Monthly dinner Menu… February

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Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
FEBRUARY		Assorted Appetizers for Sunday evening. on Feb. 2nd….			1--Beef Flamade--stew meat--Missions Conference this might change Joshua’s Bday!!!	2-Fellowship dinner at church Korean Beef http://elizabethbryant.blogspot.com/2010/05/korean-beef.html
3-Fellowship lunch @ church	4-Crock pot swiss chicken casserole	5-Lasagna	6-Bf Stroganoff	7-Cheese Potato smoked sausage casserole http://www.food.com/recipe/joleans-cheese-potato-smoked-sausage-casserole-126623	8-Crab Cakes	9-Shepherds pie
10-Tortellini tomato soup	11-Enchiladas	12-Smothered Chk casserole http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/smothered-chicken-casserole/	13-Tacos	14-Mongolian Beef--flank steak Orient Express	15-BBQ Pork Pork Butt Shoulder	16-Chk Parmesan
17-Wet Burritos	18-Italian Chicken	19-Low Country boil--Kielbasa	20-Ranch sauce chicken tacos	21-Spinach stuffed chicken breasts—this might change….. Matthew’s Bday!!!	22-Chicken Manhattan	23-Salmon something
24-Chicken Caesar wraps	25-Meatball sub casserole	26-Lemon Chicken	27-cheesy Hamburger broccoli casserole	28-Stk and Ale pie--Round Steak

 

Well here is the proposed menu for February.  I made a trip to Sam’s Club the other day.  I am trying this idea of buying all my protein/meat for the month at one time.  The idea is that I will get the meat for a less expensive amount. With the meat off of the weekly budget that frees up my money to buy more fruits and vegetables and other items to fill in the dinners. I took a couple pictures to show what I ended up with. 

This was my goal stew-1, Chicken-9 hamb.—8, crab/sal-2, sausage-3,  cube stk-1,flank stk—2, tortellini-1, Pork—1, church-1

I was able to purchase all of the chicken 5 bags, all of the hamburger two “tubes/rolls”, the sausage, pork tenderloin and pork shoulder and stew meat as well as Cod for a meal this past Friday.  Later in the month, I will need to get the salmon as well as cube steak and flank steak.

  

I was able to use my Seal A Meal and divide each roll of meat into 4-2 lb sections, split the Jimmy Dean Sausage into two sections as well as the Stew meat.

The purchase of all the meat as well as a case of soda and a case of water came to $204 and some change.  Due to the size I am able to buy in at Sam’s the pork tenderloin will be enough for 4 meals even though I do not have it on my menu this month, I am planning ahead.  The pork Shoulder will be enough for six meals once it is cooked.  The stew meat was 3 lbs. and that will work out for two meals for our family.

 

I just realized I forgot to get the picture of the Pork shoulder, but I can do that later.  I have the comparison shot of what the size and price of the one I bought at the local grocer. The chicken I am counting on 2 meals per a bag, sometimes there are 10 pieces or 11 pieces so this works out great. The chicken at Sam’s was 10.99 for a 10 pound bag.

Well there you have it, we’ll see how we stay on track for our meals this month.  January had lots of missed days due to being sick where we just ate sandwiches or macaroni and cheese.  Take care everyone and God Bless.

{WATTS} in your bill…..

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So I mentioned previously that it was a lean month in December…well I decided I would try and do what I could to cut down on our electricity bill.  I scoured the internet to look for ways I could potentially make an impact on our bill.  We have a budget of only $200 a month for electricity and it seems, quite a bit lately, that we are overspending.  Going over budget…Yikes…  Part of it being the more children the more clothes to wash and if we have to wash extra loads of sheets that adds to the drying….

Well I whipped around the house and unplugged everything I could think of based upon what I had read on the internet, that meant the microwave…it has that little time display that takes up extra wattage when not in use, the toaster oven, the bedside lamps, the clock radio in the bedroom, that we don’t even use per se, the washer, the dryer, the DVD player, the hairdryer, the charging station that had like 4 other plugs not being used plugged into it, making sure lights were off in unused rooms….you get the idea….

