Day One of The Learned Family Total Money Makeover.

Yesterday was the first official day of The Learned Family Total Money Makeover. (Wild applause here).  We are so excited about it.  Literally, we are just fired up.  Our Day One progress consisted of:

Depositing $5 into our savings account!

I know that doesn't sound like much (and admittedly, it isn't).  But it is actually VERY big deal.  We established a new savings account with the online bank ING Direct.  It's not sketchy, we did our research before we signed up.  It's a real bank that is FDIC approved and all that jazz that you hear on commercials about banks that I never paid attention to before yesterday.  The cool thing about this bank is that they offer good interest rates because they don't have very much overhead, since they have no actual branches.  They have wonderful customer service, and it's absolutely free.  There is no account minimum, either.  You can have unlimited accounts (we plan to eventually have a savings account for separate categories...more detail on this later) and even have a checking account.  For now, we are just going to keep this savings account, which we have nicknamed "1000 Emergency Fund."

The gist of what we're doing is this: Step One of the Total Money Makeover is "Save $1000 Fast."  It's your baby emergency fund.  Since you do not use credit anymore, you have to have some sort of security in case it rains (and, as Dave makes sure to tell you, it WILL).  He encourages people not to dwell too long on this step, just get it done.  Every extra bit of money that you can save should go straight to this account.  He also encourages people to keep it liquid, but also keep it safe and protect yourself from being too impulsive.  You will come back later and build up the emergency fund significantly, but for now, the goal is to move on and get to Baby Step Two: The Debt Snowball.  You can't do this until you have a backup plan, and that's what the $1000 is all about.

The thing is, you'd think that scrimping any extra money would be painstaking and awful.  But actually, it's not!  It's fun!  Once we have the end result firmly fixed in your mind, you want to do every little thing you can to get there.  Including eating leftovers at home instead of going to Taco Bell.  Including looking at the price per ounce at the grocery store and getting the best bargain, even when it means sacrificing your favorite brand of cereal for the store brand instead.  I could go on and on.  When you WANT to find ways to save money, you CAN.  Every dollar counts.

And the funny thing is, yesterday, I was really focusing on trusting God to help us get through this.  I want to get out of debt.  I want to have financial security.  I want to be able to retire (even though this is 40 or 50 years away from now) with dignity, and be a blessing to our family instead of a curse.  I want to be able to give generously and be a good and faithful steward.  And it is scary to begin this process.  But the goal is looming large in my mind, and we will make it.  God will provide.  And even yesterday, he did!  One of my clients at work had his business partner (who works out of Jacksonville, Florida) in the office, and I speak to this man on the phone almost daily, but have only met him in person a couple of times.  I was sharing with them that my husband and I are starting this process, and he reached in his pocket and pulled out $20 and told me to add it to our savings!  It is so cool to watch how God is taking care of us!

My primary stress has been coming from finances, for months now.  But now, I feel the burden lightening already, because Rob and I are on the same team, and we are working together to get to the end, even from Day One.

Soon I Will Be Domestic Superhero Named Wonder Wifey.

I have stumbled across this blog named simplemom.net.  Love at first sight.  I read like two words on this thing and am hooked forever.  I'm not even a mom yet and I have found it so useful.  This only happened like, 2 whole days ago, and I have already begun to do some of the things that the author, Tsh, discussed...and it has made a huge difference.  One really cool thing about her is that she is a huge Dave Ramsey person, and the further into Total Money Makeover I get, I am too.

One of the major things that I did right away (literally...that very day) was to start what Tsh calls a Home Management Notebook.  It has revolutionized my life.  It's basically a binder that consists of about 20 dividers, and each section is where you keep all information relative to that topic.  It sounds pretty simple, but it has been so cool to assemble it and really begin to see how much it's going to simplify my life.

