I started back to school last week and I am so happy I pre-wrote several posts because life is crazy hectic right now and this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down at the computer to write anything in almost two weeks!
Something I haven't written much about since I started this blog is the fact that we are completely remodeling our kitchen. Over the last 5 years, we have renovated every room in our house, (except the bathroom, which we remodeled 8 years ago). We have taken each room down to the studs and started from scratch, now it's the kitchen's turn.
We ripped out the majority of our kitchen about 2 weeks ago. We are going to rewire the whole kitchen, re-plumb it, and move almost everything. We are moving our fridge, our dishwasher, and our stove and are putting in a hood microwave. We had laminate counter tops and are getting granite. We had linoleum flooring and are putting in tile. We took out a doorjamb and are getting "custom" cabinets made. It's going to be spectacular! And expensive!
As we have remodeled our house, we have cash flowed it all! We haven't carried a balance over on our credit card, (though we do use our credit card for points) and we've never borrowed or taken out a loan to pay for the improvements. We plan to do the same thing as we remodel our kitchen.
I have a huge family and this is one of those cases when it comes in handy. I have a brother who owns a plumbing company and who is going to move all the plumbing and gas lines for us as well as order all our plumbing supplies and fixtures at cost. I also have a brother-in-law who lays flooring for a living so he's going to help us lay the tile for the floor. My dad was an electrician for 35 years and taught my husband all he would need to know about residential rewiring. Lastly, I have another brother-in-law who does woodworking on the side, and he is making our cabinets for us. (He's already made kitchen cabinets for his mother and my mother, plus a host of other products!)
Even with all this help, we know our kitchen is going to be expensive. We are hoping to keep the total under $15000. We have nowhere near that saved up so far, but we are hoping that by spreading the remodel out over several months, we will be able to pay cash for the whole thing. As of right now, we only have $2000 saved in cash, (we have another $1300 in an account for yearly expenses that we could use if we have to, and almost $3000 in our kids' accounts that we could use if needed, too).
We have already paid about $1500-$2000 for our kitchen. We have bought 4 new windows, a lot of "electrical" stuff, some odds and ends, and we've paid for about half of our cabinets so far. It's not much, but it's a start. Our goal is to not carry a balance and not take out a loan, even if that makes the process last longer.
Our kitchen is going to be expensive, but I also think it's going to be worth it. Our house is from 1948 and although the kitchen has been updated, the last update was from 1981. It is dated and old and I can't wait to see the finished product!
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Friday, August 26, 2016
Our Debt Story Part 2
Thanks for returning for the continuing saga of our stupid financial decisions, or Our Debt Story, Part 2.
Like I said we had $26000 in credit card debt but that wasn't all of our debt. We also had a mortgage and a car payment. This is the story of how we got out of debt, the first time.
About five years ago, (right in the middle of the Great Recession!) The Husband decided to change jobs. It was nerve wracking to say the least and really hard for this Brunette in Debt who hates change to come to terms with. However, I didn't have to work 9 to 5 at a job I was unhappy with and where I didn't feel valued so I supported him 100% in his decision.
It's that change that got us out of debt, the first time. When The Husband switched jobs, he had a 401k that we rolled over to his new job and a pension that we couldn't decide what to do with. Finally after breaking down the numbers, we decided to cash out his pension. It was painful in that we had to pay crazy amounts in fees and taxes, but even after that, we had enough money to pay off both of our credit cards and get out of credit card debt.
We hated that we were sacrificing our future retirement income but we didn't see any other way out. That's why we save for retirement even though we are still in debt. Because of our prior debt we are playing catch up with our retirement savings. We all know how compound interest works and we sacrificed that to eliminate our credit card debt.
That's why I could kick myself that we somehow managed to get ourselves back into credit card debt. We don't have near the debt we had the first go round, but we still have debt. We continue to keep two credit cards. One we manage to pay off monthly and have every month since it was paid off almost five years ago. The other we used for a trip to Hawaii about four years ago and have carried a balance on it ever since. The balance has fluctuated anywhere from maxed out to about "half full". We currently sit at half full and that's the debt I'm actively trying to eliminate.
This time around our debt came about because even though we make great salaries, we have chosen to live beyond our means. We buy gifts for friends and family members for birthdays and Christmas, even when we don't have the ready cash. We buy when "we want" as opposed to when "we need" or saving for things first. We want to give our kids experiences and don't pay attention to the cost. All of these things are stupid and we are trying to change our habits so we don't fall prey to these pitfalls again.
