bartering & budgeting

on younghouselove.com yesterday, they posted a tribute to their thrifty fathers...and they referenced a post (click here) they did recently on money management. i am just so excited to read all their awesome advice. it is always fun when you find a kindred soul out there...

we started 2 years ago remodeling our house. we estimated everything would cost about $6,000. we've more than doubled that now and are not done yet. but, over the last 2 years, we have learned countless lessons, not only about how to remodel but how to estimate and bargain shop, etc. dave & i discussed some of this just today.

here are some lessons we have learned:

• if you want to pay cash for everything (which we do) we need to have a very realistic estimation of the costs that will go into remodeling a room up front. (for example, we thought it would cost $800 to remodel our guest bath...then we determined there was extensive water damage and the entire room had to be gutted...we ended up spending $2500)
• we need to be sure that we both have the same expectations for a room...if one of us is thinking granite countertops and the other is thinking stock laminate that could result in a huge difference in price...
• it really pays to take our time deciding what materials to use. for example, right now we're choosing tile for the master bath floor and to surround the shower/tub. the first option we chose would be $160 just for the tile (not including adhesive, grout, etc.) i thought to myself "that's not good enough" a little phrase we picked up in FPU from Dave Ramsey. So i went to another store. still not good enough. i went back to the first store. found another ceramic tile option that would be about $130. dave liked it better but THEN we found marble on clearance. it would only be about $105 considering we have a tool that we can use to bullnose natural stone ourselves. seriously considering this now. so, we may end up with marble tile in the master bath for $105! we spent way more than that for the guest bath tile, and it's not as nice a material.
• another thing we've learned along the way is that you need to do 1 room at a time or you will become very discouraged and disgruntled. we're now in the process of trying to finish 5 rooms before our baby arrives in 2 months.
• another thing that dave has really mastered is the "art" of bartering. we have lots of very talented friends and family members and we've discovered that pretty much everyone is interested in bartering services and not spending money. for example, dave's been able to work on several peoples' cars in exchange for our entire kitchen being re-wired (and up to codes that we don't even know exist), a new furnace being installed, and floor joists and walls being replaced in 1/3 of our house. :) why shouldn't neighbors help out neighbors in the scope of our talents?

small victories in the baby steps

with the onset of another FPU, we decided to take the class very, very seriously once again. we had gotten a little, well, a lot, off track. we backslid 1 baby step all the way back to Baby Step #3 - 3-6 month emergency fund. so, we made a pact. a 90-day commitment to each other to stick to the plan, no matter what. and i'm happy to report that, so far, we are doing awesome! we're about 2 weeks into it. neither one of us is using our debit cards. we are using our cash envelopes. or not buying stuff. i am so proud of dave. and myself. this is all quite an adjustment. we'd gotten sloppy. if there wasn't enough $ for a certain category, we had started stealing it from other categories or from the emergency fund. well, that's cheating. and we will have no more of that. through all of this, we've had to make some tough choices. it is hard. i will not lie. but we are committed to sticking to this. having self control. making it work.

for example, i had $30 for gas and food this week and since the house payment is due to be sent out this weekend, next week we anticipate that we will get only $5 for food. luckily i have the freezer and pantry all stocked up with things we can eat. they may not be exactly what we want this week, but we will not starve. :) and this week i was also blessed to recall that i had gotten a $10 gift card from our insurance agent to target for referring a friend to her. so, i was able to take that gift card and buy a couple more groceries as well. it was cool how i had it at just the right time that i needed it. and i didn't end up using it on something frivolous. since i can find about 5000 frivolous things i want from target :) but anyways, i went thru the store keeping track of my total and i was able to get ham, bananas, milk, granola bars, refried beans and pretzels for $10.75 and i happened to have 75 cents in my coat pocket. it was perfect. :)

it is not necessarily fun to live like this. to analyze every dollar that is spent so we don't go over our budget. to roll up coins and take them to the bank to trade for quarters so i can afford to wash clothes at the laundry mat. to not go out to eat. to not be able to make plans with family about visiting them until 2 days before because we don't know if we'll make enough money this week to be able to drive there.