I mean I was really passionate about this, I was going to do my best to help my husband out to not feel the extra burden of trying to make ends meet with the slow season, it was the least I could do!

So the first night hubby was home he tells me I don’t need to unplug the toaster oven…I was like (to myself) are you knit picking me???? Here I am trying to help out and I JUST read to unplug them!!! Do you not see that I am HELPING you is what I was rattling off inside my head…. So then he commented that the microwave was unplugged like it was a big chore to plug in to use…ugghh.

And then it came to the lamps on the nightstands in the bedroom…and it went something like this…

“You don’t have to unplug the lamps!”  me…”I read on the internet that you do”

me….”Why can’t you just plug the lamp in when you need it?” him…”Why can’t you just leave the lamp plugged in!”  him….”You are not trusting me to know what is right!” me….”Ok, fiiinnnne!”

Yeah, so much for being able to help out and being sabotaged left and right for my efforts, it’s the least I can do when I am home all day and it just didn’t seem to be getting through to him that I was really trying to help…

And as I sit here now typing this out, maybe it was more about him feeling like his ability to be able to provide for his family was being threatened or challenged in some way….like such extreme measures were not needed…I don’t know, I am not the psychologist but, like to think like one, at times….HA!

Well the toaster oven and microwave ended up getting left plugged in because I would forget to unplug the micro. which was a bummer to me as I know it was a pretty good usage of wattage. So I think I will try and keep up my efforts this month.  The washer and dryer…well they ended up getting left plugged in as well…that dryer plug is such a pain the way it has the three prongs that are rectangles and then the proximity to the top of the dryer on the wall…not real easy to finagle.  As you can guess the lamp stands went in favor of my husband, the hair dryer was forgotten…the DVD player was also forgotten.  However, the DVD player is used once a week on Friday evenings, so it is more a matter of remembering to unplug when done so it is not running all week long, so I am going to tackle that one as well this month.

When it was all said and done here was the result!!!

Last month, December our bill was once again over… at $221.66 and through my passionate and painstaking attempts, I managed to get our bill down to $174.32…that was a whopping $47 dollar savings and in my book that means I made $25 dollars because I was under budget, which means that is an extra $25 I can put towards a medical bill!!

Well what worked the best….not using my dryer would be a biggie.  I have two wood drying racks one really large one that I was blessed with two years ago and one smaller one. Placing both of these over the air vents, one in the kitchen one in the family room. 

Next was cutting the thermostat.  During the day it is only at 65 and at night I turned it down to 55.  We are in bed under tons of blankets in a nice little cocoon, it made sense. The mornings we may start up the fireplace to take the chill off but otherwise if we are cold during the day we put on an extra sweater.

Another impact was the television, it’s a monster of a t.v. and there is no way it is ever going to disappear since it is a crucial part to my husbands business.  However, I can make sure it is not on until after dinner time.  This was an easy accomplishment since my hubby is usually not home until late due to his clients schedules.  While I know it is still consuming power being plugged in and I cannot even get to the plug, but the amount of wattage is not decently reduced.

Lastly, staying on top of those lights left on in the bedrooms and bathroom.  Cutting off the night light in the bathroom…we don’t have one of those little tiny plug lights it was the bathroom main light on with the door slightly ajar…well we did away with that and there have been no issues about being able to find the bathroom!

I am just so excited and the two arrow’s were just to show that I used even less wattage than I did last year at the same time!!  So take the challenge and see if you can improve your bottom dollar.  Can you cut unnecessary usage even when you don’t need to?   Can you find ways to cut back and help ease the burden of making ends meet?

