Disneyland or Bust!!!

So we leave for Disneyland in 2 weeks and we are doing so good at finding the best deals out there. I have made it my mission to do this trip for CHEAP!!! It has actually become a fun challenge for me. Even J is participating.

In the past, we have found great deals on hotels on Priceline.com. We have never paid more than $50/night for a 3-4 star hotel in Anaheim. This year, I think we have hit the jackpot. We need a place for 6 nights, so I set $500 aside as a hotel budget. J went on to Priceline.com and bid for a 3 1/2 star hotel in Anaheim for $35/night (always start low), plus we had a $10 off per night, Entertainment Book Travel Card, that Priceline will honor if your bid is accepted.

Well, Priceline accepted our bid. We ended up getting a 3 1/2 star hotel (Sheraton, built in 2008), right down the street from Disneyland for just $25/night. So our total for 6 nights plus tax came to $180ish!!!!!!!

I set aside $500, so now I have $320 left over that I can save or apply to another part of our trip. I am SO excited about this deal!!!! We have always done Priceline and have never been disappointed with the hotels we stay at. This makes it possible for us, and any family, to afford a trip to Disneyland.

I will post about even MORE savings next week. I also got an AMAZING deal on tickets that we can later upgrade to annual passes. I will tell you about that next time.

So, here is my question.

How much do you think a trip to Disneyland for a family of 6 will cost??? The trip will include a hotel for 6 nights, 3 Adult/3 Children 5-Day Hopper passes, Gas for a 700 mile drive, food, shopping, etc?? Let me know what you think. I'm going to keep track of how much we spend and post it after our trip. Maybe I'll even have a prize for the closest guess on how much we spend. Here we come....Disneyland or Bust!!!!

Saturday Debt Dates

J and I go out on a "Debt Date" almost every Saturday night. We go out to eat ($25 or less) and get our grocery shopping ($100 or less) done for the upcoming week. Sometimes we throw in a movie or other activity. But, for the most part, it is a chance for us to catch up on the events of the past week and go over the budget for the next week. It's a great way to reinforce our budget plans (and to secretly keep J on board). I find that doing a zero based budget helps a lot. AND, I find that if I do all of my errands on Saturday (groceries for the week, fill up the gas tanks in both cars, etc), I don't have any reason to spend money during the next week. That helps the budget immensely. A zero based budget is assigning each dollar into a category so you have no excuse to waste any left over money. By doing this, we spend our money wisely, and we have leftover money at the end of the month to apply to our debt. Here are the categories we use in our budget each week.

10% Tithing
Bills
Groceries
Gas (one tank for each of us, helps us manage where we go)
Debt Date
Savings
Carry over to Debt
Misc (unexpected things)

I'd love to hear how you budget!! Please share what works for you!!!

P.S. We set aside $500 for our Disney Hotel budget. BUT, thanks to Priceline, we just scored a 3.5 star, brand new hotel, down the street from Disneyland, for $25 a night for a total of $180 for 6 nights. WOO HOO!!!!!

I BELIEVE in Tithing!!

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

Save, spend and give—my big three principles. Most people forget about the giving part because they think I only scream "Save, save, save!"

Giving liberates the soul of the giver. You never walk away feeling badly. Whether through a tithe, charitable contribution, or gift to a friend in need, give away at least some of your money. Not only does it generate good, but it generates contentment.

Remember, no one has ever become poor by giving.

Is it acceptable to pause tithing in tough financial times?
The Bible does not mention anything about "pausing" tithing. Neither does it say that we will go to Hell if we do not tithe.

The tithe, which is a scriptural mandate, was not instituted for God's benefit because He already has all the money He needs. He does not need our money.

So why does He ask us to give 10% to Him? Tithing was created for our benefit. It is to teach us how to keep God first in our lives and how to be unselfish people. Unselfish people make better husbands, wives, friends, relatives, employees and employers. God is trying to teach us how to prosper over time.