There is a better way than using credit; and in the last few months I have been actively pursuing different options to satisfy our wants and still get out of debt. We are getting there. S.L.O.W.L.Y.
Like I said we had $26000 in credit card debt but that wasn't all of our debt. We also had a mortgage and a car payment. This is the story of how we got out of debt, the first time.
About five years ago, (right in the middle of the Great Recession!) The Husband decided to change jobs. It was nerve wracking to say the least and really hard for this Brunette in Debt who hates change to come to terms with. However, I didn't have to work 9 to 5 at a job I was unhappy with and where I didn't feel valued so I supported him 100% in his decision.
It's that change that got us out of debt, the first time. When The Husband switched jobs, he had a 401k that we rolled over to his new job and a pension that we couldn't decide what to do with. Finally after breaking down the numbers, we decided to cash out his pension. It was painful in that we had to pay crazy amounts in fees and taxes, but even after that, we had enough money to pay off both of our credit cards and get out of credit card debt.
We hated that we were sacrificing our future retirement income but we didn't see any other way out. That's why we save for retirement even though we are still in debt. Because of our prior debt we are playing catch up with our retirement savings. We all know how compound interest works and we sacrificed that to eliminate our credit card debt.
That's why I could kick myself that we somehow managed to get ourselves back into credit card debt. We don't have near the debt we had the first go round, but we still have debt. We continue to keep two credit cards. One we manage to pay off monthly and have every month since it was paid off almost five years ago. The other we used for a trip to Hawaii about four years ago and have carried a balance on it ever since. The balance has fluctuated anywhere from maxed out to about "half full". We currently sit at half full and that's the debt I'm actively trying to eliminate.
This time around our debt came about because even though we make great salaries, we have chosen to live beyond our means. We buy gifts for friends and family members for birthdays and Christmas, even when we don't have the ready cash. We buy when "we want" as opposed to when "we need" or saving for things first. We want to give our kids experiences and don't pay attention to the cost. All of these things are stupid and we are trying to change our habits so we don't fall prey to these pitfalls again.
There is a better way than using credit; and in the last few months I have been actively pursuing different options to satisfy our wants and still get out of debt. We are getting there. S.L.O.W.L.Y.
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Costco takes Visa!
Holy Cow!!! Costco takes Visa. I feel like I could stop
right there and everyone would understand exactly what that means! My life is
changed! In general, it’s changed for the better, but financially, Costco
taking Visa definitely falls into the negative category.
Before Costco took Visa, I kept to a very strict budget
there because I never had a Discover or AMEX credit card that I could use there. I always kept track of my running total and
at checkout, my estimate was never off by more than $1-2 from the actual total.
I either had to have the cash money in my hand or enough money in my checking
account to cover my purchases. Not
anymore. I saw the effects of this
almost right away! On the first trip I made to Costco after they started
accepting Visa credit cards, I spent $370. That is considerably higher than my
normal spending of around $150 per trip.
Admittedly, I did buy a few Christmas presents, (two ammunition holders
for my husband, totaling $40, and a packable down vest for myself (it’s going
in my stocking) for $17), but the fact remains that I did not track my spending
at all on that trip. I bought whatever I wanted.
I have since needed to go back to Costco a couple of times
and spent more money. This is far above my normal $250 bi-weekly grocery
budget. In the past, I would have made
do, but because Costco now takes Visa, I just went and spent willy-nilly.
Costco taking Visa will not be good for my budget.
On an average, I spend $300-400 a month at Costco. The one
bonus to them accepting Visa now, is that I will earn rewards for all those
points. But this is a case of because
I’m charging it, I will spend more, which is something every study on it
supports: you spend more money when you are paying by credit than you do when
paying by cash. And as awesome as the points are, I know the points I earn will
in no way make up for the overages on my budget. Discipline will be key when
shopping at Costco from now on. Not gonna lie, self-discipline has always been
in short supply over here!
With the kids back in school, I need to go to Costco and
pick up after school snacks for them. I’ll be heading there this weekend and I
hope I can keep the total down and only buy things on my list or at least only
buy things we really need. The kitchen remodel is not really helping the food
budget either. I am always in the market
for easy/quick meals these days and Costco has lots of those too!
Friday, August 19, 2016
Blog Obsessed
I have been reading personal finance blogs for going on three years. I love them; and when I find one I really love, I go back through their archives and read from their first post all the way to their most current post, and then of course, I follow them religiously!
