here.

We started keeping a running total on the outside of the envelope but have moved away from that being necessary.  The key is, that when the money is gone, it's gone.  If you blow all of your eating out money on one dinner on June 3, then you don't eat out again until July.  End of story.  If you blow all of your grocery money, then it's cereal and milk till next pay day!  You have to be smart about your spending.  But by using this system, you KNOW what you have and what you don't.  And, paying cash for things is so much more personal!  It really makes you think twice when you throw that extra bag of chips in the cart.  That's like a $5 bill being handed away!  It's a lot different than a swipe of a debit/credit card.

In our six months of using envelopes, we have never gone hungry.  We have never had to call in to work because we didn't have gas.  Use your head and you'll be fine.  If you don't have cash for it, you don't buy it.  Period.

Putting gas in the car has been the only hardship that we've encountered using the envelopes.  Almost all pumps are pre-pay if you don't use a card.  So you do have to take your cash in before you pump.  Really not a big deal, unless you have a 2 year old in the backseat.  So I just make a point to send my hubby to get gas in the evening or I get it after he gets home.  Or we fill up on the weekend when we're together.  Our coach also said that you can take your monthly/weekly gas budget and buy a gas gift card for yourself and then just swipe that.  That's clever too.  But we have become accustomed to just pre-paying.  It really isn't a big deal.

So I've touched on building your budget and the envelope system.  I am so confused right now....so I know that you must be too.  It's a lot harder than I expected to sit and type out all of this....  PLEASE, ask questions if something isn't clear or if you need more explanation.  Cause if you're like me, you won't get it at first, it will take a lot of work.  Let me be a good steward and help you.

The last thing that I want to touch on is micro-managing your savings account.  In January when we started with our coach, we had zero savings (aside from retirement accounts).  Now, we have a nice savings.  The first step is to establish your EMERGENCY FUND.  This is $1000.00 that is there for emergencies.  Not, I want a flat screen emergency, either.  More like, "oh no!  My car broke down and needs a new ______!"  I know nothing about cars, so fill in the blank.  Normally, that would be a super crisis.  For us it would be.  But not now, we have $1000.00 in our savings just for that emergency.  And thankfully, *knock on wood* we've not had an emergency, yet.

All of your extra money goes toward that emergency fund until it's funded.  We sold stuff on Craigslist, Ebay, etc. to build that $1000.00.  It wasn't easy and it didn't come quick.  Luckily, we started this system around tax refund time and that helped boost our emergency fund.

Once that is established, you begin building your savings account.  Here are our savings categories: Car Registration, Gifts, Christmas, Medical, Pet Care and Debt Repayment.  Let's break this apart.

Our savings account is one account.  But we use a spreadsheet to break down the balance into categories.  So the bank shows that we have XXX in our savings, but to us, we see it as  XX in car registration, XX in Gifts, XX in Christmas, etc.

After you have all of your household bills, debts scheduled and envelopes funded, you take the extra money and start allocating it into savings.  Even if it's $1 in each category, it will grow.

So car registration, we live in IL and unfortunately, it's not so cheap to buy your car tags.  Like $115 a year, per car, or something?  I don't even know.  And since this is a yearly expense, we have to budget for it.  So we took $115 and divided it up by 12 months and that tells us how much has to be saved monthly to have the money ready to go by the time it's due.  No panic what-so-ever!

Gifts:  This category is one you have to stay on top of because it changes monthly.  Our norm is $50 a month.  It builds, monthly, because sometimes you don't have to buy anyone anything!  But that's why it's in our savings account.  But the months when you have Father's Day, birthdays, etc. you need to put aside a little extra.  This month, we allocated $150 because of Father's Day and graduation gifts.  Make sense?  So it will sit in the savings until I spend it.  For gifts, I will use my debit card and then do an online transfer from savings to checking to cover it.

