A Dime at a Time

Navigating life and finances

Want to follow my journey? Enter your email below, and you\'ll receive all the latest posts!

A budget friendly living room makeover

By: 8 Comments

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…]

April Progress Update

By: comment

Progress is still progress!

I’m a day late getting this update written.  Between working my seasonal job, prepping for the election,  rearranging my furniture (more on that later) and then putting some time into my business, I lost track of the day.  At least most of these activities were money earning activities!  The prepping for the election took all of 15 minutes, for which I’ll receive an extra 2 hours of pay.  I’ve also been asked to help break it down after the election is over, for which I’ll receive another 2 hours.  Working the polls won’t make you rich, but I’ll take the snowflake!  Thankfully the precinct I work for pays us decently for the minimal work involved.  Strangely they don’t all pay the same hourly wage, but at least in my state, you can work for any of them.  Anyhow, onto our progress! [Read more…]

April goals reviewed and May goals set

By: 15 Comments

Because…”If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time!”  ~ Zig Ziglar

Ever 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…]

It is not too late to start planting!

By: 10 Comments

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” –Chinese Proverb.

A few days ago, a fellow blogger over at One Family One Income reminded me of this old Chinese Proverb, and it got to me thinking.  She didn’t refer to directly to this Proverb but was questioning why the previous owners of her house had never planted a single tree or shrub.  She and her husband were now looking at various options of what to plant.  They also wanted to give their landscape a jump start by planting larger trees.  Additionally, they have been taking other necessary measures to spruce up other areas of their yard by cleaning up junk left behind and now thatching and reseeding.  When it comes to many things in life, including our finances, the very same concept can apply.  That is what I love about this old saying. [Read more…]

Onward and Upward

By: 6 Comments

My seasonal job has officially begun!

The past week has been one of getting reacquainted with my seasonal position of last year.  With this being my second year on the job, many things are thankfully very familiar.  I’ve never been one who enjoys a lot of change or surprises.  Change, however, is often to be expected, whether we like it or not.  We do have some new faces on staff and also new software.  So far it seems to be a relatively easy program to navigate.  As for the new faces, they all appear to be friendly. [Read more…]

Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Why we continue to save.

By: 12 Comments

Extra bills, unplanned purchases, and a short check:  The potential makings of a financial storm.  

Yes, this is how our month has gone so far.  We took yet another hit when hubbies last check was short.  Groan!  He has a very irregular paycheck and depending on what time in his pay cycle he comes home, it causes his check to be one of either feast or famine.  Needless to say, when you are digging out of debt, the latter is never a good thing! [Read more…]

Beyond The B Team

By: 14 Comments

Which team is yours?

 

Have you ever looked at an area in your life and thought “Wow, I’m really on the B team with this one!”  I believe that it is safe to say that at some point or another, we all have felt that way from time to time.  Let’s face it, while it would be awesome to automatically excel at everything we do in life, that simply isn’t reality, or at least not for the majority of us! [Read more…]

What I won’t give up while digging out of debt.

By: 16 Comments

Getting out of debt takes sacrifices, but there are things that I still won’t give up!

Looking in my pantry earlier today, I couldn’t help but wonder about the pantries of others who are digging themselves out of debt.  Lately, my pantry looks beyond sparse.  I’m sure anyone else taking a look would have to wonder what I even eat!  There is some store brand canned goods and other basic cooking supplies (can we say beans and rice!) but then almost sticking out like sore thumbs, there are a handful of name brand items.  Yes, there are some things we simply won’t give up, no matter what the cost.  As we travel this road, there is are also 2 (yep, just two!) other things that are also non-negotiable.  So then, just what are these things?   [Read more…]

Murphy is Lurking

By: 2 Comments

We will heed the warning and stop him!  

Clocked wind gusts of 70 miles per hour, pelting rain and dime-sized hail, no electricity for 10 hours, no internet for 16 hours, no heating pad for 10 hours, no running sump pump for 10 hours and worst of all, water in the basement!  Murphy  Mother Nature, we will heed your warning! [Read more…]

What are you waiting for?

By: 6 Comments

On average families who complete Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University pay off $5,300 and save $2,700 in the first 90 days.

Wow!  That is an $8,000 difference in just 90 days!  I don’t know exactly how these figures are calculated, this is simply something I pulled from Dave Ramsey’s website.  One thing I can say is that my husband and I did indeed see an $8,000+ difference in our own finances in the first 90 days of following Dave’s plan.  While my husband and I didn’t actually go through a class, we did read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and we also listened to Financial Peace University (FPU) on CD.  With my husband’s crazy work schedule, attending a class simply wasn’t a feasible thing for us to do together.  I can’t help but wonder how much more we might have been able to do had we attended an actual class.  Still, I am beyond thrilled with our progress. [Read more…]

Archives

Categories