About the time I started reading PF blogs, I started keeping my own financial journal. And for the last year, I've really considered starting my own PF blog. Well, I finally did it. This blog is for me. I don't plan to monetize it. I don't want to guest post. I'm not trying to become a freelance writer. I just want to participate in this medium and community I've fallen in love with.
I am PF blog obsessed! I've also become obsessed with my new blog. I don't know if the novelty is going to wear off or if I'm going to get sick of writing about this at some point. All I do know is that I love it right now and I think about it all the time! I have a notepad on my desk that I have jotted down notes on with posts I want to write. I keep a note on my phone where I jot ideas when I'm not home. When I go running, I think of post ideas. I'm having so much fun writing drafts, editing them, and figuring out what order I want to publish them in.
Long before I started my little ole' blog I was reading blogs. I started with blogs about getting out of debt (which are still my favorite) and then I branched out into other types of personal finance blogs.
Here is a list of some of my favorites with the link to their blog and why I love them.
Cait Flanders - when I started reading her blog, it was called Blonde on a Budget and it started out as a get out of debt blog. It has turned into so much more and is really more of a lifestyle blog now.
Disease Called Debt - I love her story and how honest she is!
Friday Night Shenanigans - She has a lot of debt to overcome but she's making a plan and putting in work.
Give Me Back My Five Bucks - Krystal hustled her way out of debt and has been debt free for years now! She doesn't post as often as she used to but it's still always a good read!
Mama Hustle - I just recently started reading and following her blog but I enjoy it and her writing style!
Six Figures Under - This is the MOST inspiring blog! She and her family hustled their way out of over $100,000 in debt in less than 3 years! What? And all along the way she stayed positive and faithful!
I promise, if you start reading some of these blogs, you'll become obsessed too!
About the time I started reading PF blogs, I started keeping my own financial journal. And for the last year, I've really considered starting my own PF blog. Well, I finally did it. This blog is for me. I don't plan to monetize it. I don't want to guest post. I'm not trying to become a freelance writer. I just want to participate in this medium and community I've fallen in love with.
I am PF blog obsessed! I've also become obsessed with my new blog. I don't know if the novelty is going to wear off or if I'm going to get sick of writing about this at some point. All I do know is that I love it right now and I think about it all the time! I have a notepad on my desk that I have jotted down notes on with posts I want to write. I keep a note on my phone where I jot ideas when I'm not home. When I go running, I think of post ideas. I'm having so much fun writing drafts, editing them, and figuring out what order I want to publish them in.
Long before I started my little ole' blog I was reading blogs. I started with blogs about getting out of debt (which are still my favorite) and then I branched out into other types of personal finance blogs.
Here is a list of some of my favorites with the link to their blog and why I love them.
Cait Flanders - when I started reading her blog, it was called Blonde on a Budget and it started out as a get out of debt blog. It has turned into so much more and is really more of a lifestyle blog now.
Disease Called Debt - I love her story and how honest she is!
Friday Night Shenanigans - She has a lot of debt to overcome but she's making a plan and putting in work.
Give Me Back My Five Bucks - Krystal hustled her way out of debt and has been debt free for years now! She doesn't post as often as she used to but it's still always a good read!
Mama Hustle - I just recently started reading and following her blog but I enjoy it and her writing style!
Six Figures Under - This is the MOST inspiring blog! She and her family hustled their way out of over $100,000 in debt in less than 3 years! What? And all along the way she stayed positive and faithful!
I promise, if you start reading some of these blogs, you'll become obsessed too!
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
A Happy Update!!!
I have a quick* update on my last post where I asked why do bad things always happen in threes?
We took our car into the dealership on Monday night and explained what the problem we were having was and what we thought was causing it. Once we got this far, the clerk told The Husband that if it was in fact the water pump, as we believed then it would be covered by the dealership at no cost to us. (Apparently although there isn't an actual recall, if my make and model of car comes in with a broken water pump, the dealership has to replace it; I guess it's an internal recall.) When we heard this, we began praying (literally) that it was the water pump. For the last two days we have prayed and prayed that the on-going problem with my car was the water pump and today we finally got the call that that was the problem!!!
Since the car was in for a repair anyway, we had a transmission flush done as a normal/preventative maintenance measure. This we had to pay for to the tune of $228, but that beats the heck out of $700-900 which is what we would have had to pay if there wasn't an internal recall on our car! I'm still so happy and have thanked God so many times. This is a great time to remember to praise The One who delivered us this blessing.
