2017 Wins & Fails

We've done it! We have budgeted for an entire year and now I have to admit we're a bit addicted to this budgeting thing.

I began reflecting back on this past year and thought I'd review this last twelve months. We've had some pretty awesome moments and then again some crushing times of defeat. We've always gotten back up, though, brushed ourselves off and tried again. Chris and I praise God during our successes and fails, no matter what's happening we owe it all to Him.

So, in honor of the new year quickly approaching in a matter of mere hours, I thought I'd take a glance behind us and take a look at the highlights.

Wins:

• Budgeting every single month. Again, this is a bit redundant as I already stated this but it's not easy to keep budgeting even when you feel like you've blown it but every month we have budgeted every single month. Twelve months of budgeting! Incredible to see how every dollar was spent in 2017
• Created sinking funds for future anticipated expenses. It's kinda funny but Chris and I have several sinking funds for different things we're saving for. We're trying our best to anticipate future expenses and this keeps the panic for upcoming events or big bills low
• Keeping current with taxes. Up until 2015, I was always current with my taxes but then life happened. I wasn't able to work as much as I wanted to due to health reasons and I got behind. Now, I'm all caught up. I'll never have to fall behind again thanks to budgeting for it every month
• Paid off the lawyer. The whole reason we're able to budget with a decent income every month is that we found the right lawyer to rectify my income problem. Yes, we were happy to pay him back for his hard work. It was a big bill, but again, we budgeted for it and now he's fully paid!
• Paid off the credit card. It's done. We'll never have to worry about leaving on credit again. I love that feeling. I love knowing that anything we buy is paid for outright
• Underbudget every month in our own personal spending. Chris and I love having our own personal spending money. (As a matter of fact, he just told me he's spending a bit of his money right now by buying himself something online) Having a little spending money, but not going over that amount, has allowed us to reign in our spending and we actually find it tough to spend that personal money sometimes
• Paid cash for new Ikea furniture. We've recently bought some new Ikea furniture and that was our Christmas present to ourselves and each other. It felt great to just have the money already set aside and know that this furniture is ours outright. No interest on it and no worry about a bill coming every month to pay it off
• We had cash for first and last month's rent and moving costs for our new condo. Our move was already budgeted. It felt great to move into our new home and feel like we're on firm footing financially. We love our new home

Fails:

• The line of credit is still not paid off. We were hoping to get the line of credit paid off this year. That hurts. I really wanted to get it done and over with
• Dental debt is brand new. Oh, I think this one hurt. My tooth issue just puts a huge dent in allowing us to get our debt paid off by 2017. What a blow to our plans. We're a whole year behind where we wanted to be. Thankfully our dentist is allowing us to pay in monthly installments interest-free. This debt should be done by October of 2018, if not before
• Chris' old taxes. Finding out that Chris hadn't submitted his taxes for many years in a row was a hard thing for us to get past. Not only did we have to come up with money to pay the accountant to work on the taxes and submit them on Chris' behalf but we were worried about what kind of numbers we'd end up with when it's all said and done. The accountant is paid and CRA is still reviewing the numbers we've submitted. It all looks promising but until we know for sure I'm just praying faithfully
• Three categories we find hard to reign in are the groceries, household and eating out expenses. We always seem to dip over on at least one category, if not two or three within the month. This is something we plan to make progress to rectify this coming year

I'm proud of us. We've done well and we've made some significant progress. We've been paying off debt now for over 18 months and within that time we've paid off over $43,000. Chris and I still have ways to go but we're starting to see the finish line which means we will be able to move on to saving for a car and contributing to our retirement funds. Most importantly we can consider adoption which is what our heart longs for the most. 

I was sitting in church today watching a little girl run around on the pew in front of us. She was probably about two years old and I could see the wonderful beauty in her little face. Gosh, I want this debt gone! I want to look forward instead of always having to pay for things past!

I think of Ruby; my daughter. I still long to hold her and I believe she is still apart of our future. This debt is preventing us from moving forward. I cannot wait to kick it out of our lives. It takes sacrifice, perseverance, patience, and budgeting but I'm willing to keep fighting and doing it for as long as I need to. Yes, that means we'll have to keep taking public transportation and we can't go out on dates as much as we'd like. Yes, it'll be mean our honeymoon vacation is still put on hold even though we've been married for over three years but it's all worth it. All of it. For her...for our future...

