Our Financial Peace Update

So.... I made this post FOUR years ago! I recommend reading that post first. I was really committed to Dave in 2010 and made some big changes in my life. Jason and I did well for a couple years... then well, um... sometimes it has felt like "Dave Ramsey Who?"

The below sums up why we have more debt, but here's our numbers over the past few years:

Year	Jan-13	Jan-14	Jan-15	Jan-16	Jan-17
Debt	$45,643	$63,186	$42,246	$34,057	$25,749

The January 2014 debt included two vehicles and two school loans.

While this is going to be a long post, and filled with lots of financial details, it was therapeutic to write it out and see just how far we have come in 4 years. We are not debt free. We did some non-Dave approved things (cough, two car loans, the house..) but overall we have a working budget, use cash for things, and don't worry too much about finances. (I worry every now and then.) 

So to wrap up 2013. It was a huge year. 

• Jason's car was rear ended on January 2.
• I lost my job in August.  
• We had Liam in September.  
• My (paid off) Highlander was totaled in November. 
• We purchased a timeshare (but not an evil one).

On January 1 we knew we were pregnant (with Liam) and were discussing how we were going to save to replace Jason's 2-door blazer. The next day he was rear ended. While not totaled, it was useless since we couldn't open the back. He received insurance money from the lady who rear ended him, and then got a decent trade in value. He picked out a Chrysler 300 and we took out a $17k loan on it, mid-February 2013. Note: Jason was approved for a $42k car loan. We knew what would fit in our budget, and that wasn't it. (This is how people get ridiculous car loans they can't actually afford - they think if they are approved for it then they can afford it, when they really can't.) 

We weren't prepared for the job loss, but were prepared for maternity leave, so we knew we'd be ok for a little bit. We had everything we needed for Liam, and weren't too worried. 

On November 2 my Highlander was totaled. That was a rough blow. It had been paid off in January and I was planning to keep it at least another 2-3 years. You can read about that here and here.

A chance presented itself to purchase a timeshare week for where we got married and where I have been vacationing since 1982. After a lot of math, we used inherited funds to purchase this timeshare. And I say "not an evil one" because we paid a lump sum, didn't take out a loan, don't continue to owe, it wasn't a ridiculous price, and we will use it. And the years we can't use it, it'll rent. The week we bought (Week 26) will usually include the 4th of July and it's really hard to get extra units that week. It'll usually include our wedding anniversary too.

2014
Even though we had just purchased a timeshare, we knew a vacation wasn't in our future unless I got a job. And then Grandma announced she was getting married, in Florida, during our timeshare week. *facepalm* Ok Grandma, we'll figure this out.

The most fortunate part? The day of her wedding I received a verbal offer for my job. I had spent spring working on job applications, networking, and interviewing. I managed to get a couple interviews and had one right before leaving for vacation. It's for my current company and this July will be three years.

I went back to work in mid-July. Liam went to daycare. And it was great. I knew I wasn't meant to be a stay at home mom. I enjoyed my time with Liam, and took a few extra trips to the Lake or my parent's house. But looking back, I'd never be able to teach Liam everything he has learned, and I probably would have gone insane trying to manage him 24/7.

We got in a groove of both of us working, Liam at daycare, and having dual incomes. Things were looking up. We paid off Jason's car in December 2014. That was less than 2 years and we felt back on track.

2015
I remember nothing of this year. Looking at journal entries, I worked out a lot, Liam had some sleep issues, and I cooked a lot.

We did start discussing buying a house. We started saving toward a downpayment. We even went to a few open houses to see what was available and what the prices looked like. We went to Florida for vacation. We enjoyed being a family of three but didn't make a huge dent in our debt.

2016
We had spent 2015 discussing our next life changes -- having baby #2 and buying a house. We knew 2016 was the year to try and accomplish both those things. And we did. We also knew that if we didn't get into a house before baby #2 that the second daycare costs would sink us from saving for a down payment.

Liam in front of our house

We met with our realtor in early March and started seriously looking. After viewing a couple homes, we narrowed it down to wanting a ranch. With a dining room. 3-4 bedrooms, cross your fingers for a finished basement. But getting that dining room in a ranch was our priority. Not a lot of ranches came on the market. Especially with our desired ranch. We were pregnant and had a cut off date of giving up on the ranch and reconsidering two story houses. We stalked a "coming soon" for a month and were one of the first to view it the day it went on the market. And we got it! And we love it.