One of our budget categories is car repair, which I guess is not the most aptly named category. In addition to actual repairs we need we use this for maintenance and tires. In all honesty, we use it more often for regular maintenance. Anyway, in the category, we currently have $150. Although it won't cover the whole cost of the maintenance we had done, I only have to come up with $78 which isn't bad at all considering what I was worried about just a couple short days ago!
Also in that post, I talked about our water heater timer getting fried. We didn't have as much luck there as with the car, but we came out ahead of where I thought we would there too. One of my brothers owns a plumbing company and he was able to get the timer for us for $120, that's about $30 than the cheapest price we were able to find online. The company overnighted it to us and we didn't have to pay shipping so that's another small win!
I'm so happy my financially tragic weekend has turned out better than I ever could have hoped just a few days removed from the actual events! Seriously, what a blessing: we expected to be out over $1000 from last weekend and we only have to pay about $350, of which we already have $150 saved. This is another great example of remembering when things work in my favor and when I'm the lucky one.
*PS - I guess this wasn't such a quick update after all.
We took our car into the dealership on Monday night and explained what the problem we were having was and what we thought was causing it. Once we got this far, the clerk told The Husband that if it was in fact the water pump, as we believed then it would be covered by the dealership at no cost to us. (Apparently although there isn't an actual recall, if my make and model of car comes in with a broken water pump, the dealership has to replace it; I guess it's an internal recall.) When we heard this, we began praying (literally) that it was the water pump. For the last two days we have prayed and prayed that the on-going problem with my car was the water pump and today we finally got the call that that was the problem!!!
Since the car was in for a repair anyway, we had a transmission flush done as a normal/preventative maintenance measure. This we had to pay for to the tune of $228, but that beats the heck out of $700-900 which is what we would have had to pay if there wasn't an internal recall on our car! I'm still so happy and have thanked God so many times. This is a great time to remember to praise The One who delivered us this blessing.
One of our budget categories is car repair, which I guess is not the most aptly named category. In addition to actual repairs we need we use this for maintenance and tires. In all honesty, we use it more often for regular maintenance. Anyway, in the category, we currently have $150. Although it won't cover the whole cost of the maintenance we had done, I only have to come up with $78 which isn't bad at all considering what I was worried about just a couple short days ago!
Also in that post, I talked about our water heater timer getting fried. We didn't have as much luck there as with the car, but we came out ahead of where I thought we would there too. One of my brothers owns a plumbing company and he was able to get the timer for us for $120, that's about $30 than the cheapest price we were able to find online. The company overnighted it to us and we didn't have to pay shipping so that's another small win!
I'm so happy my financially tragic weekend has turned out better than I ever could have hoped just a few days removed from the actual events! Seriously, what a blessing: we expected to be out over $1000 from last weekend and we only have to pay about $350, of which we already have $150 saved. This is another great example of remembering when things work in my favor and when I'm the lucky one.
*PS - I guess this wasn't such a quick update after all.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Why Do Bad Things Always Happen in Threes?
This has been a weekend... With all the things that have gone wrong, it will be one of the few times I'm ready for the weekend to be over.
I have been having car problems for the last month or so. My car starts "randomly" overheating and we haven't been able to find a leak; but my car has been going through coolant like nobody's business! Well, Friday on my way home from picking The Kids up from school, my AC clicked off and my dash lights said "Turn off AC, engine hot". At this point I cranked up the heater and was just glad we were only a mile away from home. The Husband only works half days on Fridays during summer so he was home and able to look at my car right away. He finally found a leak. We have a mechanic friend who we were able to call to ask some questions. Although he's not going to do the work for us, he was able to diagnose the problem so we know what to expect when we bring it in for the repair. It's probably going to cost us about $500 to get our water pump fixed and sadly, we only have $150 currently residing in our car repair fund. We have been trying to grow our car repair fund but it's been a case of one-thing-after-another with our cars lately.
The next disaster came on Saturday. Several months ago we replaced our traditional water heater with a tankless water heater. The water heater has a digital control panel. It has been mounted on the wall but because of the whole kitchen remodel the control panel was just taped to the wall. Unbeknownst to either me or The Husband, the control panel fell to the ground, which in and of itself wasn't a bad thing, but the condensing hose also fell down and proceeded to drip water all over the control panel and now it doesn't work. The only silver lining here is that the water heater itself is still working, but the timer and control panel isn't. That's going to be about another $150 we weren't expecting to have to spend right now.