 

Dinner Menu Planning….January

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Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
30-Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup --Pinterest XX	January --Italian Chicken XX	1-Homemade Pizza XX	2-Chicken Fajitas XX	3-Meatloaf XX	4-Chicken Parmesan XX	5-Corn and Shrimp chowder—Pinterest  my post about it here XX
6-Hamburger Pinwheels—Hillbilly Housewife XX	7-Honey Apricot Sesame Chicken XX	8-Pork Lo Mein XX	9- Raviolis XX	10-Homemade chicken shake and bake XX	11- Homemade Chicken Taquitos XX	12-Cheeseburger Soup—Pinterest My post about it XX
13-deli sandwiches----Apple Fritter Bread--Pinterest for ladies luncheon—My post about it here XX	14-Spaghetti	15-Lemon Chicken	16-Toasty cheese Bake—a recipe from the 1970’s I grew up eating and found on Pinterest!!!  My post here XX	17-Pork Medallions	18-Meatballs and rice XX	19-Church Fellowship--Pizza Rolls/Walnut rasp. Torte XX
20-Chicken and rice Casserole	21--Cheesy Hamburger and broccoli—Pinterest XX	22--chicken Marsala	23--Tacos XX	24--meatballs and veggies	25--Fish Tacos XX	26-Creamy bacon ranch chicken pasta orig. found on Pinterest
27-Beef Stroganoff---Ended up eating Ravioli’s	28-Italian Crockpot chicken XX	29-Pork Tenderloin with honey---Ended up eating pizza from Aldi’s	30-Sloppy Joes	31-chicken pot pie		XX = Recipes that have been cooked for the month.

So the month of December for our family was pretty rough in terms of finances.  We had a paycheck the week before Thanksgiving and then no paycheck until the week of Christmas.  Not an easy way to live, but when you have the Lord in your life, all things are possible and He will provide for your needs.  We made it through with help from my parents, birthday money that I had received and was waiting to spend, help from my Sister and help from our Church!! 

Being Self-employed there is always the chance that there will not be paychecks.  So I sat down a week ago and made up a menu for the whole month of January to help me keep on track so that we did not spend any extra on eating out when that is just not an option. 

I also changed our food budget based on an idea I read about over at: Bacon In My Pocket she has a modest grocery budget for the size of her family and she manages to set aside money every two weeks to go towards buying her meats at either Costco or Sam’s club depending on where you live in the U.S.  I decided to put that plan into action.  We currently have 120.00 a week set aside for our family of 8 for groceries.  I changed it to be $100/week and set aside the extra $20 in a Sam’s Club envelope.  This money is not to be spent but saved up for a trip to Sam’s Club once every 3 months.  This is to then be the meat stock up.  Having an extra stand up freezer out in our garage allows us to be able to stock up.  We will be able to get large quantities of hamburger, chicken, etc.  I calculate we will have approximately $240 to stock up at that time and once we have done that, it will free up my regular grocery budget for buying more fresh vegetables as well as other items for making some really nice dishes…

So in the meantime, here is our menu for January and I will try to post the recipes with pictures.  

Bible Study time…

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We have been working on our second week of Family Devotion time.  I have done family devotions in the past but this time I am sitting down with a laid out format and we are really studying the bible and memorizing events etc. We are using the program from Bible Study Guide For All Ages .  I have to say the children are so excited about this and that is just the hugest blessing.  There is a daily plan that starts out with Drills over important issues to memorize..for instance, we are memorizing the 4 sections of the New Testament and then all the books of the New Testament that fall into each section.  

 

My oldest already knows them from her Wednesday evening church class, however, my younger children do not, and they have been having a great time with this.  The second section moves into the text for that day and there are some follow up scriptures that relate to the concept being taught. You might also find there are some definitions that relate to the text to further explain.  Once the text is done there are 7 questions to be answered.  The lesson is finished out by relating the lesson to your daily life with an application verse and prayer.

We use the program by doing everything orally, however, there is the option to use student workbooks and they are geared to the child’s age.  Everyone is doing the same lesson at the same time. There is also a Timeline as well as 3 additional maps to help you and the children see visually where everything is occurring.  We are using all of these and I am including pictures here so you can see the depth of how much this covers. In addition to these teaching tools there are Visuals that show the lessons you have covered in character form without text.  It is a great way to recount the bible stories and have a helping aid in case you forget the events in the order they happened. .There is one last aid and these are the Cards that teach about the books of the bible.  They have picture aids on the front that make it interesting for children and on the reverse they have text related to the book of the bible and questions related to what you read.   