Bathroom Wallpaper

We closed the beginning of June and moved in July 4th weekend. Uncle Pat was incredible and helped us paint everything. Every bedroom was yellow, the family room and dining room was yellow. And according to the cans of paint left in the basement - everything was a different colored yellow!! And the master bath -- the Hand of God/Naked David wallpaper had to go. It was actually scary.

We did not go to Florida. Both due to the cost associated with it and time. I wanted to, but knew it wasn't possible. I needed to save my vacation time for maternity leave. We did take a long weekend to the lake and enjoyed our time with Liam. We tried to maximize being a family of three and making sure to cherish every weekend and time spent with Liam.

Benjamin was born in October. We had saved every penny to be prepared for my maternity leave and medical bills. We had already redone the budget to know what two kids in daycare would look like. Christmas was a little smaller than usual, we had to keep things tight in case a Murphy popped up. And to be honest, my parents and our siblings spoil the boys with presents. We didn't need to buy Liam a lot. And Jason and I don't need a lot, so we kept it simple.

2017
Looking ahead, our goal to pay off debt, honestly, isn't on our radar. We owe $5,230 (SL @ 2.07%), $7,300 (SUV @1.49%), and $11,800 (SL @ 2.38%). I'd like to pay off the smaller SL, but it's not hurting us. The interest is tax deductible. We pay $421 a week to daycare. Even if we wanted a third child (which we don't), we couldn't afford the daycare. Our daycare is more than our mortgage. And only a small portion is tax deductible.

We could cut everything that keeps us sane (cable, annual vacation, eating) and work on paying debt off, but we're not there yet. And maybe it's because we aren't underwater on my car or don't have an insane amount of credit card debt. I don't classify our debt as "good debt" either. The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. Proverbs 22:7

Hopefully in 2017 we make another big dent in our debt and keep our heads above water and survive our new life with two boys.

Oh, you read all the way to the end? Good! 
I encourage everyone to look into Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. While we currently have paused our debt free journey, the budgeting aspect is helpful. We don't live paycheck to paycheck. We don't fight about money. We have enough stressors in our life, we don't need to add another one if we can control our money and tell it where to go.

You can download and listen to Dave's podcasts for free!! 3 hours a day! I listen at work. You can use his budgeting software to start your budget (I budget using excel spreadsheets.) Start telling your money where to go instead of watching each paycheck disappear and wondering "WTF just happened?"

Freezer Stash

So in order to get ready for baby, I've been throwing together casseroles. (As noted in previous blogs.)

 

We bought a new freezer a few weeks ago. It was right before we picked up our beef from Crooked Creek Beef. Our landlord had left his 5 cubic foot deep freeze for us, and we were torn on if we should buy another deep freeze or splurge for a larger upright freezer. We went with the Kenmore 13.7 cubic foot from Sears. I like using Sears for larger items. We got our Treadmill from Sears and for $79 dollars they deliver AND put it together. Nordic track wants like $300 to deliver and put it together. Delivery for the freezer was $69 and they moved it downstairs (had to take off a few doors and the handrail) and did a great job. Always reward your delivery men! I offered them Gatorade and they were very happy.

Only took one month to fill it!

 

So after picking up beef, splitting it with the neighbors, and making a lot of casseroles, here's what it looks like now.

 

Freezer Goodies

18 Cups of Chili

20 Black Bean Soups (thanks Mom!)

6 Chicken Enchiladas Casseroles + ingredients to make another one

6 Beef Enchilada Casseroles + ingredients to make another one

8 Tater Tot Casseroles

6 Lasagnas (Thanks Mom!!)

1 Sloppy Joe (Just defrost, heat, add buns.)

12 1-pound ground beef

5-pounds ground turkey (Sam's Club purchase)

2  1-pounds of ground pork

Hot Dogs, Brats, and Sausages

12 premade hamburgers

Steaks, steaks, and more steaks.

 

Other deep freeze goodies

2 pack of Bertolli Chicken Florentine & Farfalle (Sam's Club purchase). Easy skillet meal to throw together.