BUT it is fun for me to not have to work in a cubicle all day and feel like i want to kill myself daily. AND i know that it will be fun someday when we have an emergency to be able to pay for it and not go into debt. and it will be fun someday when we can give our child some money to go to college or buy a house or car. and it will be fun someday to actually be able to retire. and not have to work as a walmart greeter. or at mcdonalds.and it will be fun someday to pay off our mortgage (whether when we sell the house or finish paying it).

AND it will be fun at that point to make a choice to never borrow again. i will think LONG and HARD before i ever sign my name on a loan ever again in my life. no matter what the amount. even if i have to live in a 400 sq ft shack or something. i will do it. because debt stinks. i have a very intense hatred for it that grows more intense with each day of my life. life is so much simpler if we just wait and save and pay cash. the risk involved with debt is not worth it to me. there is no way for us to know what the future holds. if we sign up for say, a 15 year mortgage, what we are essentially doing is going out on a limb and having faith that we will continue to have work and health and income, etc. only God knows what the next 15 years hold. perhaps the very next year after signing for that loan, we could be injured and unable to earn money and unable to pay for that loan. and then what? only disaster. but if we saved up, paid cash for a very modest residence, then at least our family would have a place to live when we are injured.

anyways, i'll quit rambling. but i hope that this is some interesting food for thought for you.

youtube and stuff

today i watched the documentary called MAXED OUT (about credit cards) on youtube. i was deeply moved by how people get so depressed over debt that they commit suicide. one woman in particular down along the ohio river in indiana. that really disturbed me. the poor thing. it makes me want to teach FPU over and over and over for the rest of my life. if i can encourage just 1 person, give them hope, and keep them from killing themselves, it would be worth all the hard work.

and i also watched the pregnancy/ baby shower/ impromptu home birth of Josh & Anna Duggar's baby on youtube. i heard they had a home birth but wasn't able to find the video online until i searched on youtube. it made me even more excited about this summer when we get to meet our own baby! yay!!

what gave me the idea of watching these videos on youtube was when i was telling our friends saturday about bethlehemstar.net and how the bethlehem star and eclipse and blood moon at jesus's death has been found in the mathematics of the stars. apparently, this 90 minute video can be found on youtube as well. so awesome! it is hard to deny the existence of God when you watch this. here are some clips.

after babysitting today, i had a really bad headache, so as you can tell, i didn't do a lot this afternoon. just watched these videos. however, i did make a really great dinner. made a pork roast in the crockpot and we had baked potatoes with all kinds of toppings and broccoli. yum! it was a great dinner. dave loved it! and so did i....and i think the baby was probably a fan too ;)

update

so exhausted. but a good kind of exhausted after a fun-filled night of FPU. had several new people show up tonight and decided that we should split into 2 groups for discussion. we had over 30 people and the dynamic wasn't there that we had last week, we think because the group was too big. so hopefully our good friends aaron & jessica will help out with the 2nd discussion group. 24 or so of these people don't even go to our church, but we are learning that some of them go to neighboring churches, which is really awesome.

dave is feeling a little better after the weekend i think. he got the plumbing done in the laundry room and had time to relax and rest and get energized for this next busy week. he has been SO SO SO SO busy lately. last week he got home so late every night and he had so many balls up in the air it was almost painful to witness his stress level. i am praying for him to be able to handle all this.

i'm off to nanny tomorrow. praying that it goes as well as friday did. it was really a dream day. the boys were absolute angels for me (no time outs, no running away from me when i told them to lay down for nap, actually rested during nap time, and then cleaned up all their toys before their mom came home) and ava slept for 3 hours straight. :) 

well, i really better go to sleep. must get up in less than 7 hours. yuck. that's the worst part about mondays. getting up at 5 a.m.

by the way jenny, thanks for commenting! i've been thinking about you lately and wanting to call but didn't know if you were back from all your travels yet or not. maybe we can talk this week!!