In any event, we are having a blast and it is so wonderful to start out our day in this manner.  It has also helped with life lessons throughout the day to be able to refer back to our application verse and how it applies to a trial that has arisen. I hope you all have a blessed week~~

So How Long can You Stay Out Of Debt For???

Pin It I know if you are determined and persevere and just make do with whatever comes up, you can always make it and not use Credit Cards......

I am so thankful that we have no debt and have actually started are savings....I am also thankful that we have our $1000.00 Emergency Fund.......

I told Tim 3 days ago that I thought the washing machine was making a slightly different noise when spinning....we know the dryer is on its last leg....Tim already took it apart once to fix the drum somehow so that it wouldn't squeak loudly when on....well the squeak is back this Winter.....and wouldn't you know when I went to put the clothes into the dryer from the washer today....I saw they were not pressed up against the sides and seemed a little wetter than should have been....  Well I thought, hmmph, I'll just move it to spin and spin the extra water out......Why is it the spin cycle never starts off just spinning it always needs to add water first????

Anyhow....you guessed it, no spinner.......so we'll see...hubby is over in the next town picking up equipment for a customer and said he would look and see what the cost of new washers cost....I am actually hoping we can get a temporary fix through my hubbies handyman work....next year I know the government is going to be offering a Stimulus plan for appliances and Washers and Dryers are going to be included...like early spring...and we could get a big tax write off.....

In any event, if nothing works out to fix it right now, we have already 300.00 saved and I just received a refund in the mail today for a medical bill and that is another 200.00 and if we need to use part of the Emergency fund then that is what it is for...And....I know we can get a better deal by paying cash up front and by negotiating the price so .....Stay Debt Free!!!!

I am off to wring out some clothes before hubby gets home so we can at least use the dryer and take a look at what is wrong with the Washer!!!

Take care!!!

Starting the next step to Financial Freedom

Pin It Well i spent last weekend crunching the numbers and going over our budget with my husband.  The next step in Dave Ramsey's plan is to save 3 to 6 months of living expenses.  Put this money aside in a savings account and keep it there for those times when you might get laid off of work or you are injured and cannot return to work for a period of time.

So we upped our grocery budget by 20.00  Whoooo whooo!!!   That should cover just buying the milk for our family...lol...  So nice not to have to choose between milk and other items needed!!  We changed up two other areas our Home Owners Association Dues and the dues for the Grief Support Site that I run.  There is a 6 mo. biannual fee that I had miscalculated on previously so that was changed by a whopping $1 and change...

So I figured it out that with the the savings we now have each month not going to debt, YIPPEE, it will actually take us about 13 months to get 3 months worth of living expenses.

Instead of just taking the paycheck and multiplying that out times 3 and then again for 6 to equal 6 months...we actually looked at the bills we pay each month and what were necessary living expenses... so we did not include phone/internet, we did not include any web hosting or domain name renewal, we did not include the money set aside for medical bills....

We did include mortgage, electricity, water, food, auto insurance, gas, the Home Owners Association.

So 13 months for 3 months of living expenses and 25 months for 6 months....so within a little over 2 years we will have completed Baby Step #3 hopefully....

and then that will move us onto Step #4 which is saving for college.....we'll see about that one...I am not a big fan of college...not saying my children shouldn't be educated and learn skills but I think there are other ways to gain those skills than by forking out tons of money for college tuition all for them to say you are not adequately prepared!!  I have looked into a program called CollegePlus which looks really interesting, I heard about this from Crystal over at thefamilyhomestead.com.  She has had one child just about graduate from the program and another one to enroll I think, in January........but then I also believe that one should go through college debt free without taking out school loans so these children will be working and saving their money.

So we'll see about that step but after that one comes paying off our mortgage early!!!  Oh I can't wait for that to be done!!!

So anyhow....that's the agenda and I'll keep you updated on how progress is going....The hard part about trying to save the living expenses is that there are other things we would like to save up for during the next few years and purchase (i.e. a new mattress...lol....)  so it might not get done as soon as we like but as long as we keep setting some money aside it will get done.

