We're moving!

I have been MIA for almost a month now. I feel like every blog I write starts out this way. David's accident took up a lot of my time, but he's almost back to normal now. He has an appointment today to get his cast cut off and more x-rays taken. We're praying everything is healing nicely and he can just use a brace for the next month. But the main reason I've been gone is that I've been doing lots of research. About 3 weeks ago David got his new orders. We're moving to....OKINAWA, JAPAN for 3 years.



I know! I was just as shocked. I cried for a full 24 hours because I was so stunned and overwhelmed by the news. This wasn't something we'd ever talked about because we never thought we'd have to go there. But now, after 3 weeks of researching and prayer I am excited and ready to go! The thing that still makes me a little leery is having to behind our dog, Bear, at least for a little while. He'll stay with my parents until we're settled and have a house he'll be able to stay in. The military will provide our house and furniture (we'll be taking our bed, sofa and a couple decorations but not much else). They will also store our truck so that it will be in good working condition when we get back. The hardest part will be leaving our families, but they understand and we'll be able to talk often. We can also get discounted tickets to fly home, so it won't be too bad.



What does this mean for us financially? It's going to be such a blessing! I was on the fence about even accepting the orders to Japan, until we crunched the numbers. With the extra entitlements of living overseas, plus the discount in auto insurance and the fact that I can use expired coupons, we have come up with several goals. The first one being PAYING OFF THE TRUCK within the first 18 months! I can not tell you how excited I am about the idea of coming in 3 years to a paid off truck with only 50k miles on it.

We still have a lot of questions and concerns about the move, but we're excited about the journey!

March Goals

In like a lion, out like a lamb. I'm hoping for more of the lamb and less of the lion around here. I feel like March will be a great month for us, we'll pay off the last of the Bike loan, and it will be all savings from there. We are expecting news on David's orders sometime this month, and then we should have a good idea of when we'll be moving.

March Goals:

1. Pay off remaining $170 of Bike Loan.
2. Add $200 to savings.
3. Cut back on dining out.
4. Try to use less gas, and makes fewer trips to the store.
5. Finish Spring Cleaning.

I'll check back in soon!

Staying Motivated

Good news! With the exception of the truck loan, we are DEBT FREE. Bad news? Now that we're not focused on paying off unsecured debt, we have lost some steam. It was easy to be motivated to get rid of that "evil credit card" and the motocycle loan. But now that we're saving to fully fund an emergency account, we're finding it to be harder. Yes, it's thrilling to be putting away money each pay check instead of sending it away, but at the same time, now we feel like we have "wiggle room" to cash flow things and frankly, we've been doing too much wiggling! We (mainly me!) have been justifying buying thats because I was putting so much stuff off when we were focusing on credit card debt. Now that we have cash in hand, I have been spending a lot on things we were putting off for the last few months. And I guess that fine, things have to be replaced, and now we have the cash to do it. But I am so scared that I'll get into the habit of spending and we'll one step forward, two steps back.

Also, I think another reason for my lack on motivation is because of my lack of posts! Now that the credit debt is gone, I feel like I have nothing to post about anymore. I've been thinking about branching out into other topics, and definitely adding a monthly summary so I can see how much we've been able to save. I've made a couple posts about cheap date/entertainment ideas, and I'd like to continue with those. I need to do something to get my focus back into saving and being finacially smart!

2010 Goals and Plans

It's time to start the new year! I am so excited about 2010. Last year was the first year in my entire life that I accomplished my resolution. I made it a goal in 2009 to end the year credit card debt free, and we did. We still have many other financial goals we want to reach and many habits we still need to work on, but accomplishing our 2009 goal has given me such motivation for the next steps in our financial journey. The plan is to continue on the same path, using the envelope system, and the biweekly budget we are using now. As for the goals, here are the 4 we are going to focus on in 2010.

1. Start 2010 with 7% contribution to our TSP retirement. DONE 1/1/2010

2. Have the Bike paid off by June.

3. Have 3 months worth of expenses saved by the end of the year. (About $6,000.)

4. Stay credit card debt free.

Big News!

I have never said on here our actually amount of Credit Card debt. We only have a couple cards, our MasterCard through our bank, my Ann Taylor MasterCard from when I worked there, and our Military Star (Military Exchange Credit Card). We only ever used one, our bank MasterCard, but boy did we use it! I was so excited and proud when they raised our limit to $8,500 when I was only 21 years old! I can remember thinking "Wow, they must think really highly of me if they'll 'give' me that much money!" WRONG! What was I thinking? They didn't GIVE me any money, but that's how I saw it. It was mine-it had my name on it and I could use it as I wanted. And no, they didn't think highly of me. They were hoping I wouldn't pay it in full so they could charge me interest. And I totally proved them right.

