Wow, have we been blessed! Patrick and I are going through Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey) and I think we're on week 7 or so. If you're familiar with Dave Ramsey, you know about his"Baby Step" system to building wealth and having peace in your finances. Baby Step 1 is save $1000 for an emergency fund. Baby Step 2 is pay off all debt (except the mortgage). Baby Step 3 is save 3-6 months of expenses in an emergency fund...and so on. Obviously some steps are easier than others, and some you may stay on for longer but we're realizing his "system" is really all about having a plan. Quite honestly, that's the best thing about what he teaches. When I was working full-time, we had two incomes and a pretty cushy life. We basically went out whenever, did whatever and the money flowed-OUTward. Don't get me wrong, we didn't accumulate any credit card debt or anything. In fact, now that I think back on "those days" I'm surprised we didn't rack up any credit card debt. I can really only attribute that to Patrick, as he did most of the finances. Now things are different though. I resigned and followed God's voice to what I felt was clearly calling me to work at Streetlight. Except the work at Streetlight isn't paid, at least not right now. So we went from two cushy incomes to a single income-something had to give.
Some friends suggested we do the curriculum for FPU in small group, and I'm so glad we did. At first, finances were really tough because we had to change our lifestyle. No more going out to eat, coupons would become a staple in every shopping trip, and we were going to have to scale way back. After that slow change in thinking we started taking off! We're now on a "plan" and we tell every penny of our take-home income where it should go, not the other way around. And we're sticking to it! The very discipline of being on a budget is something we've both had to learn (maybe me a little more so), but woah, God has TOTALLY blessed us for it. Check this: since we've stuck to our budget all these things have happened...
-We get freebees galore! Literally just last night we went to Fry's after the gym to get some eggs. The lady at the self-check out handed us a $2 off coupon. FREE eggs-Thank you Lord!
-Last week Patrick prayed for breakfast and lunch to be provided at work. I know, I was thinking the same thing, wow that would be cool. BREAKFAST AND LUNCH WERE PROVIDED at work. Oh wait! AND he won a $25 gift card (as a promotion for sales or something like that). Yup, MORE than we asked for!
-I've started a new business selling Scentsy product-stuff that I love! And that money is being saved for our anniversary in January.
-I just took on my 3rd voice student yesterday!
-I do surveys for a couple of marketing research companies and get paid for it! My favorite one is actually the one that pays the least. I get $3 for every online survey I fill out (only takes 15-20) and they usually end up sending me a full-size item of the product being researched. So yes, I get a little extra cash, AND free household items! All those $3 surveys really add up.
-I drive out to Glendale several times a week, and at first I saw this as a huge expense (and it is), but at least I can get gas that's almost $.10 cheaper than in Mesa. It makes a HUGE difference when you drive nearly 2 hours round trip like I do.
-We had a garage sale this past weekend-it was LONG overdue. I only advertised on Craigslist and put up a couple of signs around the neighborhood. We also decided ahead of time that the money we make from the garage sale will go all to buying new clothes. (Neither of us had bought clothes in several months). We made a good chunk of change and found some amazing sales at H&M and Old Navy. We're talking like $5-$15 shirts for Patrick and $16 jeans and skirt for me! And my favorite buy: an old school Angels shirt from Old Navy on clearance for......drum roll please.... $3.29. Oh it gets better. We were all the way out in Scottsdale and we're pretty hungry so we looked in the clothes money envelope and there was $10 left. Arby's it was! We pull up to the drive thru and I said, "Can I have a Value Jr. Ckn., Value fries, Jr. Roastbeef, and Mozzerella Sticks?" Drive thru man, "For the mozzerella sticks do you want 3,6, or 9?" Me, "Whichever one is on the value menu...oh and a water please." Total: $5.60 with tax. We were all excited about our cheap meal and the fact that we could eat out! So we parked and sat by a beautiful fountain to eat our meal. I reach in the bag and I'm a little confused because we ordered 4 things and there were 5-an extra sandwich. Patrick said, "Maybe it was a mess up and they gave it away. Or maybe he just felt bad for us because we ordered EVERYTHING off the value menu." We had a good laugh about that one. No matter! A free sandwich is a free sandwich!
-Here's one of the coolest ones. We're trying to finish baby step one, and it was really slow at first. Until we refinanced and got an escrow check in the mail from our original mortgage company. That put us just shy of baby step one! I remember getting that check in the mail a couple of weeks ago and literally being amazed at how much God has blessed us. Simply in awe.
-Speaking of refinancing...we did, and we're paying about $200 less a month...WOOHOO! And here's the cherry on top. Our closing costs were $72 because Patrick works at Wells Fargo. Now I feel like chocolate covered cherries, mmm...
-Patrick is possibly looking at another promotion. It hasn't happened yet, but we claimed it last night and you know what? I know God has great things in store. Obviously.
Thank you Lord for your blessings in our lives. From the free sandwich at Arby's to providing for our every need. God, thank you for knowing the desires of our heart and for loving us as we grow and become more disciplined especially in our finances. I'm in awe of how good you are. In Jesus name, Amen.
Oh my gosh I am so entirely happy for you! I hope you take all your posts like this and print them out and put them in a 3 ring binder. That way when you need it you can remember that He has an eye out for you :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, really, you do the survey things? I thought those were all scams.... who do you do it through? Shoot me an e'mail, yes? rsunderhaus@gmail.com
I am so glad that you are noticing all these blessings. I think I have come to the conclusion that there are no little blessings, just all blessings the same size, because we can never know how a tiny thing can make a HUGE difference.
Its all about perspective and gratitude :)
That's fantastic! My in-laws are also doing the FPU. Trevor and I have actually borrowed the cds from a friend that took the course. There's lots of great information there. Having a budget (which we setup early on in our marriage) has been wonderful! So glad you guys are doing well and finding the blessings coming back!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Dave Ramsey! We've been doing his program for almost a year now. Our cash flow is better and we have more money than we ever did before because of his system. When I read his book, I knew it was an answer to our prayers. It is not easy for sure, but so worth it!
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