One step forward, two back

Well, don't you know that as soon as I brag about how much we got to save this month, it wouldn't actually turn out that way. But, we are not dismayed! We decided to insure our house for an earthquake after talking to a friend who works for the United States Geological Survey here. He says we are about 50 years overdue for a pretty good size earthquake here. We experienced the tremors from one that happened in Indiana this spring and it was a little unsettling. If the New Madrid fault goes, there is no telling what could happen here. Then we forgot about a little thing here and a little thing there in the budgeting. But, there is still money left, so nothing to sweat! God is good. I hear so much about how the economy is bad, but we have been learning to live with in our means, so we are going to be fine.

On the road to debt free...Baby Step 1

Money and budgeting has always been an interesting topic to me. A frustrating one too. Recently I read two books by Dave Ramsey http://www.daveramsey.com/ Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover. (If you can only read one, I recommend TMM.) This guy is simple and to the point and tells you some great tips on how to get out of debt. He also dispells most of the lies our culture feeds us about debt and money. One of the things I like best about him is that he is a Christian and he believes that the wealthiest people are that way because they GIVE. I love to give, my resources just don't always match the need. That is frustrating.

We have tried many different things over the years, and some have worked better than others. I used to figure out everything, pay the bills and give Joe some money to have in his pocket for what he needed. He didn't know where our money was going and never knew how much we had or didn't have so we decided that he would take it over. He did a much better job at it than I did, because he is a saver and I am a "pay it off as fast as you can" type. But we were starting to get in a rut again, because he was doing all the budgeting and work on this and I was oblivious to where we were at. Dave suggests that we BOTH do the budgeting and decide where every dollar will go every check. What a novel idea!

The book is full of real life stories of people who were so much farther in debt than we are, but made it out. We feel relieved that our cars are paid for, our credit cards are paid off and all we have to get rid of to be debt free is a HELOC and our mortgage. My goal is to be done with those in less than 10 years. We put the credit cards in the oven over the weekend to see if they would shrink like Shrinky Dinks. They didn't do much of anything except get rubbery while they were hot. Then we shaped them and let them cool and chopped them up. Very freeing!!!!

Now, you may ask, why is she blogging about this?? It is because I am so excited about this plan and I want other people to see that it is possible to get out of debt and no longer be sold the lie of American Consumerism. (greed)

So, Dec. 4th, we started Baby Step 1-Save $1000 fast. Today we have $645. We hope to have Baby step one done by Jan 31.

Think you can't do it? Read the book, there has to be someone who was worse off than you that made it out. There is hope!!

What's love got to do with it?

Apparently everything when it comes to singing Karaoke. We had the Davidson Family Thanksgiving at a hotel in Kansas City and after dinner we had some entertainment by family members singing Karaoke on Denise's 8 Track (yes, I know what I am talking about) machine.

Joe and his sisters and Niece

L-R Nancy, Jodi(niece), Denise, Marilee, Joe and Jennifer

Decorating for Christmas

The boys were so excited to decorate for Christmas that they hauled everything up from the Basement and got to work. They know how to put the tree together and everything! They did a great job!

Santa dropped by for a visit on Saturday, so they had a good time talking to him too. Their wish lists are pretty simple, video games and Legos. Erik was worried that Santa might not know what Legos were, so he thought that maybe he should just ask for a picture book. :)