fire hazards, gross animal stuff and FPU

headed off to FPU in about 10 minutes. i think we have about 18 people, including ourselves so it is a very nice-sized class. the church is providing dinner every sunday night before the classes start. so, lucky for us, we don't have to cook! we had bacon and bleu cheese burgers and fries and peas for lunch today after church. it was very good. i am freezing as i type this. it is only like 5 degrees outside so it feels cold everywhere. i am bundling up for church since it's always cold too.

yesterday dave tore out more of the laundry room cabinets and wall. he did that to do more plumbing work. since it used to be an outside wall, there was insulation in the wall. between 2 studs, mice had gotten in thru a hole in the wall near the floor and climbed all the way to the ceiling in the insulation. they had then tried to scratch their way thru the drywall into the great room. GROSS! how crazy would it have been to be sitting in the great room and all of a sudden see a mouse emerge from the wall....? so glad that never happened. we didn't find any mice or mice bones but did find a chicken bone that they apparently took into the wall with them...? they had also chewed thru some wiring going to outlets in the laundry room and exposed bare wires. david said it was just a matter of time before they rubbed 2 wires together and started a fire. that would have been so scary! i'm so glad he ended up pulling off that section of drywall and finding this so we can repair the wiring.

then later last night i was sitting on the couch reading frontiersmen while dave was working on plumbing and i heard the baseboard heater come on. though neither one of us turned it on and the knob on it was turned to "off". and we have all kinds of stuff stacked right up against us, a fire hazard. so david shut off the breaker so it can't turn itself on anymore. this happened once last winter when i was home alone and thought i was crazy...now at least i'm not the only one to witness this.

david shot a cat that has been harrassing our home for years on new years day. this cat used to wake us up in the middle of the night fighting with our cat bob. this cat also goes thru the trash like a raccoon. but no longer.

i am so thankful that we're headed off to FPU soon and that the evil cat is gone and that we found two potential fire hazards and averted them. just another fun weekend in the neer household.

we have 12 people (including ourselves) registered for New Hope FPU 2010. woohoo! this should be a nice sized group.
and now for a 1 word answer survey...

1. Where is your cell phone?....... floor


2. Where is your significant other?.....work

3. Your hair?.....messy

4. Your mother?....nurturing

5. Your father?....humorous

6. Your favorite thing?....music

7. Your dream last night?....elevator

8. Your favorite drink?....7up

9. Your dream/goal?.....family

10. The room you're in?....office

11. Your hobby?....scrapbooking

12. Your fear?....debt

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?....home

14. Where were you last night?.....70
15. What you're not?.....skinny

16. Muffins?....blueberry

17. One of your wish list items?....wallet

18. Where you grew up?... farm

19. The last thing you did?...emailed

20. What are you wearing?....jeans

21. Your TV?....gone

22. Your pets?.....none

23. Your computer?....slow

24. Your life?....adventures

25. Your mood?....overwhelmed

26. Missing someone?....dave

27. Something you're not wearing?....gloves

29. Favorite store?...target?

30. Your summer?...baby!

31. Like someone?....dave

32. Your favorite color?....green?

33. When is the last time you laughed?....today

34. Who will resend this? ....nobody

35. Food....necessary

36. Favorite word.....Jesus

i'm having a busy day. i'm working on cleaning up the house in preparation for dave's parents to come visit. that's easier said than done of course because every night the house gets covered in a thick layer of construction dust.

i have 2 piano lessons and a 2 hour geometry tutoring session this evening.

i also went to kinkos to get the Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey class that we're having at church again this winter) outdoor signs. ended up posting them around the community, cuz i knew dave didn't want to do that again this year, and he has probably had enough cold air what with driving the jeep with no heat. so that was a big adventure. it is TERRIBLY windy. the smaller signs weren't so bad but the 2 that i put up at the church gave me particular fits. they are 2 ft tall x 4 ft wide. i had to put 3 metal stakes in each one (i was doing this out of the trunk of the car) and then stick all 3 stakes into the ground simultaneously with 60 mph winds blowing against me in 20 degree air...i don't know how windy it is really....but while standing out there it sure felt like 60 mph winds and it felt like -20 degrees! the best part was when the trunk lid kept slamming down on my head as i struggled to put the stakes in. one sign alone took me 15 minutes. ha! i guess this is why we put the outdoor signs up Nov 8th last year. it was warmer and not so windy!

just pre-ordered the revised copy of "Possum Living - How to Live Well with (Almost) No Money" on Amazon - should be available January 1st! YES! :)

working on ways to save money on living expenses.

lockdown

we are once again on lockdown. the debit cards are going bye-bye. we have got to get extreme with our total money makeover or back to engineering i go.