Many people have observed that after they stopped tithing, their finances seemed to get worse. In the Book of Malachi, God promises that if you do not rob Him of your tithing, He will rebuke your devourers and protect you.

If you cannot live off 90% of your income, then you cannot live off 100%. It does not require a miracle for you to get through the month. I think that if you sit down and look at your budget, you will see that you can make it while giving at least 10%. Read the Bible and take from it what you will, and if you tithe, do it out of love for God, not guilt.

I do not beat people up for not tithing because Jesus certainly did not, but let me encourage you to keep tithing.

Dave's Advice on Tithing and Giving
from daveramsey.com on 27 Jul 2009



I'd love to hear your thoughts on tithing......

Oops, I did it again!!!

I spent my day off today on the phone with creditors, collection agencies and banks. Although exhausting, it was well worth the effort. I accomplished A LOT!!

My biggest success today was settling my $5000 Chase Credit Card for only $1000!!

Thanks to J and his hard work doing SO MUCH overtime, we are able to tackle this credit card debt one card at a time AND we can still go to Disneyland in April using NO credit....just our hard earned $$. Thanks J

It feels good to be responsible and "own up" to our mistakes.

Patience Required

Now that we are in the rebuilding phase of our life (financially speaking), it is time to tackle this credit card debt one phone call at a time. We have been doing a lot of research online and these are the EXACT steps we are following......

Settle Credit Card Debt

Step 1 Stop making your credit card payments. Companies have no reason to settle with someone who continues to make timely payments. Most credit card companies only settle when they believe that if they don't make some kind of deal, they won't see a penny of the money they're owed.

Step 2 Ignore threats. At some point, your account will be turned over to a collection agency that may call threatening to sue you, garnish your wages and take your house or car. Take heart in the fact that most agencies won't go to the effort and expense of actually filing a lawsuit.

Step 3 Make an offer. Many debts are settled for as little as 7 cents on the dollar. Therefore, your opening offer should be no more than 25 percent of the debt. Do not make an offer you can't afford.

Step 4 Expect that your first offer will be refused.

Step 5 Use the threat of bankruptcy to keep the company talking. Remind its representatives that if you declare bankruptcy, the company may get nothing. Continue to negotiate until you reach a mutually acceptable settlement.

Step 6 Take your time. There is no reason to rush into a bankruptcy. Every day you wait, your debt gets older and harder to collect, and your creditors are more likely to cut their losses.

Step 7 Get all deals in writing. Before you send in your payment, make sure that the person who negotiated the settlement with you has the authority to do so. Be certain that the payment you are sending will settle your credit card debt.

So, after a lot of research, I gathered all of our CC information and organized it into a binder with call logs and an excel worksheet on my computer. I was ready to tackle this debt one phone call at a time.

This week I began to make the dreaded phone calls. I started with the card with the smallest balance and figured out how much I could pay them by the end of this month as a settlement. I kept that $ figure in my head and called them with determination.

After dealing with the first guy, (who had no clue what he was doing), I spoke to the manager. After explaining our situation and bartering with him for 30 minutes, he finally took my offer!!! I settled our $500 credit card balance for just $100!!! I was so proud of myself. I literally screamed with joy after I got off the phone. I can't believe it actually worked. So, with much PATIENCE REQUIRED.........one down....a million to go!!!! I'll keep you posted, wish me luck!

Do the Math!!

Thanks to OVERTIME availability coming back at J's job....I did the math this month and figured out that if he works an average of 10 OT hours a week, we will have an extra $1000 at the end of this month. Ahhhh!!

It helps him put in that OT when he hears those numbers. $$$

So, what do we do with this $1000??

Since we are working on getting rid of our credit card debt first (most of which is in the settlement stages now), I thought I would set a goal to call 2 of the cards this month and settle for less than the $1000. Then I could put the rest away for our Disneyland trip in April (my 3 girls get to perform this year at Disney with their performance choir).