November's Review

Well, it's time to look back before we press on forward. November was a pretty even keel month. We had a small grocery budget once again as we ate out of our own pantry, fridge, and freezer. We are really just trying to eat at home as much as we can so we have fewer food items to move to the new apartment. Slowly but surely Chris and I are starting to see the bottom of the freezer!

In those common categories, I mentioned things went pretty smoothly. I guess the real shock was how amazing a new system Chris and I have begun to try has really worked for us. So, you remember in a previous post I have written I mentioned that we have still kept our credit card. gasp I know, that's not allowed on the Dave Ramsey plan. Well, what we discovered was some online sites that we have needed to order one or two things from refuse to allow us to use any type of Visa Debit type of plastic card. As a result, I came up with a really good solution. We decided to set up a separate savings account (what we would call a sinking fund) for our credit card. Any money we decide to shop with online for a purchase gets moved to that account immediately after buying that purchased item. For example, I'll decide I want to buy something for $16.75, before making that purchase I check in with Chris to make sure he approves of the purchase as well. (We always check with each other with all purchases.) If it's a personal item for me, I take $16.75 out of my own personal pocket money, or if it's a household item, I take it out of the household money (or deposit it back into the checking out before making the purchase) then transfer it to the newly set up credit card sinking fund. That way, we feel the pain of losing that money for the purchase and we don't forget to budget for it. The money is already sitting there waiting for the credit card bill.

We verify all purchases and balance our account every day (just to make sure all purchases are legitimate) then before the bill is due, we pay from that specific sinking fund.

This method has really changed the struggle with not being able to use a Visa Debit card. It's such a small change, but it has drastically made a difference.

I must caution you though, to only use this method once you've established good budgeting habits. I can't imagine doing this a year ago. I wouldn't have done very well at it back then but now, I trust myself and I trust Chris. We've done the Dave Ramsey plan for almost a year now and life is a lot calmer.

We don't worry so much, about a bill coming in the mail. We know how much money we have in our accounts and we have more in savings/sinking funds then I ever thought possible.

Are we completely out of the hole that we dug for ourselves? Definitely not, but we can see the lip at the top now. The ground beneath us is a lot more solid and anytime a problem comes up our first response is to pray about it. Our second response is to stay calm and look at the numbers, don't blame each other and just ask questions, talk through it.

Amazing what a difference a year and a half of budgeting will do. Yes, we made some incredible progress from May to December 2016 on our own, but once Dave Ramsey came into the picture in January.... radical changes -- and for the better!

Sinking funds.... and a sinking fund for credit card purchases! Who would've thought of that a year ago? Life changing! Thanks be to God for the little changes, which can lead to making bigger lifelong changes!

Moving Forward

So, we're moving. I know, I know! Most of you already know this information as we're pretty excited about it and y'know us, we can't really keep exciting news to ourselves very well. But what you might not know is why we are moving, again. 

We've moved a lot since we've been together. Heck, before Chris met me I moved even more! I feel like I've moved so many times in my adult life I could practically pack in my sleep I'm so used to doing it by now.

For some of those moves, it wasn't our choice to move quite yet. We've had to move a few times for jobs as they kinda want superintendents to live in a particular apartment to be accessible to the tenants (and to save the company money by having the supers live in the building on a low floor where it's cheapest) but that also led to us having to move out of our apartment, too when we left the job(s). (Technically there were two jobs... I was a leasing agent at one job and had to move out because of management, but I digress...!)

Now that we're retired we kinda get to decide when and where to live without having a boss tell us what to do -- other than God, He kinda still gets a say...Well... a big say....

We moved to the current apartment we're in with good intentions of staying here a very, very long time. It's a two-bedroom, 1.5 bath apartment. It seemed big enough, but it turned out to be a little too small for long-term occupancy. Having said that, we still planned on staying as the rent is good and all utilities are included. 