Live like No One Else so …….You can Live Like No One Else.

Pin It Well this would be the theme of Dave Ramsey, a Financial coach for anyone out there.....it is because of his class and his teachings that I can proudly say......

We have paid off all our debt!!!

I just went and sent off our last payment for a medical bill.  It took a total of 19 months.  This makes a wonderful Thanksgiving for us as a family in more ways than one.  There were tears in my eyes as I told the teller at the bank what that deposit was for.  She has (well about 4 of them have) seen our progress since we started this journey such a long time ago and it was such a wonderful feeling to be able to share with her that finally everything was paid off.

For those that are familiar with Dave Ramsey's class or are not...the debt does not include your mortgage...we still have a mortgage but if you follow his steps for managing your finances you will get to that part of paying it off early in step 6 of 7 steps.

I just wanted to share this bit of news with you and encourage others that it can be done, don't give up and stay focused.

God’s Blessing once again….Credit Card Debt

Pin It I sat today on my bed with tears of joy just streaming down my face.  Tears of an emotional if not physical burden lifted at last.

A little history if you will.  February of 2007, Tim and I decided to get serious about our finances, we had credit card debt and it was seriously hindering us being able to do the things we wanted and needed to do, especially with being self-employed.

An opportunity came up at the church we were attending at the time to take the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University course.  We really wanted to take it but did not have the money to pay for the course.  Someone at the church, we do not know who for sure, paid our way.  At the end of April the course started and lasted for 13 weeks.  I had been gung-ho on this if you will from the very beginning, hubby was really excited after watching an awesome video in one of the classes about a cheetah and a gazelle.... So if you can picture a Cheetah which can run about 70 mph, chasing a Gazelle which only has a top speed of 50 mph the chances of the Gazelle winning are slim most of the time.  So as you watch this video, picture Dave Ramsey screaming at the top of his lungs RUUUNNN, RUUUNNN, RUUUNNN.....because You are the Gazelle and your credit card debt is the Cheetah as well as Credit Card Companies......So they call it Gazelle intensity, your sole mission is to get out of debt, run from Credit cards and Credit card companies.....



So once we saw that, Tim was totally convinced that this was a good thing, we could do it....so we started on our journey...ever since then, we have had our monthly budget, which has not changed...lol....and we have used the envelope system....we have paid for cash for everything, even our local utility bills. Every Friday I would cash our checks and sometimes between Friday and well....Tuesday...lol...the money would get sorted into the envelopes....

The ladies at the bank know me by name and can practically sort the paycheck in their sleep into the denominations I needed down to the 13 quarters, 5 dimes, 3 nickels and 10 pennies.....  There is one teller, that I have shared a lot with about this journey and how freeing it has been.....there is less stress, no notices in the mail, things stay on track, there are no overdraft fees, and it is really very simple to accomplish...it just takes dedication, complete focus, intensity.....

Well here it is Tuesday and I hadn't sorted out our funds....well I did that today...I know we are getting close to being out of debt....so close that I am like hoarding every little possible penny to get out debt that much sooner...its like, if I could just take the whole entire paycheck and devote it to the debt, I would.....but then there would be no food on the table.....lol....Dave calls it Rice and Beaning it.....live on the bare minimum.....or rather his slogan...Live like no one else so you can live like no one else.....

Our weekly grocery allotment=$100.00 for all 6 of us and that includes any paper products and when we had our cat, all of its needs....any clothes, shoes, anything for school....it all came out of the grocery money...there just simply is no extra money....everything else goes directly to bills for each month...utilities, internet, life insurance, health insurance, gas ($30/wk), mortgage, auto insurance,etc.we have exactly .19cents each week that is not accounted for and that spare change gets saved every week and had already accumulated to $42.00 at last count and rolling....lol

Each week I write down the money for that week and I keep a running total in each envelope as to how much is there.  So today I was adding up how much I had for our CC fund for the month.....I needed to have 526.02 for this months payment.  As I looked through each envelope and tallied up where I might have extra money to add to the debt envelope....I saw that I was 10.00 shy of my goal.....ugghhhh....so close, where was I going to find 10.00 this week, there had to be 10.00 somewhere.....