What do you think about that goal?

Now that I have blogged about it, I am accountable and you have to hold me to it. I can't wait to pay off 2 cards this month and tell you how it went. Anyone have experience with settling with a credit card debt????

Any advice would be greatly appreciated........

Birthdays or Bust?

This is the second week in a row my 11 yr old daughter (going on 19) has been invited to a birthday party for a friend at school. I'm glad she has friends, and that they are kind enough to invite her to their birthday parties, but at what cost?

I mean $$$!!!

Buying presents for friends (especially GIRLS) every week can add up.

What limit do I set for said presents?

Do we make something thoughtful and homemade?

Do we take a trip to the Dollar Store every week?

Do I buy in Bulk?

I keep telling my daughter that we need to keep the cost under $10, and that includes the wrapping paper, gift bag and tissue paper. I don't want to be cheap, but I don't want to Break the Bank either. We have a budget people!!

Is $10 too much or too little???

Please, let me know what you think. I am sure I have a lifetime of birthday parties to prepare for. Save me now, before I BUST!!!

How it ALL began......

I make no excuses for accumulating this debt. I take the responsibility for ALL of it. I think that is the first step in dealing with it...OWNING it!

We really aren't extravagant people. We aren't the Jones' and don't try to be, we don't have any toys (boats, RV's, fancy, new cars, etc). In fact, we don't really have anything to show for all this debt we have. Is that sad? I just can't believe how fast it all adds up. Here is how it all began.......

J and I were married in 1996. Very simple, beautiful wedding, nothing extravagant, probably didn't cost more than $5000 (possibly less than $4000). I think my dress was less than $400. J paid cash for my ring. So, no debt there.

We started out in a very humble apartment for our first 3 years of marriage. No dishwasher, no garbage disposal, no laundry facilities, no air conditioning, one bedroom, 2 clunky cars that wouldn't start on any given day. I think we paid $300 for rent, $350 when we upgraded to a 2 bedroom. Those were the days. But, we didn't care. We were in the honeymoon stages of life.

In 1998 we had our first child, M. She was the best thing that had happened to us so far. Unfortunately, we paid the cost. This is where it all started. My pregnancy was HORRIFIC. Short story, I was on a Home IV care (pic-line) for the first 6 months. J missed a lot of work to take care of me and be my nurse. Obviously I couldn't work as much. So our income was low that year. I think this is when we got our first credit card, "just in case," we said!

In 1999, J landed a great job with a BIG Financial Company. Ironic huh?? He works with other people's finances....but not our own. We never have been good about saving or planning for anything. We just live, day by day, in the moment. Which, I don't understand, because HIS parents are amazing examples of saving and living financially within their means and they still enjoy everything life has to offer. Why couldn't J have learned that from them? My family too, is very good with money. My mom and sisters are the QUEENS of bargain shopping and spending. Even though my Dad shops ONLY at Nordstroms and won't drive anything but a Mercedes, he is smart with his money too!! We both grew up neither rich nor poor, we were among the Middle class, I would say.

In 2000, we were making more money at the BIG Financial Company and expecting our 2nd child, J. So, we bought a house and doubled our payment to around $750. We still had 2 clunky cars that wouldn't start on any given day. BUT, we had a dishwasher, disposal, laundry hook-ups, air conditioning, and a fenced yard. We were living large. This pregnancy was better, but, occasionally, I still needed J to take care of me and be my nurse, especially with another little one at home.

By this time, we were really starting to use credit cards. Especially with me not working and J missing quite a bit of work to take care of his growing family. I think we were kidding ourselves into thinking that it would all work out and we would deal with it "someday". We were playing house, rather than working for it. We had 2 beautiful kids and a cute little house. I enjoyed decorating the house and shopping for cute clothes for the kids. I also found myself to be quite the little entrepreneur, trying every home business out there. Believe me when I say EVERY home business. Piano lessons, an in-home preschool, kitchen tools, music, craft fairs, boutiques, jewelry, weight loss products, and yes, even a paper route (in my clunker car, with 2 kids in carseats in the back seat). This added to the debt too. It takes money to start a business, no matter what you think. J rolled his eyes every time I had a new idea, but supported me everytime.

