What I am Going to Do

Ok ... so we have already discussed why financial and budgeting blogs drive me crazy and the things my family is not going to do in order to get control of our finances.

Today, I wanted to let you know somethings that I think we are going to do in order to get control of our finances and get our butts out of debt!

1) Cash
Here is my deal with cash ... what if I lose it! Even though I have a fear of losing a wad of cash, I am going to make all my grocery & gas purchases with cash. By using cash at the grocery store I will be more conscious of how much money we are spending. Each week I can spend $150 for our family of 6. This amount includes groceries, diapers, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, paper towels, and body wash. I am going to use Jordan Page's budgeting idea. You can watch her video here. Even though she uses a credit card instead of cash I am going to set it up the same way she does.

2) Pro-Rata Debt System
My husband and I took a financial class prior to get married. It was 12 weeks long and we learned a lot BUT we were more broke then than we are now. I was in college and he was working. We also didn't have the littles. The financial class we took was called Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey. This course was amazing!! We learned a ton but we haven't been using what we have learned. (Boo). The Pro-Rata Debt system is where you add up all of your debt and you create a new payment based on what you can pay. (NOTE: The new amount may actually be less than your minimum payment. Dave Ramsey suggests mailing your payment along with you Pro-Rate Debt list and your budget when you cannot pay the minimum balance.) Then you look at each debt individually. You calculate each debt as a percentage.

Example:

Total Debt: $7500 in credit cards and other misc. debt
Credit Card #1: $1926.52 total amount due

1926.52/7500 =  26% of debt

Then: You find out what amount of money you have left over after paying all the other bills. (Rent/mortgage, gas, electric, water, cell phone, cable, car payment ...)

We have $200 left over

To calculate your new payment take your percentage of debt and multiply it by your disposable income.

26% * $200 = $52 new payment

We are going to do this each month when the bill comes and create a new Pro-Rata Debt list.

3) We are going to contact our cell phone, cable, and internet providers.
Hopefully these companies will work with us in order to lower our bills. I am not use why our bills our so high but we need to get these under control.
Our Cell Phone is:  $250 for 2 phones and a tablet
Our Cable is: $90
Our Internet is : $57 unless we go over our data then it could be more like $90
We may have to cancel cable. I am actually kind of excited about this one. I am the one that watches the most tv. The Bigs mostly play video games in their room and don't watch much tv at all. My husband likes to watch motocross racing and sometimes a sport. But mostly I am the one who watches tv the most. At this point in our financial journey, saving $90 a month would help us.

4) We are going to have budget meetings.
Ok. This is probably my least favorite. Money is so personal even when you are in a marriage. My husband and I like to spend money on different things. I am the saver and he is the spender. He thinks our credit cards should be paid before our rent while I think the exact opposite. I pay all the bills and make all the financial decisions. He just spends money and then I go crazy. So yeah ... budget meeting...Awesome.

5) Figure out a way to make an extra income
We have a local facebook group that we can sell household items, clothes, baby items, ... really anything. And we have a ton of stuff we don't use. So I am going to (painstakingly) go through things and sell them online. Also, I may have to pick up another shift at work. Or my husband can get a part time job. Lastly, I am a Young Living Essential Oil distributor. I have never tried to really sell these oils as a way to make an income. I just joined a business group that is going to help me get an income from selling oils.

So that is what we ARE going to do. I am sure we will try other things. Since November is about to start I will give you a recap of our budget meeting and our budget within the next week or two. What would you like to see us try? Do you have any suggestions? What are you willing to do in order to get out of debt and gain some financial freedom?

I am going to try and create a Pro Rata debt list form that is cuter than what I have. When I do I will link it to this page!!

What I am NOT Going To Do On Our Financial Journey

Before I start with the "what we are going to do", I felt like it was only fair to tell you what we are not going to do on our financial journey.

Obviously, I am saying this without the knowledge of how our days, weeks, and months are going to look like. I really don't know how this journey is going to play out. I do know that we will have to be making very hard decisions. Decisions that not everyone in our family is going to love or even like for that matter.

And to be honest, I am ok with that.

I guess I keep going back to the realization that we only get to live once. And while this life can feel overwhelming and hard at certain times it flashes by in just a blink. It seems like just yesterday I was a single 21 year old girl with a new baby boy and now I am married with 3 kids and a step-son. That baby is now 12 and a 7th grader.

Wow, talk about a reality check.

So what do we want with our life ... freedom! Freedom from bills over our head. Freedom to visit family members out of state. Freedom to take a vacation once a year. Free to give to those less fortunate. Free to take dinners to families with new babies.

Seriously, we just want to feel free.

So here is a list of things we are not going to do ... at least I don't think that we will.

1) We are not going to sell one of our cars.
Here is the deal with our vehicles. Since the birth of our son, Hudson, we had to buy a minivan in order to only take one vehicle when everyone is together. With buying a minivan we also inherited a car payment. Boo. A $406.46 car payment. But our other vehicle is an older Chevy Equinox which has been paid off. Since one vehicle is paid off we won't be getting rid of it. Also, my husband works about 30 minutes away. And Jacob has soccer practice almost daily. So I need to have a vehicle to get him back and forth to practice. Also, since my husband's job is commission based he can chose to work late to make more money.

