Summer Accomplishments

Here are some major accomplishments in our journey to Financial Freedom:

1. Cash Flowed a 10 day vacation to Florida (on a budget).
2. Caught up/Got Current on the Student Loan
3. Current on all the Bills
4. Fixed the A/C in our truck-before the Vaca to Florida.
5. Had to use the "emergency fund" AGAIN! But we've got it partially refunded again.
6. Stopped paying over $300 "Stupid Tax" on dag blame cigarettes. 2 months and going now.
   
7. Finalized the Life Insurance policy
   

Some things we need to Work on:

1. Sticking to the Budget--planning for the unplanned
   
2. Sticking with the "Envelope" System
3. Getting back to my menu planning.
   

3 Ways to Boost your Income in 3 Days

You may have heard it all before, but these have personally worked for us. If you'd like to see you monthly expenses go down, making it feel like you, have accomplished something, as well as provide some "wiggle room" to get started. You'll gain the confidence you need to take your first steps to being debt free! We personally gained $250 per month = $3000. (keep reading to find out how--the biggest saver is at the bottom--on purpose) Ha!

1. CALL YOUR CABLE/INTERNET/TV PROVIDER and ask for a better rate. You may have to down grade to a "slower speed" Internet or a less comprehensive channel plan, but you may save $10-25 per month. We saved about $20 doing this initially ($240 per year) before giving up our Satellite TV altogether. Which saved us approx. $100 per month ($1200 per year!). Sometimes bundling multiple bills can save money too. We chose not to go that route for various reasons.
2. CHANGE YOUR CELL PHONE PLAN Even if you have a contract, usually your provider will change your plan according to your current needs. We started out with a "mega-minute" plan. I called our provider AT&T. They were accommodating, giving me my average usage for phone & texting, I was slightly over the minutes for the next plan down, but with some confidence that i could reign it in a bit, we made the switch. We were able to gain about $30 per month($360) per year. We were also able to keep a portion of our rollover minutes. We were diligent about who we called and when we called people for a couple of months & now we have so much rollover...we don't even worry about it now! We did not have a land line to begin with, but if you want to consider getting THIS we got it just recently.
4. CONSIDER CHANGING YOUR TAX EXEMPTIONS/ALLOWANCES AT WORK If you get a considerable tax refund every year, you should consider increasing the number of exemptions (or allowances) you take at work. For example if you receive a $3000 tax refund, essentially you've allowed the government to borrow that $3000 from you at 0% interest. That's 250 bucks a month you could be putting toward being debt free. If you're in debt and paying 8-30% interest on that debt, you aren't in a position to be loaning anyone money, right? Right. The best way we've found to figure this out would be to visit the Withholding Calculator at the IRS Website. Personally, I was a little skeptical but with a family of 6 the calculator suggested, was 12 allowances. This will increase our paycheck by approximately $120 per month--$1440 per year! Plus the $1000 we already paid in. That's $2400!

Our Family's Total Increase using these 3 Ways in 3 days was: $2960! ($3960 if you include the $1000 already paid in!)

We'd love to hear how you did! Leave a comment or post your increase story on your own blog and leave a link in your comments!

First Post

I've created this blog to solely chronicle our Debt Free Journey. I'm in the process of copying my "Debt Free" Journey so far from my other blogs. You can see posts that I've done prior to creating this blog below. Can't wait for you to join us!

Money Makeover Update

While the pundits discuss the ecomomy, and all things financial, I thought I'd share a little of our progress with our Total Money Makeover. One of the things that confuses me about the political/financial bailout mumbo jumbo is the notion that we all need more credit...sure businesses use it often, and depend on it, but it has had a tremendous effect on the nature of our society. A sense of entitlement to all things big, better, newer and nicer....I too am guilty of this trap, and if you've been reading for a while you know we are trying our darndest to NOT be a part of that.

Well, this week we made tremendous progress in our Total Money Makeover. We bought a New/Used car. In fact, due to the sheer price of the car--$1500, I'm sure it would be considered a "beater". However, the Lord is good and blessed us with a VW Golf--in great condition. My hubby even has A/C & a CD player, and the interior is PERFECT, and he doesn't feel like he's "slumming it". I have to admit, it has been a bit humbling to journey on this road so far--and buy two cars that are over 10 years old. The exterior of both of our vehicles aren't the prettiest, but they aren't embarressing to drive. Most importantly, we have a sense of pride, that we don't owe anything on them! It makes any feelings of "oh I wish we had a better, bigger, nicer car" go. away.quickly. So NO MORE CAR PAYMENTS! Thank God.

In addition, we were able to reduce our insurance by over $130 per month. Total Money Makeover progress this month was a savings of $560 per month. We are so pumped. It doesn't take the debt away, or the fact that we were over our monthly spending budget, but we feel a burden lifted and a sense of freedom that we have a plan. We are on the road to recovery!

I have been doing some other things that have helped the progress as well--but I thought I'd save it for another post.

Is anyone else making progress, or struggling? This has to be one of the single most significant moves for us...up until now it has been somewhat frustrating, so if you are frustrated--you are not alone.

LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE so you can LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE.

Hip Mama

New Years Goals

I'm not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions, but in the interest of blogging, and "putting pen to paper" I thought I'd share some of our thoughts and desires for this year. My husband and I have had some on going goals this year, which we are continuing.

• The number one priority for our family at the moment is Financial Freedom. We are a long way from our goal, but we have resolved to work hard and really honor the Lord with our finances as he leads us toward Freedom from debt.
• A personal goal of mine lines up with the latter. I really want to work on growing my Juice Plus business. I was making an extra $400-500 a month, but with Homeschooling, and other responsibilities in Florida, I let it slide and I'd like to build up to at least that point again...applying the extra $ toward our debt and savings. Thankfully, I'm not starting over completely, since I'm still making almost $200 per month now. Follow-up and consistency are my biggest issues relating to work. I truly believe in the product and I have soooooo many close friends that have been very successful with JP, far exceeding my own goals, and it's easy to talk about. (Who doesn't need more fruits and veggies?-affordably.) So if you're looking for a way to make a little extra moolah, and get healthier at the same time, let me know. He, He...(you know I had to add that) :0)
• My next goal is to be more consistent, not just in business, but in my prayer life, and spending time with God.
• I'd like to spend more quality time with each one of my children--by themselves--getting to know them more deeply on an individual level.
• A date night with my husband once a month would be nice.
• A romantic weekend get-a-way, once this year, sans kiddos.
• Oh, and get back into my Fly-Lady Routine...most of the time.

I'm trying not to set goals that are TOO specific...only because if I get too specific...and can't achieve them...well you know the drill.

If you haven't already set some goals and blogged about them, what are some of yours?

Hip Mama