Navigating life and finances
Trying hard to accept the changes.Work at my seasonal job is now in full swing, but it is anything but like last year. This year we have a new director. While pleasant enough, she is the complete opposite of my former boss. I have come to realize that this is going to be a different kind of season, and others are feeling it too. [Read more…]
How’d we do? We did great, that’s how we did! Another $1,328.76 of debt is now gone forever! Since starting our journey on January 1st (just five short months ago!), we have now paid off a total of $6,980.21. Had I realized how close we were to reaching the $7K mark, I would have squeezed out another $20 to add to our number. Needless to say, I am thrilled to see this progress! [Read more…]
“I’d rather sit on a block of wood than make a payment on a piece of furniture.” ~ MomHave you ever given any real thought to the best advice you learned from your mother? A small group of us were talking about this very thing during the Mother’s Day breakfast at church a few weeks ago. Funny how we all had different tidbits that stood out in our minds. Keep in mind that most of this came from women in the 50+ age group. [Read more…]
Choosing not to make sense of it all. $25,000 in debt and making $50,000. Live on half you earn and use the other half to pay off debt. You can have this mess cleaned up in no time.
No, these are exact quotes from Dave Ramsey. Hence I’m not using quotations. I have, however, heard Dave say similar things to callers on his talk show. In Dave’s defense, there is no way during a call of just a few minutes he could possibly understand the entire picture. Nor does Dave possess a magic globe to see into the caller’s future. [Read more…]
Never hurts to ask! There are times I honestly think this blog is more about my pets than getting out of debt. Here I am, yet again, writing about one of our fur babies. For those not too familiar, we have two senior dogs and one senior cat. Earlier this year one of our dogs made it through yet another rough patch. Albeit after a few visits to our vet. Two weeks ago we had both dogs seen for their annual updates and preventative medications. $350 later, I had hoped they would be good to go. [Read more…]
Increasing hours and bigger checks! Wow, it has been a busy week, and it is just going to keep getting more and more hectic. Hours are increasing with my seasonal position, and I’ve also been asked to work some extra hours at my part-time job. Topping it off is my personal business, although I do have control over the hours I spend doing that. I keep reminding myself that bigger checks mean we can pay down more debt! [Read more…]
Making our money behave.Yesterday was payday! Yay, especially since I was down to $23 in my wallet, $20 of which was earmarked for the empty gas tank in my car. Aside from the bills we pay online and checks to our church; we primarily use cash. In doing so, we make our money behave. [Read more…]
Thankfully paint isn’t a major budget buster! The repaired wall my husband had been working on has received a fresh paint job. In an attempt to do good, he also touched up a few other walls that had scuff marks. While his intentions were good, sadly the paint color is a shade off. We will now be repainting our entire main living area. More time and money spent but as I prefer to look at it, could be far worse. [Read more…]
Because we don’t have $20,000 or even $2,000! I am often amused shocked at what some interior designers consider to be average costs of decorating. According to Laurel over at Laurel Home, you cannot update a living room for $2,000 bucks. Her post goes on to show an update she did for a client costing over $20,000! Wow, what a bargain. No disrespect, but even if it were my taste, there is no way our budget could handle that kind of a price tag! Then there is Lorri, over at Lorri Dyner, who seems a tad more in touch, at least when it comes to the cheaper end of things! She gives examples of a budget redo of $2,000 to a high-end of $33,000. I get it; furniture does cost money, but does it have to cost that much? [Read more…]
Because…”If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time!” ~ Zig ZiglarEver have one of those days where it feels like a struggle to get through every hour? When it came to our finances this past month, this is how every day seemed like to me, a struggle! April was rough! I can’t blame it on anything, in particular, just a lot of everything. Despite the challenges, we persevered. I’ve updated April’s goals in red. While it would be easy to feel defeated, I don’t. We still made progress, and I am thankful for what we did accomplish. [Read more…]