Then, we started to look at houses to rent as adoption is still at the forefront of our minds. Rental houses are expensive and even with our decent sized retired income, we recognize the need to save more than we spend.

We really thought long and hard about moving out of the city, specifically Cornwall. Cheap housing, small town and near the water. All things that appealed to us for one reason or another, but it still didn't work out with the numbers and owning a house with my slight physical disability seemed impractical. Right as we anticipated finished to pay off our mortgage, we would've had to turn around sell and either buy or rent an apartment anyhow. When you're disabled stairs are not your best friend. I know what you're thinking, "Buy a bungalow, Rosie!" They're too expensive. It just didn't fit into our budgeting number crunching. 

As it is advantageous to stay in the city, keep the same doctors, chiropractor, dentist, etc. we currently have but just find a little bit bigger living space. I mentioned to Chris this one condo building I've had my eye on for many years. He said, "No." I conceded. We kept looking. But that condo building just wouldn't leave my mind! It kept nudging me and so I asked Chris again. "No!" He said.

I prayed about it, a lot.

I kept searching other avenues, a lot.

I crunched the numbers over and over again.

Prayed about it all some more.

One day, almost out of the blue, Chris said "Yes."

That same day I found a condo for rent in the building I had my eye on. Two days later, we met with the owners and we were approved for the lease!

This new space is $50 more a month, with indoor heated parking, all condo amenities, washer/dryer/dishwasher and 250 more square feet. Enough space for me to have a little crafting nook and Chris gets a workshop in the basement, as a bonus. Sweet!

We can live here as long as they'll have us. It's affordable and suits our needs if we do have a child, but even if we don't, it's not so overwhelming that we'll think, "Why did we move here?". Plus, the living space isn't so big that we can't manage it ourselves as we get older.

Chris and I have peace about the decision we made. We feel like we've made a step forward on the journey in which God is leading us -- especially because we think we'll still be parents one day.

We've saved for first and last month's rent, plus moving costs. We'll be paying for it all with "cash". No need to worry about our budgeting. We are still on track.

More than likely we'll end up buying our own condo in the building in the semi-distant future. No rush. We can settle in and rent for a while.

I'm looking forward to decorating our Christmas tree this year in the new solarium window (which we'll also be my crafting area).

Furthermore, I'm happy Chris is thrilled with the move, too. It was hard for us to let go of the dream of not owning a home. Actually, that was really hard. We always pictured a backyard with lush green grass and a park nearby. It would've been nice to have a rec room in the basement for the kids and a completely decked out kitchen for Chris to do his cooking while I could do my baking. But living in a condo we'll force us out of the house more, to the park, the museums, the library...

Sometimes, those dreams are our dreams but not God's. I think, in this case, we were dreaming our own dreams for a while. This condo suits where we're going in life and fits into our financial budget. We are so thankful for what we do have.

I encourage you all, to keep pursuing God's dreams for you. Put aside your own wants for a minute and just see what Heavenly Father speaks to your heart. Hopefully, you'll feel peace from The Lord like we did. 

The dreaded letter arrived

Yesterday we opened up the mailbox and Chris saw there was a letter addressed to me by the Canada Revenue Agency. I always dread hearing from them. Typically it's just bad news; "We need more of your money! Give it to us now!"

If you remember from my post near the beginning of October we had received my tax return and then subsequently a week later another letter from CRA stating they were reviewing medical expenses of  $6,511. They wanted us to resend the medical receipts so that everything could be verified.

After contacting our accountant and resending the medical receipts we just sat waiting and praying that whatever answer we received back wouldn't be too crazy. Honestly, I totally expected CRA to say they wanted us to send them more money and very possibly over six thousand dollars. My medical expenses were legit but you know never know what they will think is legitimate no matter how much documentation you send them.

So, opening this letter yesterday was just something I had to brace myself for. I was determined that whatever the end result would be I would stay positive and find a way to pay them.

I had to read the letter three times, guys. They accepted ALL our medical receipts! We are in the clear and my 2016 taxes are officially fully completed! *happy dance* It's not enough just to file on time. There always some response from CRA, sometimes negative, but this time it was positive!

