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!

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!

Interesting Documentary

My friend shared this link with me, it's a PBS documentary on credit card practices, the Truth in Lending Act, and some insight on the politics behind them. I think everyone should watch this, include your spouse and teenage children.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/creditcards/view/

Vacation

We're here at my parents house in Florida this week. We drive in yesterday, swung by the airport and picked up my brother, and made it in around lunch time. Last night we went to see "A Christmas Carol", it was mine and Matt's favorite book growing up. The movie was cute and stuck very closely to the actual Charles Dickens novel, which is always nice. Today we had a huge breakfast and now we're sitting in the living room, playing Wii. I'll be taking lots of pictures, but just wanted to post real quickly and say that I am not gone, just busy with the family. Hope you're all having a great weekend and getting ready for the big day!!!

Happy Veteran's Day and Happy Marine Corps Birthday

My husband, David, before he left for Iraq in 2007.

"I love the Corps for those intangible possessions that cannot be issued: pride, honor, integrity, and being able to carry on the traditions for generations of warriors past." Cpl. Jeff Sornig, USMC

My sister, my brother and I at my brother's Navy Boot Camp Graduation. January 2009

"I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "I served in the United States Navy""-John F. Kennedy (JFK)

November 1-7 Spending:

11/1:
$10 Burger King-Breakfast
$5 Target-Halloween Clearance
$12 Marshall's-Halloween Clearance
$13 Kirkland's-Halloween Clearance

11/2:
$9 Heros-lunch with BFF

11/3
$9 Dog Food
$14 Candles, Soda, Chips, TP
$1 McD's Burger

11/4:
$5 Coupon Order

11/5:
$3 SnoBalls

11/6:
$7 Cracker Barrel
$10 Walmart
$20 Gas

11/7:
$4 Target
$14 Walmart
$5 Dollar Tree
$20 Hero's

This week I spent $137 on things that we didn't NEED. Ugh, that's a lot. In red are the things that were wants and could have been avoided. Technically all but about $50 were within budget because we used cash. But lately I've been wondering if we spend the cash because we have it. Just because I have $10 left in my Blow Money, doesn't mean I need to go to Target and see what I can buy for $10. I need to really work on that! Hopefully this week will be better. My weakness is seasonal clearance, I've spend a lot on marked down Halloween stuff. Which is fine if it's stuff I'll actually need and use next year. But naturally I get sucked into buying crap just because it's 75% off. Another weakness if boredom. I want to try to stay out of stores more this week. Last week I went shopping almost everyday just because I could. But again-that doesn't mean I SHOULD. If I stay out of stores and busy doing something else then I can't spend any money, right!? I'll check back in next week.

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.

A Productive Day!

Whoa, am I tired! But I've gotten a lot done today, and it's only 4:30. David started his motorcycle safety course today, and since he wasn't going to be working out before work, I made him breakfast. So my day started about 5:30am! My normal wake up isn't until about 7-ish. But I love days when I get up early, I seem to get a lot done. Then later in the morning I called my mom, who told me that she and my sister are coming to stay with me Sunday-Wednesday for Lane's Fall Break!!! I am thrilled. I haven't seen them since the 2nd, and I didn't think I'd get to see them again until Thanksgiving so I am super excited about that. Daddy can't come, he has to work and stay there to take care of the animals.

That sent me into a cleaning frenzy! Now, mind you, I stay home all day and clean regularly but when I know someone is coming over I kick it up a few notches. Today I managed to vacuum all the baseboards, air vents, window sills, closets, mattresses, dryer vent, and floors upstairs. I also cleaned 2 bathrooms, and the laundry room. I still have lots to do, but dang! my arms are tired for dragging that vacuum cleaner all over. That was all in addition to my normal cleaning-I did a load of dishes, laundry (which still need to be put away), and general straightening downstairs. Can I just say I will be thrilled to death when we move into a 1 story house. Luckily, my laundry room is on the 2nd story, where all the bedrooms are. But still! I hate stairs, and I especially hate vacuuming them.

All this cleaning did make for a good day budget wise, although I did leave the house to go to Sonic. But since it was Happy Hour, and I got a large Coke for less then a dollar, I'm totally not even counting that. I paid for it out the change in my truck's ash try! And I think I deserved it!

Also, David's motorcycle jacket came in today. I am so happy. He's ecstatic about how "cool" it is. And I am loving that it's armored with back, elbow, shoulder, and neck padding "just in case". I am getting used to the idea of him driving it, but I can't really say I'm loving it. He's at the Marine Corps motorcycle safety course today and tomorrow, so that also makes me feel better. And I have to say I am loving the $8 a week it takes him to drive back and forth to work. (Verses the $40 a week on the truck!) And the cheap insurance. It's still a little nerve wracking though!

I think that's enough rambling for today. Time to go cook some dinner! Y'all take care.

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?

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!

I want this!

It's the Kodak Z1015 IS. I've been researching cameras for almost 6 months now. I love taking pictures but currently it's a hassle. My "good" camera's flash bulb went out almost a year ago and I was told it would cost more to fix it then to buy a new one. I can use it for outdoor pictures, but nothing inside, cloudy, or after dusk. For this I use my "bad" camera. It's not awful, just old. It's 6 mega pixels, and no optical zoom. It works, but I really enjoy taking pictures and neither of these cameras fit my needs. So in researching and shopping around I found this beauty. I've played with it in person and have fallen in love. And the best part? Sam's Club has it for $210. My birthday is coming up, so I'm using the money I get, and money I've saved and buying it. In fact, if I save enough between now and then I might get it in time for brother's homecoming! I'll have tons a nice pictures to post on my blog after that. I am so excited!!!

Gardening

So I got my last check today from my old job. It was $331, so I was pleased with that. I paid $200 to my credit card, and I'm keeping the remaining $131 for my garden, and other random things I might want or need now that I have all the time in the world. Last weekend, David and I prepped the area we'll be using for our garden. It's very, very small, but we have big plans for it! We know we're growing some tomatoes, both big, and small sizes, cucumbers, and maybe some spinach. I'm also growing some herbs, including cilantro, chives, and maybe thyme. I'm going out later today to buy the plants from a local nursery. I've never really had any luck with starting from seeds. Plants can get expensive though, and I'm going to try my hand at starting from seeds again. Now that I actually have the time to devote to it. I'll take some pictures when I get done tonight.

I'm so excited!!! And I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions you have.