Now, mind you, my bill is not due until the 28th...so there are actually several days left to find 10.00.....I sat there for a little while, went through the envelopes a few times, figured things in my head, added on paper.....no luck....and all of a sudden I remembered.....my spare change I had been saving just to use in this situation.....I went and found it and grabbed a $10 roll of quarters!

Why is this situation so important.....

THIS is our

LAST AND FINAL CREDIT CARD PAYMENT!!!!!!!!

For 17 months we have lived like no one else!!!!  We have become accustomed to a new dinner menu that was not nearly as elaborate as it used to be....we have worn clothes and shoes until they were well past their prime....we have sacrificed major events in our lives so that we could stay on track.....and today, I sat there tears streaming down my face, realizing that I can walk into the bank tomorrow and make the last deposit to get rid of that huge burden that has been on our shoulders.....it took 17 months with an income of approx. 36,000 to pay off almost 23,000 in credit card debt.

We will not be out of debt as of yet completely, I still have a 1500.00 medical bill from Tim's kidney stone last year that I have been paying on but at this rate, it will now be paid off by December 28th if not earlier in the month....

I am just so excited, no more interest rate fees, no more finance charges....I am hoping the teller at the bank is back from vacation tomorrow when I call, if not, I will wait until she returns...I know she will be just as excited as I am :)

God is so good!!!

Notes from Financial Class Session 2 Nerds and Free Spirits

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This session is about relating with money.

The flow of money in a family represents the value system of how it operates.  What you do with money screams who you are.

Emergency Fund Savings:

Men of think...."it's boring or not sophisticated to have a budget".....and on the other hand women think: "It's the most important key to our financial plan"  so you can see that men and women think differently about finances in a marriage.

Men take note, having an Emergency Fund and a Budget will revolutionize your marriage!!  Women need to feel secure in regards to their relationship to money. 

Shopping:

Men get good deals by negotiating for them....Ladies get good deals by hunting for them....She hunts he kills it when she finds it.....

Financial Problems:

Men lose self-esteem because money represents a score card to men...Women face fear/terror because with women, money usu. represents security.

Marriage and Money...Can we Talk?

The number one cause of divorce in America is money fights...7 out of 10 disagree and 57% of divorce couples state it is due to financial troubles.  This is the Number 1 opportunity in a marriage to make it better.

You need to agree on spending...which means agree on unity in your marriage which means agree on your fears...Get oneness and unity.

Who does the Financial Decision-making?

Both of you do!!  This is not a situation where husband makes me do all the finances and pay the bills so he has a way out and can blame the wife....or where the husband does all the finances and the wife has no clue about where the money goes....Or that you do your finances and I do my finances....The marriage was set up from the beginning that two shall be one and that is the way it is to be with the finances....both on the same page both communicating about them....no secrets.....Any debt you bring into a marriage is now Our debt....not yours or mine....any money that is inherited is not your money it is now Our money....

both of you do the financial decision making...One can prepare the paper but both of you decide what numbers go on the paper.

The partner with the natural gifts of numbers and organization can prepare the budget, but the decision-making must be done by both.

Nerds in a marriage are the ones that like doing he budget because it gives them control, and they feel like they are taking care of loved ones.  The Free Spirit feels controlled, not cared for, and can appear irresponsible to the nerd.

Then you have a Budget Committee Meeting

Whoever prepares the budget then brings it to the table and you follow a few rules...

#1 Give the budget to the Free Spirit and just sit back and be quiet....let them look it over, give their input etc.

#2 It is a meeting not a Weekend long Summit...it is to be short, like no more than 30 minutes....

#3 The Free Spirit needs to work with the Nerd and end up with the best marriage...bring that level of unity to your marriage.

#4 Never again say..."Whatever you want to do".....this is a cop out and you need to have an active say in decision making that is best for your family.

