Are You Going?

Our "Moment"

I just found out that our little "moment" that Ryan and I had yesterday will cost us almost $1500 to fix. At least we got a good deal on the van to begin with

Fireplace or Update a Room

I would like to think that some of our budget this month can go towards updating the carpeted room. But, after the chimney sweep guy left our house on Saturday, we learned that $350 of our budget was going to him instead. Yes, a little more than we expected but he also capped the chimney. I hope there's enough this month cause I just ordered some stuff for the kids at 0ldN@vy and a few books to share with some friends.

HELLO!!!!

Talked to a girl in town tonight. She's struggling financially - single mom, recently lost her job. She shared that they've been getting food from the local food pantry because money is tight. Nothing wrong with that I thought. She continued that she gets $1000 a month and her rent is $400 and her car is $350. My immediate response was for her to get rid of the car and buy a junker. She shared her reasons why she couldn't get a car and at the end of the conversation, she didn't have a leg to stand on. She NEEDS to get rid of the payment that's killing her. HELLO!!!!

Why is is that so many people can't figure out simple math. Don't buy a big fancy car if you can't afford it. Which then makes me think, don't buy a big fancy house if you can't afford it, even if the bank wants to loan you the money.

DEBT FREE

Okay, so I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey and I thought I was doing his plan for getting out of debt. But, the other day on his radio show, he clarified with another caller that if the guy wasn't exactly doing his plan, than he wasn't doing Dave's plan at all. Hmm, okay. So, I really like Dave Ramsey and would recommend him to everyone but I'm not doing his plan. In Dave's Get out of Debt plan, you would stop investing in retirement until you get out of debt. Because I understand compounding interest and because our debt load was pretty minor, I didn't stop putting money in my Roth. With that said,

WE'RE DEBT FREE

except our home

Yes, that's right, we don't owe any one anything with the exception of our mortgage which we're working to pay down faster than normal. And not only that, but after taking the daveRamsey class, I am much more informed about finances, insurance, real estate, etc.

Gas Money

The last few weeks I've been picking up a coworker on my way. She's a fun lady and I like sharing half of my drive with her. With soaring gas prices (I know, $3.04 is low for you Cali people), my gas budget has also increased. Well, mid morning, my coworker came over and handed me cash and said it was for gas money for the last two weeks. I was way excited.

Hmm, what should I do with it? Put it towards my next scrapping toy (a dicut tool), towards my summer trip to CA, or something else? We're doing the budget thing and it will likely go right back into the general account, maybe even towards gas money for March, which would then free up some of our budget for vacation, etc.