budgets & goals (#2/?)

Last time I talked about setting a budget, so today I am going to talk about setting your goals and how having a budget can help you achieve those goals.

Since my husband and I have been together our finances have kind of been the elephant in the room. You know that big thing that's always there and no one really wants to talk about? Yeah, that thing. 

Something that we never really learned growing up is how to make a budget and more importantly how to live WITHIN our means. I really think that this has been an epidemic in our country and not just my generation but our parents as well. If you go back to my grandparents generation (depression era babies, my Gran is like 85) People didn't borrow money, there was a stigma attached to it. When people bought their homes, they paid CASH! Cold hard cash, thus they never spent more then they could afford. However sometime after WWII our country has moved away from this mentality, now we have loans for everything; our homes, our cars, even our clothing and entertainment (credit cards and store cards ARE loans people!)

Dave Ramsey has a saying, "Live like no one else so you can live like no one else"  It might sound odd but that's the point. If you live your life unlike everyone else, those people who are keeping up with the Jones and going broke doing it you will be able to live the live of your dreams later. Instead of getting a credit card or taking out a loan for what you want right now, save up for it! My dad always says this and he's right. He also says that by the time you have enough money you may not want it anymore.

So we have decided that we are no longer going to borrow money and take on debts. I know that we will be taking out a loan to buy our home, but we have looked long and hard at what we are paying for rent and what we want to pay for a mortgage to come up with numbers that we can afford. We can buy a $90,000 home at a monthly payment of $500 verses our $755 a month rental payment on a two bedroom apartment. (Makes sense to buy hu?)

As a family/Couple we sat down ans had it out (not fighting honest!) We really just had what my Grandma would call " A come to Jesus" talk, an honest talk about the cold hard truth of our situation and what we wanted to do about it. FYI: This part is about as much fun as setting up a budget. :/ Also it is very important that you sit down together for EVERY check and go over the budget. Make sure that you assign every dollar so that you don't waste your money.

Here are our goals for the next 2 years: (i am sure that at some point we will revise this but these are our concrete goals for the future.)

1.) Reduce our expenses

2.) Get an emergency fund of $1,000 (per Dave Ramsey's method)

3.) Pay off debts: Medical, Credit Cards, & School (we do not plan to pay off the car before buying a home)

4.) Save for a home (down payment of 20% and closing costs) *note you can ask the seller to pay closing costs but don't assume that they will, better to be prepared.

I know that an emergency fund of $1,000 is not much, this is just a starting point! Once you have started paying off your debts then you want to come back and get a minimum of 3 months of your living expenses saved up in the event that you get laid off or sick and can't work etc.

Since starting on the budget that I posted last time we have really seen a difference. I know that my husband worked some extra hours as well so that helped us pretty much pay off a good portion of the medical bills that I had. HOWEVER, as Murphy's Law would have it...my car died. Boo :( Like I said GET AN EMERGENCY FUND!

the big bad "B" word (#1/?)

I started writing this post thinking that I would finish it and be done, but I realized that, well that wasn't good enough so this will be a series. However, I don't know how many posts there will be in total, thus the question mark. I hope this helps someone the way that I needed help.


Okay it is time to get down to some serious business. I have a confession to make before I get into this post: I can not budget. There I said it! whew, glad I got that off my chest  If you haven't already guessed the B word I am referring to is BUDGET. I know that there is a lot of information out there, but if you are like me most of it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Well today I had a breakthrough!

I guess my major problem was that I never really knew how much of your money should be allocated for each area of your budget. I mean I know what I have been spending on groceries for our family of three ( I am fairly sure that I could spend less but that's another post for another day.) The hubby and I would really like to cut our expenses, save for our first home, and have some freedom to do fun stuff, travel back to Michigan to see our families, etc. So I started searching the internet YET AGAIN, to see if I could discover the answers.

In January I know that our church is offering Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and I am so, so excited! This is a faith based program that a lot of people I know have used and really love. The main points of the program however are things that we all can use regardless of faith; cutting debt, making and using a budget, and really obtaining freedom from your finances.

So here is what I found and what I am going to start using to try and get some control over here in our house.

Deborah Fowles over at About.com gave these recomendations:
Click Here for her original post.

• Food at home 7.7%
• Food away from home 5.4%
• Alcoholic beverages 1.0%
• Total food and drink 14.1%
• Housing 32.9%
• Apparel and services 4.0%
• Vehicles 9.1%
• Gasoline and motor oil 3.3%
• Other transportation 6.7%
• TotalTransportation 19.1%
• Healthcare 5.9%
• Entertainment 5.0%
• Personal care products and services 1.3%
• Reading .3%
• Education 1.9%
• Tobacco products and smoking supplies .7%
• Miscellaneous 1.5%
• Cash contributions 3.4%
• Personal insurance and pensions 9.9%

I simplified this because we don't really have all of these categories and I have some bills I am paying off so this is what i came up with.