There will be more on this later but the Budget Committee meeting is to happen every month and prior to the first of the next month....Every dollar is to be spent on paper before the first ....this way you know where your priorities are, and if you have printed it out you can put it on the fridge or someplace where you can refer to it easily.  If something comes up and you need to move money around you sit down and have a quick Budget Committee Meeting, make the changes and then continue on....No money is to be spent on items outside of what is on the budget without being discussed with one another!!

Singles and Money

Time, Poverty and fatigue can lead to poor money management. Beware of Impulse buying, which can be brought on by stress or even by the "I owe it to myself" syndrome.  Singles can fall into loneliness spending, eating out just to have people interested in them.

A written plan gives the single person empowerment and self-accountability and control.

Prevention

Develop Accountability relationships, not your shopping buddies but friends who are willing to hurt your feelings to keep you online.  Those friends who will look at you in love and say you are being Stupid!!! and promise to keep telling you so for your own good.

This is someone with whom to discuss major purchases.  This is someone with whom to discuss your budget. 

So this is for Singles and married Couples...couples find another couple that you can share these points with and ask them to be your Accountability Partners...the workbook suggests pastoral staff, parent, relative, boss, etc.  Whoever you feel comfortable that has your best interests at heart.

Kids and Money.

Teaching your kids how to handle money is not the school's responsibility.  It is your responsibility.  Proverbs 22:6-7 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.  The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

teach are children about money and debt, get rich quick doesn't work...Work steady and hard that is what works.

Pay Commissions, not allowance; we have enough people in our society who expect to be made allowance for.

You need the bones of strength to be able to manage money...Words are powerful.  If you work you g3t paid; if you do not work, you do not get paid.  Work creates money and you make different decisions...Teach by example.

Be Age-appropriate

If the children are young, use a clear container to save....Visual reinforcement is powerful  Explain about insurance, 401's IRA's Voting.....

Money is finite....you don't deserve it unless you have the money.....meaning purchases....you have to have the money in order to buy it and that goes for children as well...Just because you want, want want, whatever you see in the store....you need to save up.

Use three envelopes for ages 5-12: Saving , Spending and Giving.

Somewhere around 13-15 years old, open a checking account for the child and teach him/her how to un it by monthly reviews.  Put money into the account at the first of the month and now they have a new chore to balance their checkbook each month.  If they bounce a check, they need to go to the bank in person and apologize to the bank for writing a check that bounced....that means you lied that you had money in the account.

If your child wants to buy a car...they can save up their money and you can do something called Matching...match them dollar for dollar up to a certain agreed upon amount...it might 5,000.00 or 2000.00 whatever is feasible for your family.  pay Cash!!!

You have the ability to change your family tree and your children will have an inheritance of Character, work ethic, honesty and more.

Next session we will get into the basics of budgeting!  By the Way....I"m the Nerd and my hubby is the Free Spirit

God Bless~~

Notes from Financial Class I am taking Session 1

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Since there are many that I know that I have talked to about the Dave Ramsey class we are taking I thought I would just post my notes here for anyone who might have interest instead of on various forums.

The first session was on Super Savings learning to Save money.

If we keep doing little things all int he right direction and keep going, we will get to where we want to go.

Money moves around, you have to make it behave not let it control you.

There are 7 steps to getting out of the mess we created without getting overwhelmed about the whole process....it takes time!  And believe me once you work the program, you will think it is going to take forever but it is still progress.

Dave calls these Baby Steps

1-A 1,000.00 Emergency fund....if your income is less than 20,000.00 a year then your Emergency fund only needs to be $500.  You need to do this as fast as you can as quickly as you can.  Put the money in a savings account that you have quick access to in case of an emergency not in a Mutual Fund.  Every where you see extra money, change, etc. set it aside for that emergency fund.

(While you are working on your first step, you do not pay any extra on credit card debt, keep current and pay the minimum payments......stop all contributions to 401 plans and savings while you have debt...that money needs to go towards the steps as you are working on them.)

2-work you your debt snowball.  This is listing all your debts from largest to smallest excluding your house mortgage.  Once your Emergency fund is set aside, start taking any extra money you find and applying it to the smallest debt...when that amount is payed off, take that full amount you were paying each month and apply it to your next debt and keep working at each debt, snowballing your payments so you are putting larger and larger sums of money to attacking the next debt.