I cried. Oh, I cried happy tears! Good news! Oh, The Lord has blessed us! If there had been a bill it would've set us back another year, but nope... no bill... Both of us got on our knees and cried... So thankful for God's provision.... We are so reliant on His timing and we knew that no matter what answer we received back from Canada Revenue Agency, with Heavenly Father's help, we'd pay.

We have yet to hear back from CRA's review of Chris' 2016 taxes. If you remember, they're reviewing $1500 of medical claims as well and Chris just submitted the taxes for previous years he didn't even know were not filed. So, we still have a little ways to go in our waiting but one more hurdle is done! There are days when we feel Tax Debt will always be our ball and chain... but hopefully, we're wrong. We are trying to
stay optimistic as Chris and I still wade through the remainder of our debt and just take one day -- or rather one letter -- from CRA at a time....accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.

For now, we can just take a moment and be thankful for this good news as we approach the end of 2017.

Who's the Boss?

I heard this really great call on the Dave Ramsey Radio show recently and it kind of stuck with me. This guy calls in and starts talking about his budget and how he's just not feeling comfortable with how he's budgeting is going. He's got no money really, for all the things he needs to pay for. That sounds like a lot of us, doesn't it? We're stretched so thin, how we can we make enough for all the things we need!

Well, Dave, in all his Dave Ramsey wisdom, says "Who's the boss here? Your budget or you? You tell your money what's going to happen and if your budget is so tight you can stretch anything more out of it, then you have an income problem."

When Chris and I were first beginning this Baby Step plan, our money was tight. We set the numbers so tight in our budget that we didn't have any spending money to do whatever we wanted with it. We slashed everything, down to the bare minimum, but we forgot about "Fun Money" because, really, there was no room in the budget for any fun.

Once we got a few debts out of the way with we incorporated our own personal pocket money back into the budget. It took a lot of work to get there, but if we didn't include some fun money in this budget Chris and I would've never stuck with the budget very long. I know we would've cheated on this agreement to budget and eventually, this idea of getting out of debt would've been tossed out the window just like all those other attempts at doing good in our lives, too. We would've failed, and you might too if you don't incorporate some a Pocket Money category in your budget.

See, I know what you're thinking now. You're saying, "Rosie, how can I have spending money when I can't even afford food every week?" I hear you, and I'll tell you exactly what Mr. Ramsey said. That means you have an income problem. Think outside the box! What can you do to make more money in order to enjoy your life a little more? What side gig will give you the most reward without the most effort? Delivering pizzas? Going to retirement homes and reading to people? Working an extra shift at your current job every week?

If you don't have any money in the budget for your own spending money, you're going to fail at this. This is a natural response to making a change in life. You have to still be able to have fun while you're making a radical about-face in your life.

I will tell you something really interesting. Our spending money is an equal amount. You know what the most awesome part is involving that money? We don't have to answer to anyone else about how we spend it. We don't record it anywhere. We take it out in cash and that's it. I can buy whatever I want for myself with my money (which usually means craft supplies). Chris can buy whatever he wants as well and doesn't have to answer to me for it. Sometimes we decide to save up for something bigger together or save for several months in a row for something really important for ourselves. We love that ability!

We relish that. We really feel a sense of freedom and that freedom means this budgeting thing is actually working. Do it, try it. Still stay within your means, but give yourself some "me" money and see how much it makes a difference for a couple of months start with $10 or $20 but stick to that number and don't feel guilty for whatever you decide to buy yourself.

Another debt is finished!

So, we were able to eliminate another debt this month! That's three big expenses (two debts and one big bill) in two months. Wow. Incredible feeling... This one was the lawyer. We hired a lawyer a year and a half ago to work through my annuity settlement. As a result, it was restructured and now that's our income. In doing this though we incurred an $8,600 bill from the lawyer. Yes, they were expensive, but he was the best and he knew the right people. The issue was solved in 2.5 months after 19 years of searching for the right lawyer who was willing to take this on. It was a battle I kept praying for and feeling quite defeated about. Finally, it's all done. Not only is the annuity solved but now the lawyer's bill is paid in full -- and two months earlier than we expected at that!