• Groceries & eating out 14%
• Housing 30%
  rent or mortgage, utilities, and insurance
• Apparel and services 4.0%
• Total Transportation 20%
  Car payment & Gas
• Healthcare 6%
  Co-pays, deductible, Over the counter medications etc
• Entertainment 5.0%
• Personal care products and services 1.3%
• Miscellaneous 1.5%
• Cash contributions 3.4%

Now, since the hubby and I want to buy a home in two-three years I have set our monthly budget up like this:

• Groceries & eating out 14%
• Housing 30%
  rent or mortgage, utilities, and insurance
• Debt elimination 15%
• Total Transportation 20%
  Car payment & Gas
• Healthcare 6%
  Co-pays, deductible, Over the counter medications etc
• Savings 10%
• Miscellaneous 5%

Because we have decided to save for a home we are making every effort to cut all other spending and get our credit score up. We have 1 credit card each, I have school loans, and we have 1 car loan. Oh and we have a few medical bills because I have to see a specialist and it's expensive.

 After talking with the loan officer at our local credit union she gave us the following suggestions: 1.) Pay off those cards and keep them paid off! 2.) Make payments on the loans ( I am currently in deferment, so I am accruing interest but I don't have to make payments-not a great choice but it needed to be done at the time and now we can start paying them off. I would call this a DON'T btw)

I will be updating you all on our progress in terms of how our budget is working and what I am learning over the next months. Here are the goals that we set, it is important to set goals and make financial decisions as a couple. That way everyone is on the same page and if something (god forbid) happens to one of you, the other person isn't totally clueless about things. 

Finding Fall Giveaway!

So since I've just started this lil old blog of mine I am not doing giveaways, HOWEVER I will post about one being hosted on other blogs! There is no doubt about the fact that I <3 free stuff.

So head on over to Vphonegirl and enter to win.

  Here's just a glimpse at the Fall Inspired Prizes!



1st Prize - Autumn Mini Canvas Set and 

2 Handmade Embroidered Towels

2nd Prize - Fall Faves Accordion Book

3rd Prize - Harvest Photo Wallet Set





Each winner will take home a set of theFinding Fall Tags too! 

Be sure to visit the co-hosts and bff Amy at Lovebug and her lil Sis at Life-n-Reflection for so much more!! 

*please note that I am not connected to this giveaway in any way and am not being compensated for posting about it in my blog. Giveaway information and photos are from the hosting blog vphonegirl.blogspot.com

Finger painting!

So this is a project that the monkey and I did a few months ago. We joined the hubby in South Dakota in April and I swear it rained all of April and May. Like literally rained almost EVERY.SINGLE.DAY! Not only was i going crazy from being stuck in the house I was going crazy trying to keep the little monkey from climbing the walls, the chairs, and anything else she could get her little fingers on. So I crusied on over the Pintrest and found this. Finger painting sounded fun so I grabbed a three pack of canvases and some Crayola washable finger paints.



 (If you prefer to make your own head over here to Easie Peasie to find out how to make your own.) I totally recommend it because monkey tried to eat the paint and even though it is non-toxic I really don't want her eating it.

Supplies Needed:

canvas
newspaper or something to put on the floor
painter's tape
finger paint (store bought or homemade)
paper plate

So supplies in hand I endeavored on our first ever craft project and other then her attempting to eat the pain it went well.

I started by taping some old newspapers to the kitchen floor, squeezed out some paint onto a plate (note to self: use paper next time, to hard to clean), and taped off a word on the canvas using painter's tape and we where ready to roll.

It may have taken her a minute to get used to the idea of painting but once she figured it out, it was full steam ahead! (note her trying to eat the paint on the left) Monkey even tried painting with her feet!

And here's the end result....

The plan is to let her paint Faith and Love, buy some inexpensive frames and hang them in her room. I also will not give her all four colors next time because this one turned out more brown then anything else. Not so cute for a little girl's room. Oh well, you live and learn right?

Fall frenzy

As many of you out there know, fall is kind of a crazy time. The kiddos are going back to school, regular activities are coming back in full swing and that leaves little time for mamma to get much done.