Pepperoni & Mozzarella Cheese to make homemade pizzas

6 Salmon filets

7 Twice Baked Potatoes

4 Carmel Apple Tartlets

10 Potatoes au Gratin

4 16-ounce bags of Broccoli & Cheese

2 boxes Toaster Strudels

2 frozen DiGiorno pizzas

 

The items from Kansas City Steak & Omaha Steaks were the "Freebies" earlier this year when I made a few purchases. I can eat the twice baked potatoes with GD, but can't have the apple tarts or potatoes au gratin. We also purchased the toaster strudels before GD also. The pizzas are mostly for Jason for when I was traveling.

 

Our upstairs freezer includes goodies like Eggos, frozen veggies, ice cream, tater tots, maybe some frozen fruit.. you know.. frozen odds and ends.

So yes, that's 31 main casserole meals.. at one a week, it gets us to mid-March. We'll probably make 1-2 a week and be done with it around the end of the year!
 

So in summary, if there is another major power outage, please come to my house and help me eat this all or take it off my hands!

 

 

 

 

Easy Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

Some meals are so simple it's stupid.

Easy Crockpot Chicken Fajitas
Chop 1 white or yellow onion into long thin strips
Cut into strips 3-4 peppers (Green, Red, Yellow, Orange)
Cut 2 pounds of chicken (skinless/boneless). Chop each breast into 2 pieces.

Layer in crock pot:
Onion
Chicken
Peppers

Add on top 1 packet of fajita seasoning mixed with ~1 cup of Chicken Stock or Water.

Let cook on low all day long. Shred the chicken.

And BAM, this is what you have!

 

Ok, maybe there's some extras in there. Like finding low-carb tortillas (La Tortilla is your best choice) and adding some extras like avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream. You can add beans & rice if you wanted, but I didn't want to bother with the extra carbs.

 

The meal is really simple. I would also recommend this a freezer meal. Pre-chop the onion, peppers, and chicken, add the fajita seasoning and freeze. Then you just have to pick up the extra fixens. And we cheated by buying already shredded lettuce. I don't mind chopping tomatoes, but eh, lettuce.

Follow Up - Nutrition of Tater Tot Casserole

So.... in regards to "not eating enough". I think it's true. I just made 6 more Tator Tot Casseroles and built the recipe in Spark to determine the nutrition value and most importantly, carb value. I was worried about how many carbs were in it and limiting those.

Here it is:

I based this on a few factors.

 

My bulk recipe makes six 8x8 casseroles. When Jason asks how much I want, I tell him "9 tots". As in, dish me out 9 tots and the layers under them.

 

I stuck with the "9 tots" because a serving of Tater Tots is 9.

 

Each casserole has 41 tots on top.

So each casserole has about 4.5 servings per casserole. We sometimes get 5, some people get 4 depending on how hungry they are.

 

As you can see, after all the ingredients are added up, most of the Carbs still come from the Tater Tots. The soup has some carbs and it should be another 4 carbs from the soup. (I must go check this.) Even thing, I'm still only getting 24 carbs for one serving. I do need to eat more. Maybe not all of it in Tater Tot Casserole (or extra Tater Tots), but adding other carbs, fruit, brown rice, ect to the meal.

 

And yes, maybe eating more of the casserole. It's full of protein and veggies so it isn't bad for you! :-)

 

On that note, I think lunch today will be salad and tater tots. :-)

What's in your fridge?

After a major clean out, this is what we have in our fridge & freezer. 

Top shelf - Bread, Apples, Bagels, Cool Whip, Salad (for dinner tonight), chopped onion.
Second Shelf - Eggs, Watermelon, Soda, Ground Turkey (behind the soda), Cheese in the drawer
Third Shelf - Questionable Margarine, Apple Juice, Garlic, Orange Juice, Leftover Tator Tot Casserole, and Strawberries.
Bottom Drawers - Butter and Juice
Door - Nothing.

Our sad freezer. :(

Ice, Texas Toast, Eggos, Asian Lettuce Wraps, Veggies, Chicken Sausage, and Sweet Potato Mac 'n Cheese. In the door are some popsicles, ice packs, and Fish Oil Vitamins.

The Asian Lettuce Wraps & Sweet Potato Mac 'n Cheese came from the potluck exchange last night.

Mom gave us a lasagna and it's in the oven. I also just made an Angel Food Cake so we can have strawberry shortcake.

I have to use the ground turkey and onion to make more Tator Tot Casseroles. Good news is I have a lot of room for them in the upstairs freezer.