Christmas:  Christmas comes every year.  And every year, we act like it snuck up on us and we end up stressed and fighting over money.  Where will we get the money for gifts?!  Not this year.  Our Christmas category already has over $300 in it.  Not bad at all for June!  We put in whatever we can afford for the month.  Sometimes we put in $1 and sometimes we put in $200.  Just depends on how the money comes in that month.  If it's tight, don't put anything in Christmas.  This is where you have ultimate flex.

Medical:  This gets $50 a month.  This is for medical that isn't a co-pay, because remember, co-pays are included in our household bills.  With me seeing my shrink twice a month, and having a toddler, co-pays are a monthly expense.  Maybe they aren't for you.... But medical is for dentist expenses, contacts, glasses, deductibles, etc.  It grows until it's used.  Ours has about $300 in it now, but I have to buy my contacts so about $150 will be wiped out.  But see how I have no worries about ordering contacts now?  The money is there and it was painless to save it!

Pet Care:  Obvious.  Lucy's rabies vacc, etc.  We save $20 a month for this.

Debt Repayment:  This category is my favorite.  Now, let me back up for a minute.  You want your budget to balance to ZERO every month.  That means that EVERY dollar that you bring in, is allocated SOMEWHERE.  So when you get to the bottom line, you are at ZERO.  Make sense?  So when you have paid all of your household bills, all of your envelopes, all of your other savings categories, you take what's left and put it into the debt repayment column.  This column can grow and grow until you have enough to make a substantial payment on something.  There are some months that nothing goes into this column <insert Joy's sad face> but then there are times like now (with an extra pay week in June) that our whole check will go into this column because I've made all of our other bills fit in the other pay weeks.

Dave Ramsey suggests attacking your smallest debt first.  Even if it's not the highest interest.  You do that to help you gain momentum and feel like you've accomplished something.  When you get to cross off a debt, you feel like you can accomplish anything!  Trust me, we've crossed off three!

Here is our savings spreadsheet:

You can see the categories at the top in yellow.  There are several categories there that we currently aren't using, because well, we can't really fund a vacation until we pay off our debt.  Debt pay-off is king.   That is first and foremost.  And until you get to that point, you don't get to play.  You already played, that's why you have debt!  Right?  Well, except for student load debt....

Okay, exhale.

I'm sure that this is way overwhelming, and who knows if you even got through it all.

Like I said, please, please, please ask me questions.  I want to help!

Humble

I've blogged before about my incredible addiction to all things budget and all things finances.  I wonder if my subconscious believes that staring at the spreadsheet longer will increase the balances?  We took the Dave Ramsey course over a year ago and have been working with a Dave Ramsey budget coach since January or February.  Both of those experiences have changed our lives.  Incredibly.

We no longer argue over money, we no longer stress over our check book balance, we no longer wonder where the money will come from, will it be covered, what if this happens, what if that happens, etc.  All of those worries and problems in our past are definitely in the past.  It just isn't something that we have to worry about.

The hardest part is following the mantra of "Live like no one else so that later you can "live" like no one else."  I say it in my head with the emphasis that Dave Ramsey uses on his videos.  I say it, I believe it, but man it's sure hard to live it.

I find it extremely difficult living in a world where I feel like the only one.  I mean, I know I'm not the only one, my husband is here next to me....but sometimes we feel like the only ones living so strictly on a budget.  Is it a rarity to live on a strict budget?  Are we a rare species?  We have friends that call us wanting to go to dinner.  We honestly tell them that it's not in the budget.  We get looks as if we have two heads.  Budget?  Huh?  "Just put it in the budget!"  No joke, we have had that reply before.  It doesn't just work that way.

This morning, I found myself searching the internet to find a blog that I could relate to.  Someone that made me feel like I wasn't the only one "living like no one else."  This lifestyle, is humbling.  Especially when you are living in a place where people live as if money comes to them like water.  I just don't get it.  What did we do wrong?!

I stumbled upon this blog entry, it was posted back in 2010, but she hits it right on the head.  I just wish I could find more like it.  It's almost like wanting to find comfort from those that have lived it and made it through.