But today, a year after starting my blog and 6 months into our Total Money Makeover I am ready to confess our credit card balance. On the first page of my Money Binder, in a sheet protector is a printed statement from January 20, 2009. The balance was $6,700 and change. Do I need to wait for you to catch your breath? But wait-that wasn't the highest it's been! At one point it was $8,046. That number STILL makes me sick to think about. But why am I confessing today? BECAUSE YESTERDAY I PAID IT OFF IN FULL. Yes! In less then a year, on one income and at the ripe old age of 24 we are credit card debt free.

We were able to accomplish this by making a couple changes. First, in November of 2008 we committed to stop charging things we couldn't pay for. Now, this doesn't mean we haven't used the card, because we have. For example, my brother is in the Navy, stationed in VA and I always help him book his plane tickets. I use my credit card to purchase them and he writes me a check when he gets here, which I then use to pay the credit card. So the key is that even if you use it, to PAY IT OFF. Secondly, we stopped adding to our savings. At first that thought scared the crap out of me. In the first recession of my adult life, I stopped saving money. Instead, I put that money toward paying off that credit card. When I really say down and thought about it, it made complete sense. I was saving money, that was making me 2% interest, which WASTING money by being charged 9% interest on the credit card balance. I was paying up to $50 a month on a finance charge, while making pennies on my savings account. (I do agree with Dave Ramsey though, and I kept at least $1000 in savings at all time for emergencies. We were also lucky enough that David would take short deployments at work, and while gone, he tried to save as much travel money and per diem as possible to put toward our debt. His sacrifice it what made it possible to pay off that card.

I can't put into words the peace I have now that we are credit card debt free. It's a peace that sinks deep into my heart. It's wonderful to make goals for 2010 that don't include paying off a stupid credit card. We can do so much more with our money when it's not going to a credit card company.

Happy First Anniversary

Yesterday was a year since I wrote my first blog! So much has changed for us financially I can't even begin to imagine where we'd be now if we hadn't made the decision to become debt free. And while we still aren't there, we are MUCH closer. In fact, we'll make our last payment to credit card debt this month and start 2010 with only a truck payment. Here are my top 3 things I've learned this year, and what's worked the best for us:

1. USE CASH: I'd heard of Dave Ramsey but never paid much attention to his plan until this summer. I was still hesitant to use a cash only system. In this day and age it seems "old fashion" and inconvenient to use cash instead of a debit card, but that's just not so. Also, from my experience using a debit card is NOT the same as cash. It's just too easy to swipe the plastic, it's painful to hand over tangible cash.

2. BUDGET: My old budget didn't work because I would plan for what I would like to see happen with my money. When I took total control and told my money where to go, I was able to stick to it. (Example: I used to *hope* that I could spend less then $15o a pay period on groceries. With my new budget, I tell myself I *must* spend less this $150 because that's all the cash I have.) It's amazing what you can so when you have to!

3. BLOGGING: And reading blogs. Sharing ideas is the best way to find a budget that works for you. When I feel myself slipping or wanting to have a pity party I read others blogs and get all the motivation I need. So thanks to all the fellow bloggers!

Here's to another year of blogging and reaching new goals!

A Plateau?

I think I've hit one. Lately I've just felt like I'm barely treading water. In some ways it doesn't make sense because we're still plugging along, working the budget and paying off debt. But in other ways I feel like we should be doing MORE. I kind of feel like we're doing just enough to make progress, and that we've gotten complacent over the last 6 months. Part of it could be the New Year getting closer, and the anticipation of what we can and will do in 2010. I definitely haven't lost motivation, if anything I have more and don't know what to do with it!

I went over last months numbers and here's is what I think I should focus on in November:

1. Sticking to the menu:
A. Cutting back on the fast food/dinning out.
B. Stop running to the store for chips, soda, eggs, etc., and plan better when I do go.
C. Using what we have in the freezer, and using up leftovers.

2. Using less gas:
A. Make sure I budget enough for the pay period based on that weeks activities.
B. Cutting down on MY driving, and planning lots of errands in one day.
C. Cut back on the trips to the commissary. (100 miles round trip!!)


Ok, so that the game plan for November! Maybe what I need is to get back to the basics and focus on the areas that NEED the most work.

October Goals

Fall is my all time favorite season. I love everything about it-the smells, colors, crisp air, football, apples, sweaters, crunchy leaves, open windows, bonfires, soups, Halloween, and the anticipation of the coming Holiday Season. This time of year makes me so happy, and excited to just be able to experience it!

I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air. -Nathaniel Hawthorne

October Goals:

1. Pay $250 to the Credit Card

2. Save $100 for Christmas*

3. Pay $150 to the Bike*

4. NO New Debt

5. Post at teast 10 times.

6. Take more pictures!

After I posted this we changed out plans for Christmas shopping, and decided not to attend the MC Ball, so I changed the goals to reflect the new plan. We also added the new Bike Debt.

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!

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!!!

One Credit Card Down...

Only one more and a truck loan left until "WE'RE DEBT FREE".