Our downstairs freezer is full and it's good - it helped everything in the deep freeze remain frozen. Probably helped a little that the deep freeze is in the basement where it remained a little cooler.

My Dave Ramsey Story

The beginning of 2013 has me reflecting back on the 2+ years I've been following Dave Ramsey's Program.

In June 2010 I started following Dave. I think my high school friend mentioned it and I decided to read his book. I was hooked! I remember when I lived in Richmond that I had heard of Dave's Financial Peace University program through the church. I thought it was ridiculous to pay $100 to sit through a class that teaches you how to manage money. I had money, it was being managed... I wasn't poor. After reading his book, I paid the $100 and took FPU in Aug - October 2010. Best money I ever spent!

Dave has 7 Baby Steps. Jason and I are on Baby Step 2. That's the hardest & longest one. There's some "Sub" steps also, such as saving for a house since we rent. That step comes after being debt free and having our 3-6 months in savings. I have a rough estimate that we will be able to purchase our forever home before the end of 2016.

My Debt History

I graduated college in May 2003 with $44,7728 in Student Loan Debt (3 Loans) and some Credit Card Debt.

In June 2010 my student loan debt was paid down a little, I had 2 credit cards, and a car loan.

Student Loan: $27,879

Toyota: $11,111 (I took a $15k loan in October 2008)

Credit Card: $10,040

For a grand total of $49,030. Which was more than my income!! Aye Aye Aye!!

Enter Dave. And a new budget, and cash only. Using Cash Only was my biggest savior. On the old budget, I would go to Wal-Mart each payday, and spend $200-300 on food, random things... more random things. So twice a month I was buying stuff I didn't need, just wanted. I can't even describe how much I was spending elsewhere also, online, Amazon. All wants, nothing really needed. Using cash only for groceries, toiletries, dog supplies, entertainment, clothing, and eating out made such a difference. I was now spending around $320 cash a month on all those things, allocated to their designated envelope.

I didn't keep as much track as I would have liked, but an old spreadsheet has that by February 2011 I had paid off around $7k in the 7 months since starting Dave's Financial Peace Program.

At the beginning of 2012 I had paid off one school loan and one credit card. I had converted the other credit card to a Lending Club Line of Credit to make it easier - the interest rate was lower and my payments were the same each month, unlike revolving CC payments.

January 2012 - I had paid off almost $20k in 18 months. My "Snowball" Payments had stopped as Jason and I were saving for a wedding. We stayed on top of all minimum payments but everything extra (Jason was on a budget too now!) went toward the wedding in July 2012.

August 2012 - We're one. Our bank account is one. We're not a joint partnership, we are a one unit. What's his is mine, and what's mine is still mine. :)

My debt in August 2012 was $26,927. Which means I had paid off $22,103 in two years. Now we're seeing some big progress!! I don't want to admit how much we cashed flowed for our wedding, but it was around $15k including the pictures & photo album purchase. My parents helped with an amount they had set aside, and so did Jason's mom, and in the end, her inheritance helped some also.

Jason had about the same debt as me, school loan, credit card, but no car loan. OUR total debt was now: $55,458. Luckily this was less then our combined incomes and not that scary, knowing what I had just tackled on my own.

January 2013

So where are we now? $45,643. We've paid off another student loan, my Lending Club Line of Credit, and are almost done with my car loan. We're down to 2 school loans totalling $33,182, Jason's Line of Credit (where he combined his credit cards into a lower interest rate & payment) of $11,477, and $984 owed on my Toyota Highlander. Our estimated Debt Free Date is June 2014.

Our 2013 Budget includes a new line item - Baby. We really hope to have a baby in 2013 and need to start saving for supplies and day care. There's also a new line - dog training, so Monday doesn't eat the baby, and we increased Jason's car savings because we know we'll need to replace his vehicle sometime soon.

So that's my Dave story. It's worked well for me, for us, and we look forward to living a debt free life. We also are excited that we are able to give more. Give to church, Stray Rescue, whatever else comes along, We also have complete control and tell our money where to go. It doesn't consume us. When payday comes, we pay the bills, take out some cash for our envelopes, and most importantly, we don't worry. There's never a worry of having to double check the bank account before buying gas or paying a bill - the money is there because we control our money and where it goes. This is Financial Peace.