By 2003 we found ourselves in more debt and pregnant with TWINS. J had gone back to school to finish his degree (more debt). He still was working for the Financial Company. I was sicker than ever with this pregnancy. IV-Home Care for 6 months, threats of feeding tubes and hospitalization, not to mention, near death experiences. Needless to say, J missed a LOT of work that year. By now this was a habit that we had both gotten used to. A habit that would become our worst enemy. The hardest habit to break. He loves being home with the kids (he is a better Mr. Mom than I am) and I LOVE having him home. FMLA saved his job but kept enabling us every year.

By 2006 we had an 8 yr old, 6 yr old and 3 yr old twins. Our debt, by this time, had reached an all time high...so we thought we should buy a bigger, more expensive house. Wasn't that a smart decision?? We even got a good deal on the bigger house. Our parents helped pay off some of our debt so that we could afford the bigger house payment. Even smarter huh? Now we are in debt with them. BUT, we thought we could afford it because J was making more at the Big Financial Company and the availability of overtime was doubling his paychecks. So, we were depending on this overtime to make our house payment. The smartest financial thing we've done to date.

We did double our income in 2007. That was our best year. Overtime was a good thing. Little did we know that after 8 years of having available OT a possibility, it was about to disappear. At this point, we were NOT accummulating any new debt, but we weren't paying any of it down either, just the minimum. We had reached our max, we could not get any more Credit Cards. Rumors were starting at J's job that OT might slowly disappear because of a falling economy. So, by Fall of 2008 we put the nice, big house up for Sale.

By the middle of 2009, OT was gone. The house was still up for sale and it was getting harder to keep up with our payments. Thankfully, the house sold in October 2009 and we are now renting a cute, smaller home (just the right size and affordable) 3 miles down the road. With the move, we were able to downsize A LOT of our belongings to just the things we NEEDED. I have embraced SIMPLICITY!! Bigger homes, toys, etc, are OVERRATED!! You can't take them with you when you die. My husband, children and family is what matters most. I CAN take them with me.

So 2010 is the year I simplify my life. Now that all the kids are in school, I have gone back to work full-time in something I LOVE to do......TEACH children. With both J and I working full-time, we have decided to tackle our debt, simplify our lives and enjoy our children while we can. I will journal our experiences, ups and downs, mistakes and successes on this blog. I hope it will inspire you, but most importantly, inspire me, J and our children to live happier, simpler, financially free lives.

Here is to being FINANCIALLY FREE!!!!

Welcome to my blog!

I have created this blog for myself and my family because we are on a MISSION to get out of debt and I wanted to keep a record, journal of sorts, of how we are going to accomplish this goal. Hopefully our kids will read it someday and learn from the mistakes that J and I have made in the first 14 years of our marriage and how we are going to repair those mistakes.

I don't know how many of you will follow me on this adventure, and I am not sure how open I want to be about our debt....(J does not like me to share our weaknesses, mistakes and actual numbers), but I think it is healthy to be honest about it. If we don't face this reality, we will never conquer the beast. AND, I KNOW we are not the only ones out there with debt.

I am going to be blunt, and open about everything I am feeling. I am not going to be gramatically correct or worry about how I sound. This is my chance to express how I feel. It will help me deal with the reality that we are facing. Not to mention, it will help me relieve some STRESS. So, buckle up and hold on (I am talking to myself). This is going to be a very HARD and long road, but we ARE going to do this!!!! Time to tackle this debt and say HELLO to Financial Freedom!

Till DEBTS do us part........