I paid it off this morning. It was a small balance, but annoying none the less. Our goal is to be debt free, except the truck by March 2010, and then start saving like our lives depend on it to buy a house (and thus take on MORE debt) by the beginning of 2011 when we move. It had the highest interest rate at 19%, and it was a dreaded store card. I know those are the worst to have, but I was an employee of the company at the time and we were forced to get one. I actually never used it, until David needed all new clothes for a business trip. I used it that one day, spend $265 and never used it again. Now, 2 months later it's paid off. It has a credit limit of over $5k, so I'll keep it open so it adds to my credit score. I know Dave Ramsey says it doesn't matter what your FICO is, and I completely agree. However we are in our early-mid twenties and will be buying a home in the next 2 years, so I don't want to hurt the score either. We only have one card that we really used and it has an interest rate of 9%. We haven't used it since December 2008!!!! And we'll have it paid off (hopefully) in March 2010.

A look back...

I started this blog on December 1st 2008. I can't believe it's already been almost 8 months! Lately I have been really motivated, but it hasn't always been that way. Being able to look back on the past few months has help me stay on focused and keep up with my goals. I have learned so many priceless things from other bloggers. I decided now is a good time to look back see how I have changed since there, and where I could still use some work!

Accomplishments:

• We have paid off over $6, 600 in debt.
• We have set up a new cash only budget that is working very well for us.
• We are following Dave Ramsey's plan.
• My neighbor has become my best friend, and coupon partner.
• I am way more organized and prepared then last year.
• We have a positive cash flow each month.
• WE HAVEN'T USED OUR CREDIT CARD IN OVER 7 MONTHS!!!
• We have savings accounts set up for the pet, gifts, travel, vehicles, and emergency, and they all get money added at least once a month.
• We have a solid, achievable 5 year plan.
• We bought a new truck. I know this added to our debt, but we got a great deal and it's under warranty. Our old truck needed over $3000 in repairs, so this was a smart move.
• At CVS alone I've saved over $1000, I think in total my coupons savings is well over $2000. Next year I will track it better.

Things that still need some work:

• We did add to our debt by buying a new truck, and while it was the best decision, we still feel it's extremely important that we start now to pay if off early.
• We can still "cut some fat" from our budget.
• I would like to increase our retirement savings and open an IRA in addition to our 401k.
• We need to cut down our traveling to Florida to once a month.
• I want to track my coupon savings better.

I am excited about the changes we've made this year and proud of all we've done. Thanks for taking this journey with me, and thanks for blogging and giving me ideas and motivation!

June 7-13 Summary & Goals

UGH! This was another "bad" week. So much waste and unplanned things. Plus I've had family here non-stop, and while I LOVE having them here, it does challenge my budget. He are the numbers for the week.

Budgeted/Actual:
Groceries, Household, Pet: $40/$73
Gas: $50/$50
Cash: $40/$60
Misc: $50/$78

Total Over: $81

Father's Day Trip:$100...trip was changed, and my parents are coming over here on Father's Day weekend. We've planned a beach trip with the dogs, so it should be fairly frugal. Thank goodness!!!

And as for my goals-they are going OK.

1. My reading is going alright, I have read several pages, but with company here the last day or two I've been slacking. I plan to read more tonight before bed. I can really see a difference in my attitude about this new frugal change in my life. It's helping me see it more as I'm gaining insight rather then I'm giving up shopping.

2. I haven't added any to savings, but that's fine. I normally add the money on the first payday anyway, so this isn't a failure. Although I COULD have saved more and squeezed in another $100 this pay period.

3. I have totally failed on planning a sticking to a menu. The planning went well, as did the shopping. My total before coupons was $180, after coupons I walked out spending $97, including the $8 surcharge. I was very pleased with that. However, we've spent $49 dining out, and we're only 2 days into the pay period!

Summer Goals

Some say summer is almost here, but if you live with me in the South, I'm sure you're thinkin' it's already here. It's closing in on 90 degree heat everyday and dry as a bone. But I do love it! The humidity doesn't bother me, since my whole 23 years have been spent in it. And summer is good for the budget! There is so much to so for free outside, and so many friends to grill out with, good books to read and gardens to grow! I love summer. And because this summer I'm striving to be frugal and stay on budget I've set up some goals.
I tend to go hog wild with goals and set about 10 at a time and then wonder why I can't stick them out. Wonder if it's because I overload myself? So I whittled it down to 3 goals for the summer, to be completed by September 1st.

Here they are:
1. Read and study Psalms and Proverbs. I know this isn't a traditional personal finance goal, but for me this isn't just about the amount of money I spend and save. It's about getting myself organized and being responsible. Both Psalms and Proverbs have great life lessons that make me what to be a better person and strive for that balance in life. Like Psalms 37:21 that says "The wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous sheweth mercy and giveth." And Proverbs 22:7 "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

2. Add $600 to Emergency Fund.

3. Plan and stick to a menu plan, including a new dish once a week.