We are doing okay, we are following the baby steps, but it feels like such a slow progress.  What more can we do to make this move faster?  Is there a light at the end of the humbling tunnel?

Is there anyone else out that there that is following Dave Ramsey's baby steps?  Have you survived and conquered baby step 2?  Are there any tips/tricks to moving faster through the debt snowball?

SAHM I AM

Well.....  I survived.  My first "real" teaching job ended yesterday.  I wanted to be sad.  I wanted to cry.  I wanted to walk out feeling the pull to not leave.

But I didn't.

Not one tear.

I guess it was the group of students that I had that made it a less than desirable first experience....I mean, getting called a b!tch at least once a week by a nine-year-old leaves much to be desired.  It was a rough school.  But the staff, I will miss.  I did feel like one of them, one of the family, even though I was a temporary contract.

But it's over.  My contract ended June 4 and I will continue to ride on my paychecks till the middle of August.  That part, I love.

Our budget coach made it clear to us in our last meeting that my top goal would be to secure employment for fall.  You see, we failed miserably at this budget thing.  We were, as Dave Ramsey calls it, Gazelles, with our budget.  For a month.  Then we bombed.

We bought a damn car.

I know.  SO stupid.  So, so, so stupid.

It is used, a 2009, but still.  So flippin' dumb.  If I could take it back, I would.  I regret it more than anything in this world.  But I can't take it back.  I have to swallow the pill that we CHOSE to take.  I also have to swallow the fact that we INCREASED our debt by 10K.  Seriously.  Dumb.

We went from ZERO car payments to a 10K loan for a STUPID car.  Can you tell that I'm disappointed in us?!  Cause I am.  I won't even share our rationalization with you when we were sitting in the car dealership, cause it is just pathetic.  I swear that those dealerships spray crack on you when you walk in so that you lose all sense of reality and rationalization.  Ugh!

So yeah, our budget coach wanted to KILL us when we walked in and told her the news.  It was not pretty.

With that, she insisted that I find employment.  I interviewed for several summer gigs that paid nothing and weren't my cup o' tea and was offered three of them.  I didn't take them.  It wasn't worth the cost of child care, to be honest.  And since I'm getting paid through the summer from the school district, why worry about it now?  I mean, if I could find something that would make it worth my time and child care, then by all means, sign me on.  But I haven't found that yet.

For now, I am back to my stay-at-home-mom thing. Or, I will be come Friday.  And I'm kind of excited.  I am through the panicked stage, and I am through with the fear, and I am through with the worry.  I am ready to be excited.  I have printed three calendar pages to fill with activities for Kage and I to spend our days.  Ballet on Tuesdays, story time in the park on Wednesdays, splash park daily, play dates as needed, library book club......  I'm getting excited.  And it's only until the end of July really....  cause I accepted a position.

Now, it's not what I went to school for, technically.  But strangely, I am VERY excited about the opportunity.  I am going to teach preschool.  Again.  I did it for several years, back in the day.  Like in my early 20s.  And I did love it.  I hated the company I worked for, but I loved the job.

So the unemployed became re-employed within one day.  Not too shabby.

This would be a perfectly happy story if it weren't for the pay.  It's no where near what I made with the school district, obviously.  And I still have to pay just about the same amount in child care that I do now.  gulp  So, what do I do, you know?  I accepted the position and I am praying by all things holy that we're going to be okay.  I mean, we have to be, right?  I will be spending all of the summer saving like mad and paying things off to ensure that we will be okay.

The upside is that I will have Kage in the same building with me.  I will know her teachers personally.  I will make sure that she is given the best care possible.

Truly, the only downside is that I won't be paid jack.  Ugh.

And, it's about an hour commute from where we live now.

But, we're talking about moving back that way.  It's where we lived before we moved south and got married.  We both love that area and want to be back that way, but finding an affordable living situation might be difficult.  Life is fun, isn't it!?

Playing catch up!