Un-Shopping

I'm going to create a new fad. Un-shopping. It's where you go out running errands but don't spend any money. You make money instead. :)

...Today I went to Half Price Books and sold some used books, movies and CDs. I made $25. And I resisted the urge to buy anything. So I went home with $25 more than I had before. I also cancelled my old corporate gym membership to avoid being charged. So that was sort of like making money. I have also been selling things on Craigslist rather than buying things from Craigslist. So far made $50 on there.

Also, once Dave and I went to Kroger and checked out behind a lady who got 2 shopping carts full of groceries and she used so many coupons, the store had to pay her! Now that's some stellar "un-shopping". I would like to learn how she did that.

Does anyone have any other un-shopping ideas? If so, comment and let me know...

Goodbye

well, we've put it off since march 4, 2007 and it can be put off no longer. we must cancel our home phone and internet. so my blog is coming to an end. this hurts me more than it hurts you, my dear readers.

but now that we're teaching another FPU class we're even more determined to save and to pay off our home. we're wasting $75 / month on the phone/net. we are getting gazelle intense once again.

maybe someday when i no longer have payments, i will get back up on the line and share with you my every thought, but for now, goodbye. and i guess i may periodically update if i go to the library and get online, but i won't be able to upload pics there, etc.

last night we came to the conclusion that dave might possibly be the "nerd" and i might possibly be the "free spirit" with the finances. we've tried to switch roles for 6 years because he cares least about money than anything else in his life (or did) and i used money as a way to maintain control. anyways, i'm excited because the decision to get rid of the phone/net is mostly his and although it breaks my heart cuz i love blogging and reading other peoples' blogs, i must submit. this is one of his first defining acts of leadership in the finances. and i welcome it.

by the way, our churchwide fall FPU class that has been delayed to january was still listed on the dave ramsey website up until today. a couple who we don't know from indy registered for it. dave called to tell them it is delayed till january and that they could come to the one at our house since we're only 3 weeks in. anyways, the wife had to check with her husband but there's a good chance they may join us. i'm so excited to meet complete strangers and connect in the area of finances. isn't it awesome how God works?

1. FPU stuff - sam & christy (sp?) are in for sure. that makes 10 if nicole's in as well. plus us, is 12. sooo excited. we got our new leadership and member kits yesterday. i opened our kit up tonight. the new envelope system and CD holders are brown leather. very nice. i like the changes. the workbooks are in color. but the info is still the same, great stuff. :) we spent some time tonight preparing for sunday night. i'm just so excited to see what God has planned for this. i get all giddy just thinking about it.
2. dave's going to work tomorrow morning. his dealership is so busy right now they offered all the mechanics $100 if they'd come in tomorrow morning and work (plus what they get paid for the cars they work on while there...) so dave's taking them up on that offer.
3. my mind is going in like 500 different directions right now. i have so much to do yet all i can do is think about FPU and watch promotional videos.
4. these are the other things i should be doing: my womens bible study, prepare for our mini-vacation, trick myself into liking my job, work on the office and all the other rooms in our home (by the way, our home is suddenly seeming HUGE now that we are redoing everything), clean the house for my parents' visit and the FPU kickoff sunday, do laundry, dishes, sweep and mop all floors, scrub the layers of rust off all the sinks, toilets and showers, get new shower curtains, dust, etc, etc, etc. i think i will just get up at like 5 a.m. tomorrow to get a head start on all this.
5. ....does anyone else have the issues that i have with cleaning? i do a really bad job of cleaning like 90% of the time and then i have to scurry around and clean right before people come over. or like every saturday whether they're coming over or not. i want my house to be clean all the time. but it just always goes back to chaos. david is frustrated with it. he wants me to keep things put away and clean at all times. i sometimes do good for a few days in a row, sometimes even a week or more, then it goes back to chaos. does anyone have any advice on breaking this bad habit?
6. it's storming here. i took more pics tonight. dave was mowing in a thunderstorm.

