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12-28-06 - Some final thoughts for the end of the year. I re-read what I wrote below a month ago and I we are still on track for the most part. I am still loving my coupon binder and it has saved me money several times b/c I can see the coupons right in front of me. It does take a little more time to file them this way, but I don't mind.
My son is going to need some major dental work in 2007 - we just found out last month. This may throw off our plans to save as much as we'd like, but we did find a buyer for our digital piano and that should help offset the cost a bit. I have decided to hold another $100/month out of Jim's paycheck to pay for our May vacation. The next 7 months will cover Christmas. The best advice I can give anyone is to PLAN AHEAD! We are not wealthy, but we are able to cover our living expenses, our vacations, birthdays & other celebrations by just setting aside money each month to take care of the cost. You can follow my frugal journey in 2007 month-by-month as I post entries sharing goals and how we are doing in reaching them.
11-19-06 -
Biblical Womanhood has a nice 11 e-Book set at a $55 savings over buying each e-Book separately. I checked through the titles and decided it was worth the $14.97 to buy it! I then spent the evening reading one of the e-Books, "Momma's Guide to Thriving on One Income" (available at the author's site, too!). It was 82 pages and I read through most of it last night. I did skim a bit so that I could get through it all and intend to print it out and read through it slowly again this week. The one thing she stressed over and over again is how we just need to live day by day trusting in God to provide our needs. When I do this, great things happen, but I've not been doing this lately and this is going to be my big focus at first.
Last week, I purchased a coupon organizer that was mentioned in Crystal's Grocery Savings e-Book. There are instructions in Crystal's e-Book on how to create one for yourself, but to be honest, it was well worth the money to have someone do it for me. It is a very nice organizer and much more detailed than I would have done it if putting it together myself. I am going to organize all of my coupons today and even go back and cut a bunch more out now that I have room to store more!
Before going to bed last night, I wrote in a new prayer journal about our focus to save this money. In looking at our budget on paper, it doesn't seem possible to put away 3 months salary within 12 months. However, in doing some more figuring, I think we can save even more than that! We'll already have one month saved by the end of 2006. My husband's pension payout will provide the 2nd month when I deposit it at the end of this month. Our tax return will be almost another month as we had them hold out extra in the pension payout, but we're most likely going to get it all back. I am going to deposit all of my income (except for my tithe) into the savings account and that should equal another month's worth in a year's time. So, without even taking money from our existing budget, we already have 4 months worth saved up!
The savings that we currently set aside each month plus my husband's earnings from teaching karate will equal 2 more months worth of salary. We want to get my car paid off by the end of 2006 and that looks like a reachable goal just using the money we are already saving. We were going to get it done by the end of this year, but we had to buy our daughter new hearing aids and I wasn't managing our money as well as I should have been. The interest on it is almost nothing at this point, so once we get our 3 months of salary saved, we'll start working on paying off the car.
We will be needing to buy another car in about 2-3 years and so we've decided to save up to pay for one with cash. So, that means another 2-3 months of salary savings needed for this purchase per child over the next few years. (This is a goal for 2008, but I'm thinking ahead!) My parents are going to give us some money to help buy a car for the kids so that will help, too. We have told the kids that we will put $xxx towards a car. If they want something that costs more than that, they have to come up with the rest. However, both kids want cards within our range. We are going to take our time and scout out the best card in the best shape with the lowest miles and we're only buying one car. If they wreck it, they are out of luck and will have to buy the next one themselves. We aren't a car dealership!
My first order of business is to "plug the leaks in my budget." At that link are 2 budgeting tools that you can save, print out and use to figure out where all of your money is going. There is an expense tracker and spending worksheet. I already have our budget in Excel, but will look at their categories and see if I'm overlooking something. The spending worksheet will be an eye opener, I'm sure, as it tracks every single penny that you spend. I am also going to check out Dave Ramsey's website for more ideas and tips. I have a Family Budget Workbook by Larry Burkett that has really helped me in the past and I'll be pulling it out and going through it again, too.
The ultimate reason for making our finances a goal in my life right now is that I look around at what I've been blessed with - a nice home, 2 nice cars and more stuff than I actually need to survive a day! I am so lucky to live here in the US and I take so much for granted each and every day. I know that we waste money, too, and I want to show my kids how to handle what God gives us so that we don't incur more debt than we can handle, but have plenty to give back to God and to others while still providing for ourselves daily. If my kids see me wasting money or putting purchases on the credit card, then I am failing in my job to teach them how to handle their own money.
It is my hope that you will find something useful here on my site!
I currently enjoy the privilege of being able to stay at home
to homeschool my children and I am always striving to be
the best caretaker for my precious family.
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."
~ Philippians 4:13 ~
Website owned and all Content Copyrighted by Kris Price.
All Rights Reserved. © 2006.
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