I have to admit, this was the highlight of October and it only happened a few days ago. We're quite pleased but very much in awe of how amazing God is... We feel blessed beyond words...

Moving on, October we didn't do much shopping for groceries and such but opted to eat more out of our own pantry, fridge, and freezer. We had a lot of success in this area plan to do it again for November. We've allocated $100 for groceries next month and I think that'll be plenty for milk, eggs, and bread. Really honestly we have plenty of food in our cupboards and it's high time we utilize what we already have so it doesn't go to waste.

Some folks have asked us for advice about how we're doing this. We get asked about it on occasion and it's really not as hard as you think it is to get out of debt and live with greater financial peace. Does it take sacrifice, planning, and a detailed budget? Yeah, but it's worth it!

No judgment here if you have debt, none at all. The only thing I ask is that you stop being an ostrich with its head in the sand and pretend there isn't a problem. I believe in you. God believes in you and trust me if Chris and I can sacrifice continuing to live without a car (a much-needed transportation vehicle!) year after year as we slog through this debt, then you can, too.

Don't let yourself make another excuse to let another Christmas go by with too many presents sitting under the tree and a bank account bled dry.

Remember, God doesn't want you to be in debt. He has a greater purpose for the money that He asks you to manage for Him. Sacrifice today means a great heavenly blessing He can provide others through you tomorrow. It's worth it. Sacrifice with a cheerful spirit!

September Review...including the interest!

Overall September was an awesome month. We paid off the credit card and I received my tax refund. We did go out for breakfast to celebrate that win but I will say it was an overwhelming slap in the face when I got another letter, a week later, from CRA that they're reviewing some medical bills submitted with my 2016 taxes. We're praying about that and just trying to stay calm as we wait for more news on that front.

I feel like my feet are on more solid ground now that the credit card has been paid off and its back to zero. It's the one debt bill, out of all of our bills, that just use to bug me night after night lying in bed when I reviewed our debts. It's not fun to have to keep paying for items that were bought a year ago; no matter how important they were when we bought them. 

So,  I got a little curious about how much interest we have paid since May of 2016 when we began to get serious about getting out of debt. Unfortunately, we didn't even know about Dave Ramsey's Baby Step Plan until December, but starting his plan January 2017 made a huge difference in how we paid down debt, however, I digress. 

While sitting down to write this blog post I took a moment and reviewed all the credit card bills from  May 2016 until September 2017 adding up the interest as I went. My guess was we had racked up $700 and Chris' guess was $1,200 of interest. Boy, we were both wrong! $1,682.24! 

Can you imagine? That's just free money! Free money to the credit card company for what, letting us borrow money we don't really even have? Holy shitake mushrooms!!! Never again! Our credit card should only be used if we already have the money and pay it off immediately after use! (Some online purchases still cannot be transacted by Visa Debit and so we've decided to keep the credit card for very specific purchases.) It was a big shock.... but so eye-opening..... It really taught us what we're putting our money towards really should be for the benefit of God and His plan for our lives, not for a company's benefit and promotion to just get us deeper and deeper into debt. 

Thank God.... Thank God for Dave Ramsey's plan and all his eye-opening and insightful logic. 

Think about it the next time you use your credit to buy someone a "nice little gift" or a book you really want. Pay cash! Pay cash or wait until you can pay cash. That good friend would rather spend time with you than get that nice little gift you so carefully picked out for them. That book you want to read may be available at the library. (I always look at the library first)

Somethings are worth buying, yes, I completely agree with you but do not buy it with a credit card! I urge you to be smarter than me. Yes, I'm dumb. I'm very dumb. I will admit it. Admit it with both shame and without shame. Shame that I did it, and without shame that I will no longer do it ever again. But now that you know that getting out of debt can be done, be smarter than I was and stop using your credit card like it's free money! Please...just think on it... No judgment here.... I just want you to do better than I ever did. I want you to win at this.... for God and for your family... 

