Can you be Debt FREE? Heck Yes you can!

If you had an $400 emergency, would you be able to take care of it right now?

That could be a scary questions for some but the fact is that most small emergencies are about $400 and 39% of Americans would not be able to cover that total. 

Just thinking of that is super scary. At any moment we could have vehicle issues, a refrigerator go out, the A/C stop pumping cool air, you name it, something could happen to put you in a situation that could be of some concern. Those hypothetical items I listed above are not something you can wait until payday for. They would need to be repaired and pretty quick. Another horrifying statistic is that 80% of

Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That was in 2019 during the economic boom, now during the pandemic, I am sure that number is through the roof. As if those weren’t shocking enough, money is the number 1 reason couples get divorced. Number 1! Money or lack thereof causes fights, divorce, stress, overwhelming, depression, anxiety and so many other issues that don't need to be. 

I don’t think that people are living paycheck to paycheck because they think it is cool. They aren’t doing it because they like “living on the edge” I personally think 80% are living paycheck to paycheck because they weren’t taught how to look at money. How to manage it. It might seem boring or hard to use a budget. Maybe budget is a bad word. Does it make you feel that they are now restricted so, why bother. 

What if I told you that creating a budget or an expense sheet will free you, would you believe me? A little planning, will help you to see where your money is going so that you can have your “cake and eat it too”! You can still buy those clothes, you can still go out and eat, you can even do those amazing trips you love so much.

The only difference is you will be planning for them ahead of time, so that you can afford them. Maybe your trip is on pause for a little bit, 6 months or even a year. The outcome will be that you go to more places or come home to NO credit card bills.

If you have ever experienced a vacation or even Christmas that is paid off before it happens, you would never go back. Those trips mean more when you are not stressing out about how you are going to pay for it.

What about your marriage! Can you imagine what it would like if

you didn’t have to fight about money. Does that even seem possible? No more fighting! It can happen when you are both on the same plan and working toward that plan.

I get it, we live in an instant gratification world. We text someone and if they don’t reply back immediately, we start to wonder why. (pssst, they could be in the bathroom) 

Instead of saving for an item: a purse, a car or even a new house, we just go out and get it now because “we deserve it”. We might get it because “we will look cooler when everyone sees us with XYZ”. Regardless if you are purchasing items to “keep up with the Jones’” or not, we all do this to some degree. The question to ask yourself is why? Why do you need that item, right now? Why are we looking for others approval? In the big picture of life, they don’t matter.

If not fighting about money sounds like something you want to try. 

If you want to walk into the Christmas season with a plan so that it's paid for before December 25th. If you are just sick and tired of working so hard but you can't figure out where your money went, you should join us in the next session Financial Freedom! 

• This is not one of those courses that tells you can't have fun ever again. 
• This is not a course that is boring and hard to follow. 
• This course has quick, easy and simple steps in order to get that financial plan up and running. 
• This IS a group of like minded people that are working on similar goals, and they are simple. Plan your money!

Check out Financial Freedom! What do you have to lose... some debt?

Cox is Enforcing Data Limits #StayOnBudget

Is Cox your internet provider? If they are, you are in for some changes happening very soon. Looks like next month October 2017, you no longer will have unlimited data usage. 

That's important when you are coming home and linking to your WIFI. You thought the cell phone companies were the only one getting into this action. 

Looks to me that Cox has lost a lot of money with everyone canceling cable TV and just getting the internet from them. Thanks Netflix and Hulu. 

I was told that Cox will be giving me 1 TB a month limit, which is 1024 gigabytes. 

The Cox rep also said that if we stream tv 24/7 then we would go over our limit. 

I have a friend that doesn't stream constantly and she is almost over her limit with 10 days left in her billing cycle. They are a family of 4.

This data cap has some options.

If you go over you will be charged an additional $10 for every 50 gigabytes you use.  You can choose to pay an additional $29.99 for 500 gigabytes or $49.99 for unlimited.  Again this is not total, this is in addition to what you are already paying. 

I would suggest you log into your Cox account and find out how many gigabytes you are allotted and how much you have been using in the previous months. 

If you don't have this cap yet just wait they are coming for you too!

Vision Board for 2015

A couple of years ago I started making Vision Boards. A Vision Board is where you store all your goals that you want to accomplish within the year.

Do you make goals or resolutions for the New Years?  

I usually sit down and put a few things that I want to accomplish in the year but I usually lose the paper or forget what I am working towards. Last time, I wasn't specific enough with my goals, for example I only wrote "lose weight", I did in fact lose some but not the goal I wanted. This time I wrote that I wanted to lose 50lbs.  I will then break that goal down into months or weeks, so that 50lbs doesn't sound so unrealistic.

I also want to purchase a new home but don't want to get into financial trouble while doing it. So that means I need to save up a hefty down payment. I am not sure how much that down payment will be at this time that is why I didn't write that down but if you are making your own try and be as specific as possible

When I write "Be Debt Free" that means that I will not pay for Christmas on a credit card, I will pay CASH for it. That also means I need to plan now to be able to accomplish that goal.  We paid cash this year and I can't tell you great it feels to not have a credit card bill coming next month.