2) Jacob is not giving up travel soccer.
Yes, travel soccer is a huge expense. Think a $1200 a season expense along with the uniform fee, the tournament fees, new cleats, and travel expenses. Let me just tell you ... I am one lucky lady. Jacob's dad pays for his soccer expenses. He even shares the travel expenses with me. He is still a single guy and his money isn't as tied up as ours is. Also, he loves his son and wants to provide things for him. So our particular situation I pay the school expenses and his dad pays for soccer. Also, we are hoping that soccer will provide Jacob with college scholarship opportunities in the future.

3) We are not moving.
Ok as I say this one and then hold my breath. I honestly have no problem moving as long as it is out of state. We can't really move out of state. With two of our four kids having other parents, we would have to  get special permission from each of them to move and we would risk not seeing one of our children for most of the year. I love where we live. Well ... kinda. We live in a suburb of Chicago. It gets cold. Really cold. I hate the cold. My kids go crazy in the winter since they cannot play outside. But I love my neighbors. There are 4 little boys that are the same age as Maysie Grace and 2 little ones the same age as Hudson. We are all in the same stage of life. Jacob can go around the neighborhood on his bike and meet up with his friends. The schools are amazing!! I went to the same schools. I love Jacob's teachers and they are willing to work with us. So I don't really see us moving.

4) My grocery shopping won't really change.
Just because we need to get out of debt and save money doesn't mean that our diet has to suffer. Maysie Grace has food allergies. She is allergic to gluten, corn and all corn products, strawberries, bananas, oranges, apples, and vinegar. We will not be eating processed food. So you won't find mac & cheese or ramen noodles in our cabinets. I try to make things from scratch as much as possible. I do purchase organic as much as possible. I follow the dirty dozen for the most part. Also, I make my husband and Jacob lunch every day and I make a pot of coffee for all of us. We don't buy crappy coffee. Nope. Nope. Nope.

5) I will not be getting a traditional full-time job.
The cost of daycare is way too expensive and my husband and I both want me to stay home with them. That doesn't mean I won't be trying other alternatives in order to make money while I am home. Currently, I work one night a week at a restaurant making about $70 a night and I watch a little boy one day a week for $80. I will be looking into different avenues to make money but my husband will continue to be the main bread winner.

Stay tuned for what I "think" we are going to do.
Are there any "not gonna happen" rules on your financial list?

What Drives Me Crazy About Budgeting and Financial Blogs

I can't believe I am actually going to post this. It has been something that has been on my mind for a long time.

Let me first start of by saying ... I LOVE READING FINANCIAL AND BUDGETING BLOGS!

I really do. I love reading about what sacrifices families make in order to make their ends meet, gain financial freedom, and achieve their dreams.

What does drive me crazy is that these blog posts either ...
a) don't use real numbers
or
b) if they do use real numbers they are NOWHERE near what our bills look like.

Why does it drive me crazy that they don't use real numbers?

Let me tell you.

If you are going to talk about how you make your ends meet, please use real numbers. I want to know what your income looks like and what your bills look like. Let me into your family. Show me.
Tell me what you did wrong.
Tell me what worked for you.
Was your spouse on board?
Did you have budget meetings?
Where you in debt?
Did you have to pay child support?
Did you receive child support?
Do you have student loans?
Where do you live?
Do you eat processed food?
Do you only buy organic?
Do you watch tv?
Are your kids in sports?
How many kids do you have?
How old are your kids?

Seriously, I want to know all these answers.

Maybe you are thinking that it is none of my business and you would be right.

But if you want me to relate to you then I need the details.

Part B ...
Why are your bills so small in comparison to mine?

Seriously ... if you are saying your mortgage is $500 a month ... I CANNOT RELATE.

I live in the midwest. To rent our 3 bedroom townhouse that isn't updated nor does it have a finished basement costs us $1475 a month. Sometimes that is more than one paycheck we receive. We get paid bi-weekly.

How do you only spend $50 a week on groceries? We spend at least $150. I don't always buy organic but with 4 boys in our house (my husband, a 13 year old, a 12 year old and a 7 month old) food goes fast. They always need a snack. My husband loves pop. He drinks a lot of it. My boys love to eat. They don't just eat one plate of food, they want seconds. They invite their friends over. The friends get thirsty and hungry. Our daughter has food allergies. We cannot just pick up a bag of noodles for $0.99. We have to buy brown rice and quinoa noodles for $3 a bag.  It is a never ending battle with food at our house.

Do you have to buy prescription medication every month? We do. Well we did. We were spending $235 a month for my son's ADHD medication. Thankfully we no longer are on prescription medication but I am spending money each month for Young Living Essential Oils that help him in school. 

There are a lot of families out there that are blended families. Do you have to pay child support? Because we do! Do you receive child support? We do.

Do you have to pay student loans? We do. But right now since funds are so tight one loan is in forbearance and  one we pay interest only.

Are your bills late? Are you a month behind? Maybe two months behind? Because we are there. What bills are your top priority? Rent, groceries, credit card bills, electric, gas, water, garbage ...

Right now we are in a place that we are late on a lot of bills. I don't know how to handle it. But if I look up blogs that are talking about this they are super vague and don't really give you advice on how to get yourself out of this mess.

Many blogs will suggest you move to a cheaper house. Trust me I have thought of that. But we have boys that need to spend time with their other parents so we can't move far. Also, they are older so they don't want to leave their schools. And honestly, I have looked and our townhouse is cheap for our area. 

I will continue to read budgeting and financial blogs because they do have helpful advice but I think this just solidified the fact that I want to now be your go to person to give you real numbers, in real time, while we are doing it.

I am going to be honest.
I am going to share my heart.

Some day's it may not be happy news.

But be prepared REAL is coming. Would you be interested in joining me?