I love you guys... pray for you often and only hope you gain a little more knowledge about budgeting. :) Chris and I talk about what we want to teach our children (yes, we're still praying for them!) and we hope that we can teach them the value of hard work and budgeting. ]I can only imagine what it'll be like when my kid gets that lesson before she or he even gets a credit card application in the mail during their college years. God willing they do this thing called life better than we will ever do...

MasterCard is paid off!!!

Well, that was quick. Remember my post from just a few days ago? CRA obviously bumped up my case file in the stack of files to go through. After waiting for five months, I finally have my tax return!

The first thing Chris and I did was getting on our knees and thank The Lord! Seriously, we did! It was a humbling moment to know that this blessing was from God and we needed to do right by Him for what He has given us.

After much prayer and planning, we paid off the MasterCard that very day! ecstatic happy dancing ensues Another debt GONE and a bigger one, too! (That credit will cover the interest that will be due once this billing cycle is complete.)

We have also put aside some funds for Chris' tax installment for previous tax owing. We've made a guess -- right now -- about how much that will be as our accountant is still crunching those numbers for him.

The last big thing is we've topped up our baby emergency fund to reach that minimum $1,000 mark again.

We're in the black and continue to move forward! So far so good....

I think right now, we're just feeling a little thankful and having another debt gone is a huge relief off our shoulders. We still believe anyone can work the baby step plan, budget and get out of debt. It may take longer for some folks who have a smaller income but you can do it! If you have enough determination, drive, anger at your debt and stubbornness you can do this!

Let our moment of joy inspire you. Don't let that feeling that's stirring in your heart to make a change fade away by allowing yourself to be distracted by the next thing on the screen in front of your face. Seriously, make a change! We hope to see EVERYONE we know debt-free one day. That's our hope and our dream.

We'll be happy dancing about this debt paid off for a good while and if you see a little extra skip in our step the next time we run into you,  you'll know why. Boy, you really do feel a little lighter with less debt weighing you down... Amazing....

Rise and Praise His name... even when there's a delay up to sixty-four weeks

Finally, I'm getting to sit down and review the month of August. (It's been a busy month in September so far, forgive me!) I suppose the biggest expense for the month of August has been my dental work. That was a big expense which was totally unexpected with even an emergency room visit! Don't you know the emergency room is where you should go if you want to hang out with friends? Yup, so strange to bump into a friend in the middle of the night at the emergency room... I will say though it made it the long night just go by a little bit faster as we all sat together bundled up in hospital blankets, giggling over our silliness of all being there at the same time. But alas, I digress...

The dental work will be expense and take a long time to pay off, but I don't regret agreeing to the payment plan one bit. They're a great team of doctors, nurses and hygienists. They were able to agree on a deal with us, interest free, and we're very thankful for their trust in us.

We stayed afloat, during those rough times. We stayed in budget with things like grocery spending and household allotment amounts. I thought we had a great idea shopping for meat from our own freezer! Why not? Sometimes you just end up buying a little bit more than you need and that chicken or ground beef gets buried at the bottom of the freezer. Instead of going out to buy more, just shop from home, first! It's sounds so common sense, but sometimes the common sense part of the equation gets lost on all of us -- including the two of us. 

We had a little over $65 left in the grocery budget and we went over by $25 in household but came under in the eating our category by almost $10 by the end of August. Overall, it all seem to even out okay.

I guess the most difficult piece of news was my tax refund. I had to speak to a supervisor two separate times to find out there was a backlog of reviews on people's accounts which made my account be delayed in review as well. The supervisor I spoke with expressed her sympathy but indicated her hands were pretty well tied. She would file a request for my file to be reviewed as soon as could be arranged but it could take up to sixty-four weeks. I was stunned to say the least. Chris was even more upset than I was. I reminded Chris that we must rely on Christ no matter what and not allow these crazy delays to alter our course in praising His name through every storm. We calmed down and kept our tempers allowing the Holy Spirit to minister to us. 

We are still reviewing Chris' previous owed taxes but should have some concrete numbers of what's owed in a week or two. Whatever those numbers show, we will ride that wave and see this thing through. One day we will be debt-free and in meantime every month we do pretty well is another month we can praise God for the blessings He bestows on us. 