My brother and Quinnie waiting for his MRI

No surprise that I am playing catch up, no?  Seems to be the story of my life.  First and foremost, I want to thank any and all of you that have been saying prayers for little Quinnie.  He's getting through his days at Mayo and doing a good job.  The doctor's are really sharing their wisdom and providing insight that they have been hoping to receive.  Until they are home and all reports are in, I don't really want to say anything.  There is one more day of appointments and they should be able to come home for a while.  I am seeing several trips in their future. 

He had another MRI today and his mommy said that he did a good job.  They are expecting results from that tomorrow.  I keep praying that there is going to be a miracle and a quick fix.  Wouldn't it be amazing if all things painful had a quick fix?  My prayers will be answered if this little boy can live happy and pain free and free of criticism.

I received an email through work about a movement to remove the "R-word" from derogatory language.  There is a pledge that they are having the high school students sign and they are asking the middle school students and elementary students to join in the pledge signing.  I couldn't be more pleased.  Using the "R word" has always been something that I felt so very strongly about.  It took quite some time to "break" my husband's bad habit of using it all the time.  Hopefully this gets passed along enough that everyone sees and recognizes the importance of this movement.

A month or so ago, my husband and I joined the ezmeals.com menu planning site.  Overall, we've been pretty pleased with it...and if nothing else, it has helped up branch out with trying new things and new recipes.  We don't use all meals all weeks, but more often than not, we use the majority.  It's nice to have it all planned out and there isn't much to have to think about or plan.  You just print and go--grab a few extra easy meals and you're set.  Easy.

On Sunday, we made the most amazing meal.  And it was easy.  So easy.  BBQ chicken quesadillas.  OMG.  I drool over them just thinking about it.  The best part?  It made enough to freeze.  So...when my mouth gets all excited just thinking about it....I run to the freezer, take one out and 45 seconds later, it's mine all mine!  Yes.  It's love.  And I like to share the love.

Here ya go:
2 lbs chicken breast
1 18 oz bottle of BBQ sauce
Flour tortillas
Shredded Mexican style cheese

Cook the chicken breasts in the crock pot with 1/4 c. of water.  (I cooked it from 10 ish till 4 ish on low)
Remove from the crock pot and shred.
Put into a large bowl and add the full bottle of BBQ sauce. 

Put about 1/2 c. of chicken mixture into a flour tortilla.
Top with some shredded cheese.
Fold in half and give it a squeeze to hold it together.
Put into a hot skillet with a little bit of olive oil. 
Cook until slightly browned and the cheese is melted.
Flip over and brown the other side.
Remove from pan and cool.
Cut into triangles. 
Eat and enjoy.
You can even dip them in sour cream.
Swoon.

I made the whole package of tortillas and had so much left over.  So I put them in a single layer on a cutting board and froze them.  Once frozen, I threw them into a baggie.  There they sit in my freezer ready to be grabbed, warmed and enjoyed.  These are a new staple in my home.

Try them.

You're welcome.

Let me update you on our budget coach.  Can I just say that life is amazing since we've gone on this new plan?  Ah-mazing.  Not only are we paying off debt in a quick way, but we are truly living on cash.  We have not used a debit card in about a month.  That is huge.  We used to live on our card.  Now, we live on cash only.  If there is no cash in that envelope, you can't buy it!  Surprisingly, we never run out.  Groceries, we have cash left over at the end of the week.  Gas?  Cash left over.  It's so empowering.  We are doing it!  And it's saving our marriage.  Finances are no longer a friction point and we aren't as testy and on edge as we used to be about money.  It's saving us.

We meet with our coach again Thursday to plan for our March expenses.  We started this journey with seven debtors on our list.  We are going into our March meeting with only four....and we're paying off one more in another week or so.  Yeah....I know.  It's good stuff.  And I'm not bragging.  I'm giving a testimony.  I'm hoping to give hope.  It can be done.  You can too.

This is our new "wallet" that we take everywhere we go.  It's Dave Ramsey's envelope system.  Each envelope has a category written on top and then it has lines where you keep track of what you put in and what you take out.  It's very simple.  And like I said, in our clothing envelope, if there is only $25 left in there and K's shoes are $40....she needs to wait another week or two.  It's very black and white.  Which is what we needed.

