Friday, February 12, 2010

Life Happens...

It's been a while since I've posted, and in efforts to keep everyone informed of what we're up to, here's an update.

At the end of November last year I completed a Certified Nurse's Assisting program. In December I took the state certification test and pasted. Woo Hoo! I'm officially a CNA. Then in January I started the job hunt, had several promising job offers, but in the end went with Sunrise Assisted Living. I started training at the end of January. I'll be regularly working Fri, Sat, and Sun nights from 10pm-6am. It's definitely a different schedule than I'm used to, but I'm slowly getting used to it.

At the end of January my wonderful mom came to watch the boys while Sam and I went to Pheonix. The company Sam works for, Kiewit, had an all expense paid weekend conference for employees and "guest". I was lucky enough to be Sam's "guest". It was great. It was so nice to get away from the kids for a whole weekend and not have to spend a dime, what a great combo. (Thanks mom for subjecting yourself to our craziness for 4 days. You're the best.)

During all this excitement and fun I've recently been reflecting on our financial situation. Sam and I have always been blessed financially. Not that we've ever been rich, but we have always had enough to meet our needs and pay our bills. We haven't always made the smartest choices on how to spend or save our money. This has really started to bother me. It's not really anyone's fault but our own. It's like that saying "If you aim for nothing you'll hit it every time", and that's exactly what we've done. We've purchased cars that we thought we "needed" and spent money on credit cards because the credit was available and the cash wasn't. Well, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of making payments on debts. So I'm telling you here and now, I'm done. I'm done spending money on non-essentials that keep me here in bondage to creditors. I'm starting a Total Money Makeover today!!!! I believe that the techniques in the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, can help me and Sam to realize our financial potential. It's not going to be easy, but I hope it will be worth it. So why am I telling you all about this? Why am I confessing our financial weaknesses to everyone in the world? I'm telling you all this stuff for a couple of reasons: a). When you invite me to something that costs money, or will involve us taking time off work, please don't be offended when I turn you down. b). We aren't looking for sympathy. We're just trying to be real about the money in our lives. We plan on being completely debt free in five years from now. That will take a lot of hard work, because as of January 2010 we had a combined total debt of over $73000 (student loans, credit cards, car), of which we've already paid off $6180. It's just the beginning, but I guess you've got to start somewhere, right?

5 comments:

Kylie said...

Good luck Stacy! That's awesome that you guys have a plan. You should check out mint.com - It's a really awesome budgeting website that is free and makes it easy to organize your finances. J LOVES it.

Rich and Nickie said...

Amen sista!!!! Let's see..who else can we convert to the Ramsey religion. Well at least you know you have friends near by that will live the poor life with you...no pressure from these friends!

Joy said...

I totally believe in Dave Ramsey! His book is like doctrine to me, lol
Really, his plan works, if you do it right. Luckily we started his plan several years ago, because when Geoff lost his job last year, we would have been screwed had we not been debt free first (well, with the exception of our mortgage).
I just hope we can stick with it, even with no money coming in, and Geoff back in school.
Good luck to you guys, and good luck at your new job. Geoff is searching and searching and can't find any CNA jobs! (well, he wants one with IHC, so it's not as easy)

Bunnym said...

Better late than never. You are making a good decision. This country is in debt up to it's eyeballs and if everyone thought like you two, we'd be in a better situation. Good for you!

smooches,
bunny

t.m. said...

I know this is an old post, but I had to see how things were going!! WE LOVE DAVE RAMSEY!! We have been on the Total Money Makeover for 2 years now and we have really seen miracles!! It is really amazing how the Lord helps you even more when you put forth a righteous effort. Dave Ramsey's methods really do work! Stick with it!!