Disaster number 3 came Sunday when The Husband was working on the kitchen remodel. He knew he was going to have to replace a couple of studs because of water damage under the sink, but as he got more into it, he realized he will have to re-frame the whole wall under the window and sink. As we have done tons of renovations, we know that's the nature of the beast, but it sets us a couple more days back from where we wanted to be. Instead of finishing up electrical today, we are framing. Because this is our house and we want to do things right, this just adds more time to the timeline until we are finished and it sucks!
This has been a very costly weekend for us and I'm hoping we don't have anymore like it in the near future. I have a small extra check coming next month that will help defray costs and I'm hoping maybe The Husband can pick up a few hours of overtime here or there that will go towards our bottom line too. With these unexpected expenses, I think I will only be able to make a minimum payment to our credit card bill, but on the plus side, we won't be adding anymore debt and will be able to pay for everything we need. This just isn't going to be one of those months where we are making big jumps forward with our debt repayment.
You know the saying, "bad things always happen in threes", well, I'm hoping it's accurate so nothing else happens to further slow our debt progress!
I have been having car problems for the last month or so. My car starts "randomly" overheating and we haven't been able to find a leak; but my car has been going through coolant like nobody's business! Well, Friday on my way home from picking The Kids up from school, my AC clicked off and my dash lights said "Turn off AC, engine hot". At this point I cranked up the heater and was just glad we were only a mile away from home. The Husband only works half days on Fridays during summer so he was home and able to look at my car right away. He finally found a leak. We have a mechanic friend who we were able to call to ask some questions. Although he's not going to do the work for us, he was able to diagnose the problem so we know what to expect when we bring it in for the repair. It's probably going to cost us about $500 to get our water pump fixed and sadly, we only have $150 currently residing in our car repair fund. We have been trying to grow our car repair fund but it's been a case of one-thing-after-another with our cars lately.
The next disaster came on Saturday. Several months ago we replaced our traditional water heater with a tankless water heater. The water heater has a digital control panel. It has been mounted on the wall but because of the whole kitchen remodel the control panel was just taped to the wall. Unbeknownst to either me or The Husband, the control panel fell to the ground, which in and of itself wasn't a bad thing, but the condensing hose also fell down and proceeded to drip water all over the control panel and now it doesn't work. The only silver lining here is that the water heater itself is still working, but the timer and control panel isn't. That's going to be about another $150 we weren't expecting to have to spend right now.
Disaster number 3 came Sunday when The Husband was working on the kitchen remodel. He knew he was going to have to replace a couple of studs because of water damage under the sink, but as he got more into it, he realized he will have to re-frame the whole wall under the window and sink. As we have done tons of renovations, we know that's the nature of the beast, but it sets us a couple more days back from where we wanted to be. Instead of finishing up electrical today, we are framing. Because this is our house and we want to do things right, this just adds more time to the timeline until we are finished and it sucks!
This has been a very costly weekend for us and I'm hoping we don't have anymore like it in the near future. I have a small extra check coming next month that will help defray costs and I'm hoping maybe The Husband can pick up a few hours of overtime here or there that will go towards our bottom line too. With these unexpected expenses, I think I will only be able to make a minimum payment to our credit card bill, but on the plus side, we won't be adding anymore debt and will be able to pay for everything we need. This just isn't going to be one of those months where we are making big jumps forward with our debt repayment.
You know the saying, "bad things always happen in threes", well, I'm hoping it's accurate so nothing else happens to further slow our debt progress!
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Back to Reality
Today marks my first day back to work after summer break. I
can’t believe it. Actually, I did not
have to return to work today, I could have waited one more day and returned
tomorrow. My district offers what they
call “Buy Back Days”. BBDs are optional teacher work days where if you attend,
you get an extra paycheck of $249 before taxes, about $175 after taxes. These BBDs function as professional
development for our district and usually are very valuable and offer great
practical ideas that I can take back to my classroom and implement easily and
seamlessly. And the real reason I attend, I get paid. Although we aren’t
gazelles, I don’t want to leave money on the table either.
We have three BBDs throughout the school year, but I usually
only attend the first one at the beginning of the year because I would need to
arrange daycare for my kids in order to attend the other two. This year may be different because my kids
are older and would be alright at home by themselves. The extra money would certainly be nice to
help pay off a little more debt.