3-Save up 3 -6months of living expenses...not income but living expenses....put them into a savings account or another type of account that gets some some interest to make money while it is sitting there(a Money Market account from a Mutual fund company).  This is the rest of your emergency fund....don't spend it unless it is an emergency.

4-Invest15% of your household income into Roth IRA's and pre-tax retirement plans.  This is where you can start up your retirement savings again if you stopped doing that earlier in step 1.

5-If you have children, and are planning on them attending college this is where you start saving money for this education.....you can do this at the same time as number 4.

6-Pay-off your Home early...get rid of your mortgage!!!

7-Build wealth and give it away!!!

 

Savings must become a priority...pay yourself first and pay your bills next.  The analogy was given that if there was a disease that broke out and your child contracted it...and you found out there was medication that could be given to save your child, you would do anything possible to save your child's life, you would do anything, work as hard as possible to be able to pay for the medication for your child......this is the same thing.....do anything and everything possible to focus on getting out of debt....cut out everything that is not necessary, don't buy things you don't need and put that money towards your Emergency Fund or your debt snowball.  When it becomes important people save!

Saving money is a way of life, it is a sign of character...it is a means of survival...its about emotion and contentment...I don't have to impress you or anyone.  It is more important to send children to college(if that is what you are choosing to do or a trade school) and to change your family tree than it is to be in debt.

The bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

You are not bad or good because you have money....the difference between saving and hoarding is your attitude and your heart.  Proverbs 21:20 says In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

Wise people save money and how you treat that, how you react to it determines whether you are a saver or hoarder....someone with a clenched fist is a hoarder....

You should be saving for 3 reasons...1)Your Emergency Fund (1000.00) there will be unexpected events and expenses...count on it ....it is going to rain) 2) Purchases and 3)Wealth Building

Your Baby Step 3 the 3-6 months of Expenses should be in a Money Market account...Mutual fund with CD Rates...there are no penalties for taking the money out...it is a short term savings NOT an investment....It is INSURANCE it does not make you money....it costs you money to protect your assets....park your money and do not touch it.

Your purchases.....instead of borrowing/using credit cards to purchase items ....pay cash by using a sinking fund approach....

here is the example he gave ...say you borrow to purchase a 4,000.00 dining room set...Most furniture stores will sell their financing contracts to finance companies.  This means you will have borrowed at 24% with payments of 211.00 per a month for 24 months...so you will pay a total of 5064.00 plus insurance for that set!!!

However, if you save the same 211.00 per month for only 18 months you will be able to pay cash and it will only be 3798.00!!!!  When you walk into a store with cash in hand and show that you have cash in hand they will be willing to negotiate the price down to make the sale!!!  Cash Discount!!!

One nugget of information....One definition of maturity is learning to delay pleasure (impulse spending)  Children do what feels good; adults devise a plan and follow it!

Or how about this example say you want to purchase a 4600.00 car....set aside 464.00 in a cookie jar for only 10 months....since we have pledged to borrow no more, this is the only way to make a purchase....

Wealth Building...Retirement and college funding, etc.

Discipline is a key ingredient....Hebrews 12:11  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

It is a marathon not a sprint...its tough....it is a process over time...there is not get rich quick scheme out there!

If you save your pizza money or cable bill money..say 100.00 a month and invest that in a mutual fund with an average of 12% interest from the ages of 25 to 65 there is no one that should retire broke...that is 1.176 million dollars!!!

gourmet coffee at $5/day at $150/month is 19,371,943.00 invested from age 16 to 76 at 12% interest!!!! That's if you never take it out and spend it!!

putting your money into an account with Compound interest is a mathematical Explosion...you need to start now!!!

So that is my notes from the first session and we are actually on like session 6 or something, so I will get the rest posted here but take heart.....You CAN be out of debt, if you believe it it will happen, if you don't think it is possible, you are only making the journey that much longer....Take Control of your money and be a good steward of what God has blessed you with!!!...make a plan and stick to it....next session will start talking about getting a plan started!!!!