wow.

we had a really great day. we met with one of our pastors and our friend richard from church about dave's baptism and our becoming members of our church on sunday. and we talked about holding an FPU at our church starting in january (not in the fall like we thought). anyways, everything went really well. it will fit better with the overall plan of the church to hold the class in january. and who knows. maybe we will just have another class at our home while we wait for january. the cool thing is we will start promotion of the program in october. that will give us plenty of time to spread the word. i can see hundreds of people being affected by this. i'm praying that it will be a very positive thing for our church.

july 13th we're going to go to the elders' meeting along with some of our friends who were in our last group (if they are willing - dave called and asked them tonight and they'll get back with us) and share a 4 minute video on FPU and our personal testimonies of what the program meant to us and why it should be shared with the church. i earnestly pray that the elders will see the value in this like we do. and like our pastor and friend, richard, do.

anyways, after the mtg. tonight we went to richard and debbie's house and dave looked at his broken mirror on his car then they invited us in and we had a nice chat. and then we left and it was almost 9:00. time flies when you're having fun! anyways, we were really ready for dinner by that time. so we went to el rodeo cuz i didn't have anything planned for dinner. (it's a good thing we're starting another FPU so we will feel we have to be more frugal to set an example for our group....) anyways, dave's coworker nicole and her daughter jennifer walked in right in front of us. nicole ended up buying our dinner. i was shocked! that was so nice of her. we invited her to FPU and i think she's going to attend.

now we have for sure:

chad & judy
jason & amie
brian & kristy
craig

and possibly:
camille & keith
sam & christy
nicole

i'm getting so psyched!! i can't think about anything else. ahhhh....i just can't wait to see what God is going to do in these people's lives as a result of this class.

dave reminded me tonight that we have a little mini-vacation coming up soon. i'm so obsessed with fpu that i almost forgot! wow....i'm a nerd :)

check out http://realslimkatie.blogspot.com for some cool news.


bob is getting better. his leg is starting to heal nicely. this is where i found him tonight when i wanted to blog...





dave & i had a great day. we went to the log home expo last weekend and picked up a pamphlet from lasko builders about building a cabin debt free. we checked out their website today and found an awesome write up about their beliefs and it included some info about money from pastor sheldon emry. check it out here: http://laskoschooloflogbuilding.com/DebtFree.html anyways, you really should read this. it is quite long but pastor emry's write up about the debt money system used in America is absolutely fascinating and eye opening. wow.

we were so moved, we came home and laid out a plan to be debt free, including our home. it may take time, but that's the plan. we promised each other that we will never sign ourselves over to another mortgage again.

we have lots of cool goals now. we would like to attend a 12-week log home building school in franklin, in next year to learn about building a log home debt free. of course, we would have to be "unemployed" to attend.

we would also like to go on a 4-6 week trip out west after that. we would like to visit emily & brian, julia and her family, jenny & linn, doug & anna, and see the rocky mountains, the grand canyon, yosemite, yellowstone, glacier, etc. we think that would be really fun. and definitely something we'd like to do before starting dave's business and having children. and definitely not something we can do now when we get a total of 10 days off / year.

so anyways, we are re-focused and "gazelle intense" once again. only this time it is to save enough money so by this time next year, we'll be able to go without a lot of income for 4-12 months and start a business too. and then, after all that, and we're settled down, we will think about having kids. i have been all whiny lately about wanting to have a baby, but now that i think about these things that we want to do before kids, i know it's not time to be parents yet. it's just when i think there's no possibility of having a month long vacation out west for 2, that i think, well, i'm in this 3 bedroom house for some reason, isn't it so one of the bedrooms can be for my baby that i've dreamt of for years?

my dad got a new tractor and mom said he was as excited as a little boy. i'm so happy for him. a tractor all his own.

oh yeah, about the spiritual battle in our home...