The check I will receive from attending today’s BBD will
either go right into our savings account or to paying for something for our
kitchen; but either way, it will be directed towards helping us cash flow our
kitchen and will not be going towards paying off any extra debt. I won’t get
paid for this day until September and I will try to buy something “specific”
with it so that I always remember “THAT” was bought and paid for by my BBD.
I still can’t believe I returned to work today. I’m looking forward to this school year and
the students I’m going to meet as well as all the new ideas and lessons I want
to try to implement into my classroom. Some of my work related goals this year
are to keep up a daily plan book for the entire school year and to keep a
detailed calendar of meetings and conferences I’m going to attend during the
year. I want to get all the ideas and
dates out of my head and put them down on paper. This is probably my biggest
weakness: I keep everything in my head and because of that, sometimes I forget
great ideas.
I’m very excited about having this blog and I’m so excited I
pre-wrote several posts because with the school year just starting, I know I’m
going to be busy and not be able to write as often as I’d like to. I don’t have
a schedule of posting per se, but I’m shooting for posting twice a week with
the occasional third post thrown in. And, as of right now, all I’m writing about
are things that matter to me, things that pertain to me, things that are
personal to me. This is definitely not a how-to-get-out-of-debt-blog. It’s just
a blog, written by a girl, that is fascinated by her debt and the personal
finance community.
As far as our debt payment goes, I just keep chugging along.
No major payments in the last week and no major setbacks either.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Our Debt Story Part 1
I guess all personal finance bloggers have to write this post at some point. Here's the story of our debt.
*It's important to note that The Husband and I have dated since high school so we accumulated our debt together. Our debt is not a case of he brought/she brought merging finances.
The Husband and I both graduated college debt free, which was awesome. He worked at a (crappy) job that offered tuition reimbursement and I received a full athletic scholarship. Where we really got into trouble was with credit card debt. Both of us signed up for our first credit card in college. I still remember that I got to choose from seven different designs. (I chose the lime green one with water drops in case you're interested.) Between the two of us for a long time our credit card debt hovered around $7000 which was manageable, not good, but manageable. Then we bought a house at the absolute peak of the California housing market. At the time, we had an almost one year old and I was pregnant again. I was only working 20 hours a week so I could be home most of the time raising our son, and then later our daughter.
We had all these new housing related bills to pay: mortgage, utilities, cable, internet, etc. and I cut my working hours in half, but we never adjusted our lifestyle. We continued to live our life exactly as we had when we had two full-time incomes and fewer bills. We made up for the shortfall with our credit cards. Big mistake! Huge! There were times we had to charge groceries on our credit card because we literally had NO MONEY to pay for them. We charged gas and everyday living expenses. It was no way to live.
After a couple years of this idiocy plan we found ourselves in credit card debt to the tune of $26000. The worst part about this is we had nothing to show for it. We were using our credit cards to pay for our living expenses. At one point, we had saved up the cash to attend a wedding across the country and had a difficult time with our hotel because even though we were paying cash when we checked out, they needed a credit card to put a "hold on" for any incidentals we might have incurred and because our cards were maxed out we didn't have a card to use. Finally we had to use our debit card which was scary because all the money in our account was earmarked for something and I was afraid a bill would come through and because of the hold on our card, a check would bounce.
We were drowning and barely able to make minimum payments, but we still didn't change our lifestyle. I can't tell you what we were thinking because I still don't know. We continued living a life we couldn't afford because we didn't want "people" to know how bad our financial situation was. I think we were so worried about what other people would think of us that we dug our hole deeper and deeper regardless of the stress it was putting on us and our marriage.
I wish I could tell you that one day we woke up and made better, smarter choices and we dug ourselves out of debt one payment at a time, but for us that's not the case. Stay tuned for Part 2 of Our Debt Story.
Monday, August 8, 2016
When did Public School Become so Expensive?
School starts in early August here in my school district, so I took my kids back-to-school shopping a couple of weeks ago, in the middle of July. Holy cow, it was expensive!
A couple of disclaimers first: one, I'm a public school teacher and I know how much money teachers spend out of pocket, and two, technically the supplies list is "optional" (but if you refer to disclaimer one, you'll understand why I send my kids to school with the items off said list).
The fact that each school year when my kids leave school for summer break they get sent home with a supply list for the following year is pathetic, and the things on that supply list makes it even more pathetic: reams of copy paper, pens, pencils, glue. These are the basic building blocks of elementary education and school districts are not supplying them anymore. They expect teachers to buy them out-of-pocket or parents to provide them for their students.