For instance, my divider sections are: Emergency info, Daily Dockets (essentially an agenda for each day that consists of to-do list, basic schedule, what's for dinner, space to write down what exercise you got, miscellaneous notes, and other stuff), monthly calendars, menu planning, grocery shopping (keep my master list in this divider and also notes about what costs more at which store, etc.), cleaning checklists and chore charts, Home/Office Information (like account numbers and passwords and all that miscellaneous information it's just so easy to forget), a pocket for grocery coupons, a pocket for other coupons, budgeting and bills, diet and exercise (for food logs and exercise notes), home maintenance, project lists, wants and needs list, Family Mission Statement (more on this later), birthday and address lists, a pocket for recipes I collect, and articles to keep.  It is an evolving project...I'll probably add several more as I discover what I need, and maybe even condense or combine a couple that I don't use as often.  But this is a great place to start, and it has already been tremendously helpful to have all this information in one place.  Granted, it sits beside me all day, but that's the point: I don't risk forgetting anything, and everything has a place where I'm sure to be able to locate it later.

I know some of you probably think this is excessive, especially for someone who doesn't even have kids yet...but man, does it work for me.  And when I DO have kids, I will be a step ahead (at least as far as the organization of our home goes).  Well...hopefully.

Whoa.

I've caught the fever.

Craigslist fever, that is.

I really didn't like it very much before yesterday.  I know you can get good stuff on there, and I have even used it to find stuff before, but not until yesterday did I begin to enjoy it.  It was when I found a coffee table for $10, a free 32" tv (that needs a repair, but that's not a problem when your husband is a handy guy), a free dresser, and a free leather sofa (that someone beat us out on).

Not bad for a day's furniture accumulation.

The thing that I didn't like about Craigslist before was that I would see something, fall in love with it and get all emotionally invested in it, and then try to contact the person and get no response or find out that it wasn't available any longer.  Heartbreak time after time.  Now, those of you who know me pretty well won't be surprised about this.  I can understand that it sounds a little crazy.  But that's the kind of girl I am.  I can't invest in anything emotionally without getting attached to it, and then I'm attached for life.  So you can probably see where I might have problems with it.

After getting the free chest of drawers home and the coffee table that cost me $10, I am converted.  I'm learning the way to not get attached to things but be casually interested until I know I've got it in the bag.  It's been working out well for me.

Wonder what I'll find today!?  So excited.

Things Are Looking Up.

Well...my rosemary and lavender have sprouted!  They have been transplanted to another container where they can grow and flourish.  Well, hopefully.  If I can get the kittens to leave them alone.  The rest of the plants are doing well.  I really hope they keep on growing and don't die on me.  That might be more disappointing than if they had never sprouted to begin with.

My friend Wendy and her family are going to Disney World next week.  Her daughter Kelsey is a cheerleader and they have made it to the national round.  I am jealous.  I want to stow away in her suitcase.  I'd never fit, but I could try.  Disney World is my favorite place.  I have only ever been once, but that was enough for me to know that I wanted to move there and live in Cinderella Castle.  Or anywhere else, for that matter.  I still haven't given up hope that we will move to Orlando one day and I can go anytime I want.  I know almost everything there is to know about the parks, resorts, and restaurants.  I buy the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World every couple of years and read it cover to cover.  Like a novel.  This week that they are going is the best week of the whole year to go, because it has the lowest population and it's already decorated for Christmas and the temperatures are mild and wonderful.  Most people who go this time of year will go for one of the holidays...Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years.  The second week in December is perfect.  That's when we went 11 years ago.  Please, someone, take me back.  I beg you.

So Thanksgiving was good...I saw lots of family and did a fat lot of nothing.  I really meant to clean my apartment, but I just didn't have the energy.  I did take some pictures of my cousins' children, some of which I'm pretty happy with.  Those kids are so cute.  Between my four cousins and their spouses/significant others (one of which, Joseph, is not married to his longtime girlfriend Bridget and they don't have kids yet) there are 5 kids and 2 more on the way.  Lots of little ones.

Our tree is up and decorated.  I will post pictures.  It's our first Christmas tree!

I know this was a very random post, but I don't have any inspiring thoughts today.  Just many disjointed ones floating around my head.  Might as well get them out, huh?