Money update

I'm starting to think about Christmas shopping too. We've managed to get the kids' school supplies, and 2/3 of the boys now have school clothes. I have a couple of birthday presents for two of my nephews, and I figure if I get the rest in the next 4-6 weeks, I can be done with all the birthdays and Christmas stuff on that side of the family by the end of September. Sweetums' father/stepmom is done too. This leaves the boys, sweetums, and my MIL. I would love it if we could go shopping together for the boys, just the two of us.

Sweetums managed to replace his MP3 player, I put $1,000 from his mom into savings, he has his spending/gas for the next two weeks, plus the boys got there clothes. We STILL have $800 for the next two weeks for bills/food/my gas. I'm shocked! Pleasantly so, and plan on paying a few more bills before we spend it on something we don't need to. The Discover bill went up AGAIN, something we will need to address very soon, but first things first, the mustang, insurance, and another $500-600 on Capital One this month.

I know that our 'belt' will be loosened if we can just get these credit cards paid off--and keep them paid off. I'd love to stuff away 4-5,000 in savings for a car fund. I know these things are do-able, but it takes a lot of discipline. It gets frustrating being poor all the time.

I'm a little disappointed in our financial management. Although much improved, I'm disappointed that we've managed to run up both credit cards again. I am, however, encouraged that we've managed to pay off one car, and have made enough cuts to make good headway with $1300 LESS each month. That's true financial management. We are still able to toss close to $1000/month at debt. So I am confident that we'll be able to continue making good headway. I'm also very proud of myself. This used to be a major source of anxiety, and I DID have a bit of a meltdown earlier this summer when we were anticipating another big income cut. I admit, I did freak out.

Another major change: We really, truly, certainly have a plan. An honest to goodness financial plan, one that anticipates changing income and although the prep is not finished yet, it IS on the books/in the works. Monthly bill time is kind of fun now, it's like a triumph each month, a mini-dragon to be slaid. I recall a time when we were both so bad at this that we would just ignore the pile of bills until we absolutely HAD to deal with it. My stomach would be in knots for a simple lack of knowledge. There was one incident in particular where we were in the basement, trying not to wake The Trio and as we opened everything we realized that we were quite solvent.

I do credit Dave Ramsey's methods with a lot of our success. We've tried the envelope system in the past with limited success...we just were not able to keep up the discipline for more than 6 months or so, or our momentum would be off set be unexpected expenses and we'd quite. This is the first time that I can recall that we've been able to keep this up for this long--over a year now. I do enjoy the Ramsey website, it's great for encouragement and ideas. There are a lot of wackos on there--just like everywhere else--but I consider that comic relief.

One thing that I'm not able to agree with is the 10% tithe. I don't think God mandates that anymore. He wants us to give freely with a cheerful heart and common sense tells us if the bottom line is in the red because of tithing, God will tell us not to give. Charity really DOES begin at home. Whoever said you can live better off of 90% than 100% clearly had enough money to do so; for the average middle class family with kids, car payments, a mortgage, and credit cards...well, that's just suicidal advice.

I do have a friend who did this. She couldn't pay the electrical bill, but knew if she wasn't current on her tithe that she couldn't get help from her church to pay the electric bill. That is NOT biblical, and I don't think God appreciates or approves of the actions of churches who twist his Word this way.