Sometimes you have to take notice and listen

Sometimes God will do anything to get your attention. However, many times we ignore those blaring signals he uses to get that message to us. We have always been like children with money. Money comes in and money goes out and we never really budgeted. If we wanted it we bought it. When Ben went back to school we continued on this path. When the pharmacy Ben was working at closed in December of 2013 we continued just like we had. A year and three months later we finally got the blaring message that God had been trying to send us.

Ben has spent many many hours the last year putting in job applications. We made the decision finally at the end of March that we were going to follow the Dave Ramsey plan and go to Financial Peace University and get our lives in order. We started our month long spending freeze and signed up for the class. Here we are five days after making these changes and we now know that this is what God has been leading us to do all along.

Today Ben got the call that he starts Sunday night at UPS part time. He also has another interview this next week for full time employment and another possible job lead. When the woman from UPS called she told him he was lucky, normally it takes quite some time to get the paperwork back on people who have interviewed and his came back super fast. They hire on a first qualified basis. So if others paperwork had come in before his they wouldn't have had a position for him. 

I know that we had to get the message about spending frivolously and make the changes in our lives. Now that we have gotten that message and started those changes I see God at work in our lives even more then I did as we went through this. Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. However, if you keep walking you will eventually get out of that forest and will be able to look back and say "That forest sure was big and sure was tough to get through but now that I'm on the other side it sure does feel great to look back and see that I am stronger because I have gone through it." 

If you are struggling in your life right now take a moment to sit back and listen. Think about the things in your life that may need a change. Start making those changes and you may be surprised to find that the trees start to thin out and you are out of the forest before long.

This blog is brought to you by the letter G and O and D and the number 1.

Dave Ramsey

Let me start by saying I have probably at some point in life made fun of my mom for liking Dave Ramsey. In the next breath, I drank the Kool-Aid. I recently came to the conclusion that it is time for my family to "grow up" when it comes to money. My last post talked about a 31 day spending freeze my family was doing and we are still doing that. However, we also started reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. I'm about halfway through his book and we have already put into place many of the things he talks about.

His first baby step is setting up an emergency fund. Yesterday for the first time in my adult life I set up a savings account and put half of our emergency fund in it. The other half will follow next month and after that we will start on baby step two which is paying off your debt snowball. I am done putting my head in the sand and ignoring how horrible we really are with money.

I know this is a very uncomfortable topic for 99% of the people I know. It is for me. However, if it is never discussed the issues we face will never go away. Ben and I have enrolled in Financial Peace University starting May 5th. I am excited to embark on that journey and see where it leads us. In the meantime I learned of Dave Ramsey's online budgeting tool at www.everydollar.com and have put in our budget for the month of April. If you don't currently budget I encourage you to go to this website (I get nothing if you do but peace of mind that I have shared a valuable tool with you) and start your budget. Be honest and realistic. As Dave would say, "You have to tell your money where to go".

Our family is done trying to "keep up with the Joneses". After all, the Joneses are probably in debt and we aren't going to be in debt forever.

No-Spend Challenge

I recently discovered an amazing blog called Living Well Spending Less. Ruth, who writes the blog, has an amazing story of not only her faith walk but also has fantastic tips on how to handle just about anything. While reading her blog one day I came across this post, No-Spend 31 day challenge. The basics are 31 days of no spending. There are a few exceptions, of course you still pay your bills and buy gas for your car. If you have certain scheduled events in your life you of course don't cancel. For example I have a trip to St. Louis for work this month and will spend money on this trip. I'll just be very cautious of what I spend.

Ben and I discussed if we thought we could do this and decided we could but wanted the kids to be able to have a say in this. Both were on board right away. I can't wait to see how this journey goes. If all goes well we will probably do this twice a year. Not only does it give us a chance to save money but it gives us a chance to appreciate what we have.

Anyone want to join us in this challenge?