Dave & I have determined that although we met our goal of paying off debt, we have failed miserably in this test of life. We have been very, very short with one another lately. It's been horrible. I got to the point the other day when I literally cringed at the thought of going home because I knew it would mean another series of arguments about where the Q-tip landed when it was aimed for the trash can, where the XS is and the cooler and what time we need to leave for work, etc, etc, etc. I admitted that to him and he was relieved that I could see the problem as well.

Anyways, we feel that because we are not living out the principles set forth in the Word of God, some of the protection that we normally enjoy has been lifted. We are not drawing as much strength from God. Not because He isn't offering it but because our worldliness has separated us from it. Furthermore, things in the house have gone haywire. Our dishwasher malfunctioned and ran for 6 hours while we were gone Saturday and flooded the kitchen. The water then ran into the front room. Two days later the house reaked of rotting, moldy carpet. So now we're tearing out the carpet in the front room to reveal the original hardwood floors. The washing machine is making weird noises and the Corsica is being worked on in Dave's bay here at Dreyer as I type. Brad built us a new computer an then when we brought it home and plugged it in, it didn't work. Anyways, I truly believe that these are all a result of a spiritual battle for our hearts and minds. We have let the devourer in to our lives and look what has happened. We must constantly renew our minds and be in the Word and we haven't been. The next few months are going to be full of time drawing ourselves back in.

Official Newspaper Route countdown - 10 days to go

That is pretty much our mantra right now. 10 more days, 10 more days, 10 more days. And after that, we get to go on an all expense paid 3 day trip to Chicago for Dave's BMW training/ my pampering. Woohoo! I'm looking forward to it, to say the least.

awellsnz, no, we did not pay off our home mortgage YET. I should say that we're debt free except for our home mortgage. Nevertheless, I'm excited. We paid off $38,503.77 in 9 months and 18 days. The debt included a student loan, a second mortgage on our home (a.k.a. credit card debt consolidated into a mortgage on our house), a credit card and loans from family members. As a result of Dave Ramsey inspiring us to think outside the box on making money, we were able to earn an additional $12,000 after taxes that we wouldn't have made otherwise. That helped a lot. And we sold $6,000 of stuff to pay off debt as well.

Also, I believe that you asked a while back if I had any tips on budgeting. Basically, we used the budgeting forms on daveramsey.com (his book, the Total Money Makeover is what really inspired us...) and the spreadsheet from joelmaxwell.com which is a file modeled on Dave Ramsey's forms and we also referenced the workbook, The Budget Kit.

Anyways, one of the most significant things we gathered from these sources was that you have to budget for all the non-monthly, yet predictable items such as haircuts, Christmas gifts, clothes, shoes, non-monthly insurance premiums, etc, etc, etc. You know these things will come about every year but they are not monthly bills that come to you to be paid. We would always try to live on a budget before but not account for these things then wonder why we always came up short. We'd add up our monthly bills, subtract that from our income and say, "Well, it looks like we're making plenty of money to pay these bills, why is it we never have any?"

link to Dave Ramsey's budget form: http://www.daveramsey.com/media/pdf/fpu_qbudget.pdf

Joel Maxwell's spreadsheet:
http://joelmaxwell.com/tools/

Anyways, I realized tonight that I haven't allowed myself to daydream in months. I would like to start again.

Dilemnas of a Debt Free Diva

So....

• I've had 2 minor car accidents in 4 days. And 3 in the last month or so. I hit the light pole a month ago, a parked car during the paper route Sunday morning, and I rear-ended a guy on my way to the Castleton Target and bank during lunch Wed. Fortunately I didn't damage either vehicle Wed. Hitting the parked car is costing us though. Ouch! There goes the money Dave made working all day on New Years Day. My exceptional driving record is going down the hole due to lack of sleep and limited amounts of time. I am tired of scurrying around like a crazy woman.
• I cleaned out some old makeup in my bathroom cupboard Tues and found what I thought was a pink eye color / eye liner. Only after applying it very quickly this morning before work did I realize that it was lipstick / lip liner. So essentially, I went out in public with lipstick on my eyes today. Nice. But I didn't have time to wash it off and reapply....