 I have started two of the projects on my sewing list: a cover for my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer and budget envelops. I am super excited that the hubby and I will be taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University in January and these fabric money envelops will be a great way to help us budget. As soon as I have these projects finished I will post detailed instructions and links to where I found them, however I found that I am in desperate need of a rotary cutter and a self healing mat. You can do sewing projects without one but MAN is it hard! I may even have to re cut the pattern pieces that I already have done because I may or may not have cut them wrong. :o/ Whoops!

Here is a sneak peek of my projects:

This is the beginning of my mixer cover. The tutorial that I found is
actually for a reversible cover but I do not plan on reversing mine.
I mean really, how ugly is that green floral? But I have had it for
YEARS because on of my (sorority) sisters bought it to cover their little sister's book and then decided they didn't like it. So they gave it to me. Maybe they think I have bad taste or that I like ugly fabric. Oh well, free is free! I also picked up this denim of the outside at a yard sale. I got a box of fabric for $2.00! I love the denim so that will be the outside and the green flowers will be the lining.









And these are the beautiful fabrics that I am using for my fabric envelops! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! They are so cute and pretty. I picked up four fat quarters at the fabric store last time I was in Sioux Falls and then I found two more in my craft supplies hiding in the garage. This was the project where I realized that I HAVE to get a rotary cutter, a self healing mat, and a ruler. Cutting out perfect squares by hand is NO FUN! (and i kinda stink at it.)






So there you have it. Everything that has been going on out here in the country. Check back soon and hopefully I will have actually finished something! lol. :o)

Fab giveaway!

*This giveaway has now ended. Thank You!*


There is a fab giveaway going on over at delightful designs and it has been extended until tomorrow!

Enter to win an amazing Kate Spade bag. seriously! Go now.

Kate Spade give away

A woman's look at 28...

Since moving out here to the country I have been really struggling with adjusting and finding my independence.  So I began to wonder, is 28 to young to be having a mid-life crisis? Or am I simply 3 years late for a quarter life crisis? I think this change of life /crisis/whatever this is is really the reason for starting a blog. I have a serious lack of direction so i have decided that this blog is here by dedicated to finding my groove, making our house a home, and really whatever else my ADD self feel like blogging on. There will be some crafting, some cooking, some money savin' and some serious restyling of my person. A 1 year old really should not have better style then me, i mean really? I dress her I should be able to dress myself, right?

Let the fun begin!

how did we get here?

So how did we get here and where is here exactly? I never thought that I would be a housewife in a smallish farming town in South Dakota but that is exactly where I find myself today. I think I really have to thank the crappy economy and the fact that I was born and raised in the heart of the Michigan auto industry for this. When things went south there I was studding to be an elementary school teacher, my dream was to teach kindergarten and get married to my best friend and raise our children where we had always lived. 

The funny thing about dreams is that as you grow older and life intervenes, they change, they have to. So I guess it's time for me to find a new dream and I am inviting all of you along for the ride. I have no idea how this is going to turn out but I hope to have a lot of fun trying.

Since moving to the country a few things have stood out to me; 1.) there is NOTHING to do here (compared to what I am used to) 2.) I HAVE to make some friends and 3.) I have got to get a hobby. I needed a plan of action and right now it goes a little something like this:

• Meet people
• Find a hobby
• maybe start a blog?
• get my but off of Pintrest! that site is like crack when you have lots of ideas and nothing to do.

Status check:

• Joined a church that I like and hope to make some new friends. there seem to be a lot of families there with children around the age of my little monkey
• found MOPS! *insert hallelujah chorus* Moms of Preschoolers (and younger) ie: women like me!!! So happy about this. I have not really meet a lot of women because we will not start meetings for another 2 weeks but everyone that I have meet has been super nice and very welcoming.
• took my mom's 1970 something sewing machine down to this great little store in Sioux Falls and got it all fixed up and ready to roll. I think that I will try some sewing projects not only to keep me busy but because there are like 2 stores here (no lie) and I just can not find the things that I want and I really don't like the prices of them online. If little ole non-crafty me thinks "hmmm.. I bet I could make that" It really couldn't be that hard. I'm not nuts I do know what it beyond my limited crafting ability.
• Bought some second hand furniture to use in monkey's "big girl" room. I got a dresser, a glider and ottoman (i never got one when I was prego) and a toddler bed for $30. the plain is to paint everything white, recover the glider (MAJOR project! it will most likely be months before that project gets posted) and redo the child sized rocker from my grandmother's house. Right now it's black with a yellow vinyl seat and it has been like that for as long as I can remember. I never got to do up a nursery because Monkey has never had her own room before so i really want to make a nice girly retreat for my munchkin.
• I started this Blog, so i guess that step is done.
  
  AND...
• I probably will not get off Pintrest because there are such great ideas about stuff to do!