My school district provides free breakfast and lunch to over 60% of the kids in my district, but teachers aren't allowed to photocopy? I don't get it.
All of these things add up to the reason I take my kids back-to-school shopping and always try to buy some extras for the teacher. The week school supplies were set out in Target, the kids and I headed there with our trusty lists. I bought 4 reams of copy paper, two each for each kid's teacher, 13 composition books (nine(!) for one kid, four for the other), two thumb drives, two packs of colored pencils, and countless other supplies. Each of my kids' teachers also asked for boxes of tissues, Clorox wipes, and various and sundry individual items. We bought it all.
Knowing this expense was coming up, I have been budgeting for it. For each of the past two months, I earmarked $100 of our budget to "school". In addition to the kids supplies, I bought some supplies for my own classroom since they were at rock bottom prices. I bought 45 spiral notebooks at $.17 each, several packs of Expo markers, some history related flash cards and a few other odds and ends. In total, we spent $190 on actual school supplies, of which about $40 was for my classroom. That means that each of my kids needed $75 worth of school supplies to start the year... which brings me back to the question, when did public school become so expensive?
When I was little, my parents only expense on the first day of school was a new outfit and shoes. Now, I've spent more in the first week then my parents had to in a whole school year! And if that's not enough, several times throughout the year I'm asked to pay for this field trip or that art teacher... Public school is no longer free.
Sorry, rant over. (I think.) In addition to school supplies I bought the kids each a new outfit and shoes for the first day of school. My daughter chose a cute dress, which wouldn't be a shocker if you knew her, and my son picked a new tee-shirt... yep, just a tee-shirt, which he had planned to wear with some old basketball shorts. I got him to compromise and wear some plaid shorts he has that are a little nicer. My daughter needed some new "unmentionables" and my son needed new socks. They both got a few pairs of shoes, for my daughter, some ballet flats and two pairs of Converse and for my son, two pairs of new athletic shoes. Again, this was an expense that I knew was coming so I was able to save for some of it. Just as with our school budget, I had done the same thing with clothes. Unfortunately, the shoes alone almost completely wiped out our $200 budget. With their outfits and "needs" we spent about another $60, but at least we had the money to pay for most of it and this gives me a number to save for next year.
So, recap. School supplies and first-day-of-school outfits and shoes for two kids came to a grand total of $410. Seriously, when did public school become so expensive? Before my kids have even walked through the door to start school I've paid over $200 per kid!!!! That's crazy!
*I know I could have bought their clothes/shoes second hand to save some money, but remember, we aren't gazelles.
A couple of disclaimers first: one, I'm a public school teacher and I know how much money teachers spend out of pocket, and two, technically the supplies list is "optional" (but if you refer to disclaimer one, you'll understand why I send my kids to school with the items off said list).
The fact that each school year when my kids leave school for summer break they get sent home with a supply list for the following year is pathetic, and the things on that supply list makes it even more pathetic: reams of copy paper, pens, pencils, glue. These are the basic building blocks of elementary education and school districts are not supplying them anymore. They expect teachers to buy them out-of-pocket or parents to provide them for their students.
My school district provides free breakfast and lunch to over 60% of the kids in my district, but teachers aren't allowed to photocopy? I don't get it.
All of these things add up to the reason I take my kids back-to-school shopping and always try to buy some extras for the teacher. The week school supplies were set out in Target, the kids and I headed there with our trusty lists. I bought 4 reams of copy paper, two each for each kid's teacher, 13 composition books (nine(!) for one kid, four for the other), two thumb drives, two packs of colored pencils, and countless other supplies. Each of my kids' teachers also asked for boxes of tissues, Clorox wipes, and various and sundry individual items. We bought it all.
Knowing this expense was coming up, I have been budgeting for it. For each of the past two months, I earmarked $100 of our budget to "school". In addition to the kids supplies, I bought some supplies for my own classroom since they were at rock bottom prices. I bought 45 spiral notebooks at $.17 each, several packs of Expo markers, some history related flash cards and a few other odds and ends. In total, we spent $190 on actual school supplies, of which about $40 was for my classroom. That means that each of my kids needed $75 worth of school supplies to start the year... which brings me back to the question, when did public school become so expensive?
When I was little, my parents only expense on the first day of school was a new outfit and shoes. Now, I've spent more in the first week then my parents had to in a whole school year! And if that's not enough, several times throughout the year I'm asked to pay for this field trip or that art teacher... Public school is no longer free.