Also, please pray for our well pump. It doesn't like sub-freezing temps. It's a race to take showers these days before running out of water pressure...

Well, that's all for now. The alarm clock will be ringing in another 5 hours. (We turned in a 2.5 week notice to the paper route boss this week. Hopefully we'll be done by Jan 20th!)

WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it's official. I have just scheduled the final payment on my student loan. WE ARE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And now we're on to Dave Ramsey's Baby Step 3: 6 month emergency fund.

We have known since last Saturday when David sold the Ford truck car hauler that this was a done deal, I was just waiting for our previous payment to clear so I could get the official 10 day payoff amount to finish it off. As soon as Dave called me on Saturday to tell me that he had the cash from the truck buyer, we've been rejoicing. I went out to run some errands right after, and I felt like I was on top of the world. It was a feeling similar to that right after we were married. I feel more in love with David. All the hope, joy and excitement that I felt on our wedding day came rushing back to me, because my faith in him as a provider has been renewed. I know that he will do his best from now on to make a good life for us. He will no longer make major decisions based solely on his wants and desires.

Since Saturday, Satan has tried to attack us in multiple ways. Thank God we got the BarlowGirl CD from Jessie for Christmas with the song One More Round. It is inspiring us to make it thru one more month of paper routes and to stay strong. Ugh. But seriously, Satan is trying to rob my joy of being debt free and he's trying to convince me, the penny pinching nerd, that I need to go out and buy a treadmill RIGHT NOW because I just thought of it and I want it and they're 50% off until Saturday....but Dave is reminding me to wait before spending all that money. And he is right. The mere fact that it makes me so angry when he says no is reason enough that I shouldn't buy it now.

Redneck Christmas

You might be a redneck if....you cut down a tree out of your front yard and take it inside to decorate for christmas time. But oh well, at least we'll soon be debt free rednecks!! HAHA

Furthermore, this tree at a tree farm would easily cost $100. I finally got my fir tree rather than Dave's favorite, the spruce.
Now all we need is some time to actually decorate this thing. Christmas just keeps getting closer!











....and we finally pounded some nails into our mantle this year so we can hang our stockings where they really belong.

FPU Group Wrap-Up

Our first Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class wrapped up last Sunday, Dec 2nd. We had a pitch-in dinner to celebrate. The coordinator guide suggested having a pitch-in dinner of finger foods. So Dave came up with the following menu...I would have to say that it was a little more than "finger foods" but that's ok. It was delicious! Mikki brought a wonderful salad with all kinds of good toppings, Amanda brought her awesome parmesan garlic red potatoes, Dave grilled a 5 lb beef tenderloin (which was better than any one he had ever made!! and he was so glad he got to grill steak for the first time this year...he's really been delaying...), Duke and Amanda brought a coconut cake, Eric, the southerner, brought sweet tea ....and Dave also made fresh baked homemade bread and provided a smorgasboard of jams. And I....cleaned the house. :)

Anyways, we totalled up our stats for the class, and in 13 weeks, our 5 households paid off $28,516 of debt, we saved $10,376 and we avoided signing up for credit card and debt consolidation offers totalling $834,309. I am very proud of everyone in our group for the changes they have made. I think everyone is off to a really good start on their walk into Financial Peace. I pray that they can continue in this journey and spread the great news of Dave Ramsey to many other people!

Everyone who attended the required # of sessions received a graduation certificate and Mikki, who was the only one with perfect attendance got a flashlight for "being bright enough to attend all sessions" and because Dave knew that she needed a good flashlight.

The really ironic thing is that right at the end of the final DVD, our power went out (it was really windy and snowing/raining out). So we couldn't actually finish the video. So then we sat around in candlelight (and flashlight - we were so glad that we gave Mikki that prize for perfect attendance...) and shared and discussed the final lesson on giving. It was so neat and cozy to sit around in semi-darkness and share with our group. Dave & I will really, really miss having our group over every Sunday night. For a time, this group took away our feelings of Sunday night depression. Perhaps in a couple months, we'll be able to start another group so we don't feel bad on Sunday nights again!