Baby Steps.....

Our church started small groups on Sunday night again. I do love small groups as you get to know people better, however, I'm not sure how I'm going to like this class. First of all we had to pay $99 to take it.....ouch, ouch, ouch! That's quite a lot of money. Secondly, it is Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. I've listened to Dave a few times on the radio, but I have to admit I feel at times he can be a little harsh on these people who are desperately seeking help. Maybe that's me sympathizing with their pain and him just saying it "as it is".
I keep wondering how we can have "financial peace" when Jack is losing his job. How can you have peace when there is no income coming in, or if there is, it is significantly lower than you have now? I do have peace that we have money put away, but what if we deplete that fund? Class one homework was to make a budget. How can I really make a budget when I don't know what we have coming in?
Dave does a lot of baby steps. One of the baby steps is to have $1k in the bank for your "emergency fund" (check, thankfully we have that). One of the other baby steps later down (I think it is 4, 5 or 6) is to have 3-6 months of savings saved up. (check, we have that). At this point I should be feeling pretty good about the class, but it's all the other stuff having me worried. Will I EVER be able to go shopping again without feeling guilty about it? If I find some clothing for 75% off for any of us, will I have to pass it up? What if I want a girls night out? Do I have to tell them "sorry....there's not enough in the budget this month....please wait until April 1st when a new month starts?"
Jack and I charge EVERYTHING, but we pay EVERYTHING off every month. (and earn rewards for it) Still, this is a big no no with Dave. I must admit, I don't fully agree with him about cutting them up. What if I want to reserve a hotel room, or book a flight? I am NOT giving them my ATM card for that!! From what I heard, Dave does not even agree with a credit card even if you pay it off each month. I am not sure how I will handle an "all cash basis". I guess I have to rob from our grocery fund if our gas fund runs out. I agree we have gotten slack about running through the drive thru and not tracking where our money really goes (even though we write down all our receipts to verify them) but I honestly dread going to an envelope system!!
And the idea of a lower income or no income at all scares me. How do we cut any more corners? We don't have cable, we take our own garbage, I won't get my haircut, Jack cuts the boys hair, I use coupons, I shop for bargains and the list could go on......I'm not sure what else we could cut at this time to make ends meet.
So stay tuned to see how well I adjust to this new system and what Dave Ramsey teaches me!! I know Jack is fully on board.....I'm just a little further behind at this point.

New Colors

I am one that after 4-5 years gets really tired of my comforter. That is the case again this year. So for a late Christmas present I went from the blue/yellow to red. I just wanted something different. I found some valances to match the comforter off Ebay, but now I am wanting to paint the room. Should I go with some red walls (same shade as the comforter) or should I pick up the tan color that is in the pillows, comforter and bed skirt?

More from Jacob

The other night I think I needed a "mommy time out", but instead, I got another dose of laughter from Jacob.

ME: Jacob, would you please quit wallering all over my rug.
Jacob: Mom, I'm not wallering.
Jacob: (a few seconds later) Mom, what does wallering mean?

I'm not even sure if wallering is a real word. It didn't come up on my spell check, but it's a word my mom used to use a lot!!

Jacob, the cold, and our discussions!!

This is Jacob from the other night. He wanted to get warm after taking his shower. He totally cracked me up!!

Sometimes I love the discussions that come up in car trips. Jacob and Jenna wanted to know how much it would cost if we all went out to dinner tonight (which we are not). I told them for all of us to go to Fridays or Chilis it would be $40. They couldn't believe it. After I convinced them I wasn't kidding this discussion came up:

Jacob: Mom, how can you afford things like going out to dinner

Me: well, sometimes we have to make sacrifices in order to do special things

Jacob: yuck, I can't stand blood!

Jenna: where are we going to find a lamb!!

I totally died laughing! I couldn't even try to explain what a "sacrifice" was because they have only heard about Bible sacrifices and didn't believe a sacrifice could be something other than blood and lambs!!

It feels like Christmas

It feels like Christmas all over again. Every day, Jack comes home with something new. The bad part is that I can't keep up with everything he is bringing home. PLEASE don't come over to my house right now. Look at my kitchen table.....its full of paper plates, napkins, hot chocolate, coffee (to be given away) popcorn, crystal light, misc things. In my room is 4 laptops and a printer which are ready to be donated to the school. I just get things put away and then new treasures come home. The kids wake up every morning and say "I wonder what daddy will bring home tonight". Thank you God once again for the added blessings even when things don't look so good right now.

Blessings in the down times......

(I apologize for the sideways pictures. Once again, I can't figure out how to move them. They are the right way when I load them up, but then they turn around again. Just turn your head sideways for a minute. This new stuff makes me realize how computer illiterate I really am)

I'm amazed on how we have been blessed lately during these last few working days. Jack has just a couple more weeks left at work. One of the nice things is that there are only 6 guys left at work, so he is getting a lot of things that the company is getting rid of. My closet is full of computer gadgets. SCS was able to come and get a large Uhaul trailer and a small Uhaul trailer full of things for the school (science lab tables, chairs, office equipment, lab equipment etc). Jack came home with a beautiful bookcase for us. I wish I would have taken a picture of our old one. It was from Walmart and was about 15 years old and very beat up. I moved the old one into the kids room, but then we were blessed with another one. We also got a "miniature" refrigerator. It's practically brand new. The bad thing is that it is sitting in my kitchen right now, but I can just see (or dream) of the day that we get a house with a garage and can put it in there for extra food. We are hoping that Jack gets a job soon so that we can get a storage shed to hold all this extra stuff. Jack also came home this week with a new cooler, an exercise mat, 2 brand new umbrellas and other misc small things. Who knows.....we may need to sell all of this in a few months for the extra money.

Mom and Josh time

Friday morning Joshua and I got up early and drove to Charlotte. Part of his Christmas present was tickets to see Clemson play (his favorite team) in the Meinke Car Care Bowl. I don't know exactly how I got nominated to go, but it seems that both Jack and Joshua really wanted me to go. I have never been to a college game before and it really was a lot of fun. I was glad I was able to go and spend time with Josh.