I know that my vision board is not the most creative but this will work for me. I created this one on my cell phone so that I can make it background and see it everyday. You can also grab some magazines or print off pictures online and make yours anyway you want to. The main purpose is to not lose it and accomplish the things you feel most important. 

I would love to hear what your goals are for 2015.  Lets accomplish them together!

As the Dryer Burns....

What happens when you are trying to save as much money as possible?
Everything breaks!!!

So my dryer has been making this loud "clanking" sound when I would turned it on.  I did what all great wives do, I told my husband and asked him to look at it.  Since the laundry room doesn't have Xbox360 attached to it I am not sure he actually looked at it.  So once again I did what all great wives do I shut the door to the laundry room every time I ran it. :) 

That was a great plan for about 2 weeks... then Thursday night came. I had a full load of towels in the dryer and all of our clothes in the washer. Things are going great because I am getting on top of this laundry thing.  Then it happened, out of no where (not really, maybe that "clanking" sound meant something) I heard a boom, I went into the laundry room to a dryer not drying my clothes and the smell of burnt plastic.  Since I am such a great wife (again I know) I screamed for my husband to come in the laundry room to figure out what is going on because I smell something burning.  

We determined that it was the belt that needed to be replaced, it was stripped and hanging, so it was easy to make that determination.  I immediately got on the phone to call Kmart, because they own Sears now and they are closer.  My thoughts were it's not 7pm yet and I have time to get a new one and my man can just put it on and I will have dry clothes in a few.  That is not what happened. First off, Kmart never answered the phone. I was on hold for about 10 min so I gave up and called Sears.  They informed me that they don't carry those parts (roll eyes here).  They told me that they could mail me the part and it would take a week or I could pay an extra $20 for speedy delivery and get it by Monday.  I told them that it would be fine to wait a week (I needed to save that $20).
When I got off the phone my son (6yr) came in the room wearing 4 baseball hats, his bike helmet, and his jacket.  Apparently he didn't think of clothes because he was in his undies (he was ready for bed).  He also grabbed his small backpack and started filling it.  He told me that if we have a fire he is ready to GET OUT of this house.  

I guess when I was screaming for my husband about the burnt smell he took that information and made a plan.  He even went into his sister room and started packing for her too.   That night he slept in his jammies (he took what I said seriously) and his jacket so he could easily get out!

I didn't really know what to do about all the wet clothes, I hung up all of our clothes and towels.  I don't suggest that but if you have no dryer I guess it works. My poor clothes didn't smell Downy fresh for the first time since I started couponing (I love almost free Downy).  

On Monday, I was shocked to see a package at my front door step. Could it be?  It was... it was my beloved dryer belt. I am really glad that I didn't pay the extra $20 for speedy shipping.  

I looked up on Youtube to figure out how to change the belt. It looks simple!  Until he got the door off the front of the dryer and we see it.  Probably the reason I was hearing the "clanking" sound and definitely the reason I smelled burnt plastic.  It is hard to see in this picture but it is suppose to be a beautiful round plastic piece that spins my dryer belt.  Not the burnt to a crisp dryer pullie thingy (yes that is a technical term) that you see here.  On the left is what it is suppose to look like. WOW I am glad that my son didn't need to use his plan and our house didn't burn down. 


Now, I have yet another part to replace! This time I called a store in town and they have the dryer pullie system and it would be about $20 (once again, glad I saved that $20 from the speedy delivery).  Once we got that it was really easy.  Well of course it was easy for me... my husband did all the work.
Now a week later, I have a great working 10 year old dryer that only cost us about $50 to fix.  That beats purchasing a new one!! Which is what would have happened if we couldn't fix this one. I HATE the feel of hung dry clothes and towels.

USBank Bag $75 in grocery promotion

I noticed today that USBANK is offering $75 in groceries for opening up a checking account. It is a FANTATIC way to get FREE groceries.  Click here to see how it worked for us. 

USbank just recently started (well May 15th) will be charging $6.95 for no online statements

and $8.95 for paper statemenets monthly for checking accounts.

The way to opt out of the maintenance fees are:

*Make direct deposits totaling $500 or more during the statement cycle, OR

*Maintain an average account balance of $1500, OR

* Make an automatic transfer of $25 or more into a Package Money Market Savings account during the

statements cycle.

 
This is a good deal if it works out for FREE for you and your family. If these * don't fit in your budget then forget about this deal. You should not have to pay for a checking account.  :)  It is up to you!

US Bank Checking Account new fees

For everyone that opened up a FREE checking account (or any checking account at US Bank) in order to receive the $75 in free groceries be careful, I just received a letter in the mail stating that starting May 15th they are going to start charging a monthly maintenance fee of $6.95 with online statements or $8.95 with paper statements.

The way to opt out of the maintenance fees are

  *Make direct deposits totaling $500 or more during the statement cycle, OR

  *Maintain an average account balance of $1500, OR

  * Make an automatic transfer of $25 or more into a Package Money Market Savings account during the

     statements cycle.

Personally, I don't think we should have to pay for a bank to hold my money and I just am shocked at how charging for the accounts is now the norm.  Just a year ago these banks were offering the world so that you would open up an account with them. 

So sad

Free online budgeting and financial management tools

I received an email from Kim over at Homemaking Expert , she informed me of a Budgeting and Financial Tool that she created.  I checked it out and I love it.  Click here and check it out for yourself.