And lastly, on my mind tonight, is Spring.  We've had a mild, very mild, winter this year.  Only two (or three) good snow falls.  And for Chicago, that's rare.  I can't help but to start thinking about Spring weather and putting my princess baby in cute Spring outfits.  Can't wait.  My friend, Kacy, has always been my go-to girl for all things cutesy for Kinley.  She made all of the tu-tus that we used for her pictures.  She's crocheted Kinley's new blankie.  She made Kinley's second birthday outfit.  I love her work and love the creative ideas that she comes up with.  Her latest creation in no different.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that we had to have it.  And it's hanging in her closet now, just waiting for Spring to get here.  And you can get one for your little girl too.  She has one left for sale in her Etsy store. 



I know.  It's adorable.  Right? I can't wait to put Kage in it and get her 2 1/2 year pictures in it.  Her next dress inspiration (thanks to Pinterest) is in the making.  And it is just as adorable.  Kacy is an amazing creator! 

I guess that is all that I had to unload off of this brain of mine.  I feel lighter.  A good ten pounds lighter. 

Wouldn't that be nice if blogging helped us lose weight?  How many calories do you think blog writing burns?



 

Feelin' the Pinch

Have you ever been stuck in a pair of too tight work pants--or jeans--for that matter.  Like so tight that it literally feels like they could be cutting your skin at the hips....and if you exhaled fully, the button just may pop?  But you're wearing them anyway because you'll be damned if you have to buy a larger size.  And you'll just shed that extra five that are making the waistband feel like razor blades anyway.  You ever experience that?  Cause I have.  Especially lately...and yes, I have even pulled down that bin of clothing labeled "clothes that don't fit"....I stuffed it full back in my work-out days when I dropped all of the poundage and went out to buy all of the work pants in a size 4.  Talk about a flip flop.  The fours went in the bin and the fat pants came out.  Hold me. 
I will lose it. 

When the gym goes back into the budget.

Speaking of budget, and the whole purpose for me walking you through the whole pants too tight scenario at the beginning of this post, we met with our budget coach last week.

She did our budget for February with us.  And....I.can't.breathe.  Whoa. 

Just as we wanted her to do, she gave each dollar a place and each dollar a name.  Every penny that we bring in, has a purpose.  And that purpose is clearly labeled in an Excel spreadsheet.  And if you forget, you can look at remind yourself.  Ugh.

It was all fun and good before the appointment, sure, it sounded fun!  It sounded great!  On her plan, we'll be debt free (including my whopper student loan balance) in three years.  Yes, three (3) years.  Which then means that we'll be racking up one heckuva down payment on a sweet home very soon. 

But now it's all real.  It's not just fantasizing about living debt free...we're making it happen.  We are living on cash only and we're living on a budget.  We know how much it costs to actually run our home and we only spend that much...every other penny goes to a debt snowball and into savings. 

Sounds tight, right?  It is.  Very tight.

But let me tell you, it is LIBERATING!

To know that our savings account is now loaded and ready for an emergency....wow.  Car repairs, we can pay cash.  Car tags, we can pay cash.  Vet bills, cash.  Clothing, there is cash set aside each month.  Now mind you, each month a little more goes into each category in our savings but knowing that each month we build more and more just makes me feel less stress.  It's tight right now but I know that in a few months it is going to feel good.  It will feel good to know exactly how much I can spend on whatever and pay cash and have no guilt for shopping.  I'm ready for that.

For the first time, ever? maybe...our tax refund came in and it went into savings.  We didn't go out and blow it, we didn't go out and buy something big and shiny and we didn't justify that we "really need ___"...we just acted like it didn't come at all.    It will be allocated to pay off bills as the coach sees fit. 

I'm ready to be past this stage of life--the stage where I live paycheck to paycheck.  I'm ready to live and enjoy life and not worry about money.  I spend too much of this life worrying and I'm over it.