In the Desert

I am sure most of you have heard the story of how God led the people of Israel out of Egypt. Then how when they got into the desert, the people complained against God, thinking He was going to let them starve, even after all He had already done for them (parting the Red Sea, etc.).

The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Exodus 16:3

I used to feel real superior when I read that story and think to myself "How could they doubt God after all He had done for them?" Then one day, I had an epiphany when I realized that I do the same thing all the time myself.

Take today for example. Yesterday was an amazing day. I had a phone call from a creditor that I had sent a $25 payment to last week. They offered to settle the account for $320 (it was around $575) AND accept $25 a month on that amount. What a huge blessing. I really felt like God was blessing us for our efforts.

Then this morning, I get an e-mail from a parent who may want to take their child out for the summer so he can stay with his brother at grandma's. Now, don't get me wrong, I totally understand that. But our budget is very precarious right now and it threw me for a loop for a little bit. Instantly, I went into pity party mode: "Why me? Why do things go wrong as soon as they seem to start going right?". Then I realized...God will take care of us. He will provide a way. I may not see that way yet, but it's here. I already know of another family who may be looking for a spot just for summer for their child, so it will all work out. And I do have in my policy that I will charge a fee to hold a spot open. So if they do want to hold the spot, then I will at least have that income coming in.

God is in control!

Debt updates

Okay, well we've been in Financial Peace class since February 5th, so it is time for some updates. For now, I have decided against posting a complete list of our debts. Suffice it to say, it is well over $100,000 (a vast majority of which is student loans). However when I look at that big picture, it scares and depresses me. So I've decided to focus on small bits at a time. Reminding myself constantly that God is in control and HE will get us through this if we are faithful and follow His plan.

So, since our first Financial Peace class on February 5th, we've paid:

$100 towards student loans
$118.02 towards our Napa bill
$107.78 towards our tax bill
$150 towards one credit card
$25 towards one credit card
$25 towards one credit card
$50 towards one credit card
$100 towards our Bass hospital bill
$18.80 for a doctor bill
$72.09 interest payment on our house (it was time for the balloon payment and refinance last month).

For a total of: $766.69!

Additionally, we have $205 in our Emergency fund and we paid two cell phone bills and two house/cable/internet bills in the last month to get completely caught up on those. Our electric bill got paid on time in February so no late fee. That's probably the first time since last spring that it's been paid on time. After the horrible, horribly high bills last summer, we had a terrible time getting caught up. Our gas bill was behind, I made payment arrangements on that so we're working on that.

We have a March budget done and so far it's going pretty well. I had a certain amount budgeted for groceries/Wal-mart shopping last weekend. I really wanted to go to United's double coupon event last weekend, but after getting what I needed bought, I only had a few dollars left. I decided not to even tempt myself by going in there. I figured I'd find something I "needed" and blow my budget. Sometimes the best thing to do is avoid the stores. Plus I wanted to save a few $'s to send with Tom today to get some great deals at Jumbo's (canned vegetables for 25 cents a can with coupons and salsa for 50 cents a jar with coupons).

So...keep sending those prayers up for us. And I have an interview on March 20th to fill a spot with a newborn in mid-May so please pray for God' direction there. Thank you!

Gazelle Intensity

If you have been reading my blogs a while or attended a Financial Peace University class by Dave Ramsey, then you've heard of Gazelle Intensity. That is what our class on Sunday was about. It comes from this passage in the Bible, where the writer is basically saying if you owe money, work at getting it paid off as if you were running from a predator. I printed this passage and picture out today and I"m going to hang it up somewhere in my house to remind us. Most of the pictures I found have the gazelle getting eaten by the cheetah, but since I want to get away from the cheetah (or debt), I didn't choose one of those. LOL.

Proverbs 6:1-5


1 My son, if you have
put up security for your neighbor,
if you have struck hands in
pledge for another,

2 if you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth,

3 then do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen
into your neighbor’s hands:
Go and humble yourself;
press your plea with your neighbor!

4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.

5 Free yourself, like a
gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

Bitter or Better?

One of the things that the speaker at the conference on Saturday mentioned was how everything we say, everything we do, the people we spend our time with, the texts we send, EVERYTHING either makes us Bitter or Better. I found that thought to be very profound. It is so true!

She mentioned how she avoids watching the news too much because it will just drain you. How true is that? Watching the news can just depress me within 5 minutes.

What about the people you spend your time with? Do they make you bitter or better? We've all had those friends who just suck the life force out of us. Shoot, at one time or another, we've probably all been that friend sucking the life force. LOL. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying abandon your friends who have problems, but be careful. Are they taking way more than they give? Sometimes a friendship can be unhealthily lopsided.

What does all this have to do with getting out of debt? Well, when you are struggling with debt, it's easy to feel bitter. It's easy to let yourself sink into that pit of feeling sorry for yourself. That "Why me?" attitude. Trust me, I know, I do it all the time. LOL. How instead can I be better? I am not sure yet. Part of me thinks that I just need to get angry enough with the debt. Or maybe a better word is determined. Instead of feeling that there is no way out of this hole, maybe it's time to JUST DO IT! Rather than focusing on the whole number, focus on one area at a time. When you need to do a big job, looking at the whole thing can scare you and paralyze you into doing nothing. So how do you deal with that? Well, you just start. You pick one thing and just do it! Then you go on to the next. And just do it. Flylady teaches people that they can do anything for 15 minutes at a time. When I'm feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed on a task, I set a timer for 15 minutes and just do something! That often motivates me to do more. Dave Ramsey teaches us about Baby Steps, just taking one step at a time. So instead of looking at the whole number, we need to be looking at one step at a time.

So today, I choose to be BETTER rather than BITTER. What do you choose?

Updates

A friend and I went to Tulsa to a child care conference this weekend. We left Friday evening and spent the night, then went to the conference yesterday. It had been more than a year since I'd gone on an overnight trip for a child care conference and it was much needed and appreciated. I had a nasty cold last week and was really hoping that I would feel better so I could enjoy it. I felt so bad that I stayed home from a club meeting on Tuesday night. Now if you know me, you know how hard it is for me to stay home from a meeting, NO matter how bad I feel, so that gives you some insight into how I was feeling. Anyway, by Thursday I felt some better and by Friday I felt almost 100%. Yesterday and today, I feel great!

A bit of a brag on myself. 3 weeks ago tomorrow, I got up and started exercising. For the last 3 weeks, I've exercised 6 days a week, taking only one weekend day off. Even this past week when I was so sick, I got up and exercised each day. It was hard, but somehow I managed it.

We had our second Financial Peace University class last week, the third one (the budget one) is tonight. Something I've been thinking about alot since the first week is something Dave says: "It is as you will it". Now obviously, not everything is going to work out perfectly all the time, but I think if we can really believe that we can do this, we really can. Or God can do it through us.

Hopefully this week I will do better at updating this blog. I have some ideas for posts that I want to do, so I'm going to do my best!

Budget 101 website

A few days ago, I mentioned a website I used to visit with the tagline about digging out of debt with a spoon. Well, the name of it came to me and I did a search for it. Guess what? It's still out there! Check it out here! They have articles on frugal living, 'copycat' recipes, budget recipes, and more.

Started Financial Peace classes last night

We started Financial Peace University classes last night. This will be our 4th time through them. We need to get inspired and motivated again. I am praying that this helps. I was really struggling with feeling negative last night,especially when Dave makes the comment that it is "easy to get $1000 into an emergency fund, it's 'only' $1000". ONLY???!! ONLY???!!!! Really? Ugh. Anyway, I'm praying for my attitude to improve.