Sorry, rant over. (I think.) In addition to school supplies I bought the kids each a new outfit and shoes for the first day of school. My daughter chose a cute dress, which wouldn't be a shocker if you knew her, and my son picked a new tee-shirt... yep, just a tee-shirt, which he had planned to wear with some old basketball shorts. I got him to compromise and wear some plaid shorts he has that are a little nicer. My daughter needed some new "unmentionables" and my son needed new socks. They both got a few pairs of shoes, for my daughter, some ballet flats and two pairs of Converse and for my son, two pairs of new athletic shoes. Again, this was an expense that I knew was coming so I was able to save for some of it. Just as with our school budget, I had done the same thing with clothes. Unfortunately, the shoes alone almost completely wiped out our $200 budget. With their outfits and "needs" we spent about another $60, but at least we had the money to pay for most of it and this gives me a number to save for next year.
So, recap. School supplies and first-day-of-school outfits and shoes for two kids came to a grand total of $410. Seriously, when did public school become so expensive? Before my kids have even walked through the door to start school I've paid over $200 per kid!!!! That's crazy!
*I know I could have bought their clothes/shoes second hand to save some money, but remember, we aren't gazelles.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
We aren't Gazelles
We aren't gazelles.
I love Dave Ramsey, and his course, Financial Peace University, has impacted my life in so many ways, but he would definitely not approve of the way we are getting out of debt.
According to Dave's steps, we shouldn't be contributing (anything over the company match) towards our retirement, but we do. He alsopushes encourages people to be "gazelle intense" in their efforts to get out of debt, and we aren't. Gazelle intense means having a laser focus on your debt. Gazelle intense means getting out of debt is your number one and most important financial goal. Gazelle intense means you will put all your efforts and all your dollars towards financial freedom. We aren't gazelles.
The first time we got out of consumer debt, yes, there was first time, we decided to get out of debt, but that we wouldn't let it in impact our lifestyle. This came about for many reasons, but mostly because we didn't want our kids to have to suffer the consequences of our poor financial decisions. If it were up to Dave, our kids wouldn't play soccer or baseball, they wouldn't dance, and we wouldn't go on vacation. These things didn't seem fair to us. They were our mistakes, why were the kids having to pay for them?
Other things we weren't willing to give up to get out of debt included gift giving, home renovations, and really any recreational activities. Again, we aren't gazelles. I want to get out of debt so badly, but, in all honesty, not badly enough. I'm not willing to sacrifice our quality of life, even in the short term, to get out of debt faster.
We buy new clothes (the horror), we buy new cars, (but we do drive them until they D.I.E.), we take extravagant vacations, we buy gifts for family and friends, and we tackle massive home renovation projects, all while paying off our debt. The fact that we can still do all those things while making payments above and beyond the minimum and not taking on any more debt means we make more than enough money but that we have made some poor financial decisions in our past. That's what we are trying to rectify now, but without giving up anything in the short term.
We aren't gazelles.
And that's why we are still in debt.
I love Dave Ramsey, and his course, Financial Peace University, has impacted my life in so many ways, but he would definitely not approve of the way we are getting out of debt.
According to Dave's steps, we shouldn't be contributing (anything over the company match) towards our retirement, but we do. He also
The first time we got out of consumer debt, yes, there was first time, we decided to get out of debt, but that we wouldn't let it in impact our lifestyle. This came about for many reasons, but mostly because we didn't want our kids to have to suffer the consequences of our poor financial decisions. If it were up to Dave, our kids wouldn't play soccer or baseball, they wouldn't dance, and we wouldn't go on vacation. These things didn't seem fair to us. They were our mistakes, why were the kids having to pay for them?
Other things we weren't willing to give up to get out of debt included gift giving, home renovations, and really any recreational activities. Again, we aren't gazelles. I want to get out of debt so badly, but, in all honesty, not badly enough. I'm not willing to sacrifice our quality of life, even in the short term, to get out of debt faster.
We buy new clothes (the horror), we buy new cars, (but we do drive them until they D.I.E.), we take extravagant vacations, we buy gifts for family and friends, and we tackle massive home renovation projects, all while paying off our debt. The fact that we can still do all those things while making payments above and beyond the minimum and not taking on any more debt means we make more than enough money but that we have made some poor financial decisions in our past. That's what we are trying to rectify now, but without giving up anything in the short term.
We aren't gazelles.
And that's why we are still in debt.
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