Summary: September Goals

Whoa, did this month fly by or what? This was a crazy month. I turned 24, David was out of the country, we had a family emegency, the dog got sick, my parents celebrated 25 years of marriage, and FALL is here. So how did I do on the goals? Overall, I think I did pretty well!


1.Pay $400 to the Credit Card. YES! Thanks to David's short deployment we were able to pay $2,000!!! Which brings us to 85% paid off!

2.Save $200 for Christmas. YES!

3.Save $100 for the Marine Corps Ball. Not exactly, I did save $60, but now we aren't even sure if we're going. However, we're still saving the money and if we don't go, we'll use it for Christmas Travel or something else that's needed.

4.NO new debt. YES!

5.Post at least 10 times! No...It's actually pretty pitiful. But I'll make this a goal again for October adn keep trying!

6.Earn 90 Swagbucks and order Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" from Amazon! (I currently have 80!!!) YES! I have 91 actually, but I haven't ordered the gift cards yet. I need to add that to my growing "To Do" list.

See you in October!

Menu: Sept 27-Oct 3

Good morning! Can you believe October starts the week? This year will be over before I know it! I am loving all the fall and Halloween decorations and I'm really in the mood to bake. I just wish the weather would cool off. It's hard to really get in the mood when it's still 96 degrees outside! We used the new grill for the first time last night, we had salmon, green beans, squash, and scallops. It was so yummy! And the gas grill so much easy to use and clean up then the charcoal one! Here's the game plan for the rest of the week:

Monday: Turkey Stroganoff and garlic bread.
Tuesday: Burger and Tater Tots
Wednesday: Spaghetti and garlic bread
Thursday-Saturday: Visiting family in Florida.

I've also been going through my recipe binder and my recipe box on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and finding all kinds of things I want to bake. I'm thinking I'll try and freeze a lot of it.


Have a great week!!!

New Coupon Binder

I am SO excited. I'd seen this binder at Target a couple weeks back and it was on a "back to school" sale for $12. I thought that was a pretty good price, but since I didn't NEED one, I passed it up. I really liked that it had a shoulder strap. I hate having to balance a purse, a binder, car keys, and your purchases! So I was out running some errands the other day and noticed some school supplies were 75% off at Target, and among them was my binder! I got this bad boy for $3!!!! Can you hear the angels singing? I also love that it's bright blue.

It's set up the same way as my old one, with the baseball card holders and tabs. I did have to add a zipper pouch to keep my scissors and calculator in, since it didn't have one, but those were on sale for 48 cent!!!

Now...time to go shopping!!!

Why?

WHY do we want to be debt free?

Today, we are 80% credit card debt free. We are so close we can taste it, and it taste GOOD. So we've been tossing around ideas of how to tackle our next goal, and what exactly that goal might be. But this post isn't about that. It's about WHY. Why be debt free? I'm sure almost everyone would answer the same way-to be able to buy what we want, to fix what breaks, to be secure, to no longer be a slave to the lender. I agree, those are my reasons too.

But aside from the normal everyday answers, I believe each person has their own why. My main reason for wanting to be debt free is to prove something. We got married young, I was 18 he was 19. I had just graduated high school the month before and he'd only been in the Marines for a year. My parents were very supportive, but they were probably the only ones. Sure, everyone gave us well wishes, but they also would ask "Are you sure this is what you want?" or my personal favorite..."but you're both babies! Are you ready for this?" I could scream for every time I heard that. And then of course, when we visit back home old friends will ask "So, are you guys still married?" Umm..YEAH. Why wouldn't we be?

Now I do realize these are sad, but valid questions given the culture we live it. But I feel like it was almost expected of us to fail. But we refuse to fit the mold the young couple, struggling to make it. We want to be the exception, and for people to not question us, but use us as examples of how it CAN and DOES work. And, for us, part of that is being debt free at a young age. What will that mean for us? Being debt free at 24 will mean I don't stress over money and I will never lose sleep at night over a credit card bill. I will not live paycheck to paycheck, I will have an emergency account that gives us peace, I can afford my pet, and to keep him healthy and happy. We can travel, with cash and thank ourselves for a wonderful time, not Visa! We can drive new (to us) cars that we enjoy, we can fix what breaks, when it breaks. It will mean that David can deploy to war, and not worry about me while he's gone. We can buy a house and make it our home. We WILL retire millionaires, neither of us having ever gone to college, and we will NOT BE SLAVE TO THE LENDER.

So, what will being debt free be like for you, and WHY is it important?

September Goals

Can you believe it's already September? This is my favorite month, and I have big plans for it.

1. Pay $400 to the Credit Card.
2. Save $200 for Christmas.
3. Save $100 for the Marine Corps Ball.
4. NO new debt.
5. Post at least 10 times!
6. Earn 90 Swagbucks and order Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" from Amazon! (I currently have 80!!!)

Because of the new budget, there really isn't much to post about. Since we're using cash it's either there or it's not. I want work harder on posting about other frugal things I'm doing, not just the budget.

So HELLO September!!!