The same can be said for your budgeting. Every success you make in a step forward can only mean success for the bigger picture or plan God has in mind for your life. Yes,  you may falter or fall down, but get up brush yourself off, keep an even temper about the situation and praise His name through it all. Tomorrow may be brighter than today, you just never know. 

A Third Unexpected Expense...

Looking back on the month of July, we did really well. We stayed in budget in pretty much every category. We kicked some butt and both of us felt a momentum going. We knew by August 1st we were going to have our Baby Step #1 completed again and have a $1,000 Emergency Fund in the bank! Whoo-hoo!

Then another blow hit... If you remember, my computer died several months ago and we had to put that on a payment plan for 6 months in order to buy a new laptop. (six months are up in September!), then there's the issue with Chris' taxes which we still don't know quite yet how much he owes. Now, a third blow... sigh.... dental work....

I have this tooth...a tooth I've been putting off being looked at for awhile knowing it was going to be an issue to deal with but being absolutely terrified to see the dentist about it. The tooth had a cavity, then it cracked and finally just completely chipped and fell out a little while ago. I was hoping I could save up the money before I found a dentist to deal with it, but no such luck.

I had made an appointment with a dental clinic but the dentist was on vacation and wouldn't be back until the 14th of August. Last week the tooth pain started... and it got bad very, very quickly. I was in such excruciating pain that I called another dental clinic that seemed to deal with issues of dental phobia. (Which I didn't even know there was a name for such a condition.)

The new dental office couldn't see me until Monday July 31st. I had to just survive the weekend with the pain. "I can do this," I thought to myself. "I can use ice, and pain killers and...hang on...."

No. No, I couldn't. I was getting two hours of sleep here or there...Waking up almost screaming in pain, running for the ice pack and downing pain meds as fast as my little body could handle it,praying that the pills would kick in quickly.All the while praying as hard as I could pray that God would just, "MAKE IT STOP!"

Friday night came after two full days of pain.  I was almost ready to let Chris whack me over the head with our heavy duty skillet the pain was so intense, but no instead we went to the ER at 1:30 in the morning.

As we were leaving to catch a cab and I felt some swelling in my left cheek. It felt...bigger there... but the pain was finally ceasing and I almost cancelled the cab as I just wanted to sleep. However, I knew if there was swelling it might just be getting worse despite the lack of pain.

We stayed there all night long and ironically about 1.5 hours after we arrived a friend of ours showed up at the ER with her own medical issue that needed dealing with. The three of us sat together in that freezing cold ER, wrapped in hospital blankets, waiting for our turn to see a doctor.

Finally at 7:30 am, just as I was to see the doctor, the swelling was so intense I was having numbness from below my eye to the middle of my neck on the left side of my face. He gave me antibiotics, which kicked in very quickly, and over the course of the weekend the swelling receded rapidly. By the time Monday rolled around I barely had any swelling at all and the dentist was able to assess how bad the damage was.

I will say, having a phobia of dentists isn't fun to live with, but I'm thankful for our baby emergency fund. It saved our butts. I've had two dental visits thus far and will be continuing with treatments to have a dental implant. This will be very expensive but we've been able to talk with our dentist about what's possible for us financially.

Chris and I were very upfront with the dentist in our debt pay-off journey. Sometimes it's best to be honest and speak about the real numbers. As a result she commended us for how far we've come and how far we have left to go. We've been given a few options to pay for my dental procedure and I'm trying to encourage Chris to see the dentist for his own needs, as well.

This dental office is amazing. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the service we've received and the level of comfort I now feel. The Lord led us to the right people at the right time. God is so faithful!

We may not have much left of an emergency fund right now but it came in handy when we needed it and we will build it up again as soon as we can. Chris and I have said countless times since that first dental appointment, "We will never go without an emergency fund from now on." It's just too important...and we refuse to live on credit.

This will put us behind in our debt-free journey but this expedition is not bleak. In fact, we've felt a real awakening of our spirits to continue to persevere through this trial. I am still afraid of the dentist -- just a teeny tiny bit now -- but we're not afraid to keep pushing forward through our debt. We WILL get through to the other side, no matter how many mountains we have to climb. Just watch us become more determined and more stubborn. This mountain? Oh, it's nothing....just a little annoying hill to overcome... we'll see the Promise Land of Debt-Freedom soon... Mark our words....

Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away!

I've started to watch a show on Netflix about debt difficulties in the United Kingdom. What I found most interesting about this television program is the statistics they post between stories as part of their B roll footage.

The U.K. has $1.445 trillion pounds of debt, as of 2012, when this was filmed. This number is staggering and I'm sure Canada's debt calculator is significantly high, as well. I suppose hearing this number may discourage most people. For me though, it pushes me even harder to get out of debt as fast as I can.

There was a specific quote from one of the High Court officers, Paul, who is featured in the show, and this statement struck me as being right on the money. He was talking about cars and how people used to save for a used car and be quite happy with that, but nowadays folks are wanting a brand new vehicle that just can't afford. Once they have that vehicle financed they start to see other possessions the same way. Everything must be new and they must have it now; no waiting. It's a major problem...

Of course, I hear about financial issues more and more these days with all my reading and research on finances since starting with Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps plan. For example, Chris and I have seriously thought about buying a house one day. We are 39 and 41 years old, respectively, and we're not getting any younger. We know if we wish to buy a house it would be best to buy it in the near future. But we are still paying off our debt, and we only have $36,000 saved in our RRSP. Not near enough for a down payment, as of yet. We're not ready to buy a house. We're not ready to take on such a huge financial responsibility. What's surprising to me is that others in our same situation would still try and buy that house, believing that paying rent is just paying someone else's mortgage but not helping themselves. Well, I disagree with that. If we were to buy a house now, what would we do if something went wrong? The roof leaked or the boiler broke down? Chris and I would be at our wits end about what to do, that's what!

Thankfully, we recognize that financially we are not ready and so we're happy to pay rent for a very nice and comfortable apartment that is within 25% of our budget. This apartment doesn't stretch us financially unecessarily. We are able to pay our bills and have a little spending money to ourselves at the end of each month. It also means, once our debt is paid off, we'll have money to squirrel away and save for that car, house and perhaps one day an adoption -- these three things are the most important to us -- other than our faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We believe in the process we're going through, and it shocks me when I see shows and read things about other people having to deal with debt collecting agencies. Shocks me to my core, to be honest, that our debt numbers continue to increase year after year because of things like credit cards being used, cars being financed and homes bought that are way too expensive and out of our price range.

The Lord asks us to live within our means and not be slave to the lender. I try my best, by prayer and the desire to be led by the Holy Spirit, to make right and sound financial choices. I try my best to honor Heavenly Father with what He has given me...and I admit there's some days I do better than others, but I always continue to strive forward.

The next time you think on the fact that Chris and I have been able to pay off $30,000 in less than a year, you remember how we have done it. We've done it with God, with the power of saying "no" to ourselves and each other, with the intention of finding cheap or free ways to entertain ourselves, we've shopped for ways to save on groceries and we've being thankful for every day these choices have made it possible to continue on our debt free journey. You can pay off your debt in just the same fashion. Don't sit there and think "I wish that could be me! I wish I could pay off my debt, too!" YOU CAN. I swear to you, my nightly prayers include you, yes you! You can do this.

So the next time you go to the store and want to buy something a little extra for yourself, remember to ask yourself what's more important, the dream Heavenly Father has given me to GO where He asking me to go in life (hopefully towards debt-freedom is part of that journey) or is buying that _____ (whatever it is) more important? Denying oneself brings maturity. Children throw tantrums when they can't have what the want right away. Stop throwing mini tantrums within your own heart and mind. Put the item back on shelf and think, "This dream I have is bigger and more important than this item in my hand." The more you deny yourself in frivolous shopping the easier it gets. The more you start to value what you already own and the more your value what you have the less likely you are to shop frivolously! Seriously, it works, and not even that, you feel that your acting with purpose for God's will. You really honestly do.

Be more mature today than you were yesterday. Be willing to wait, save and enjoy what you currently have.

Don't add to the debt calculating number that continues to grow; instead add to the legacy number you wish to give children and family. God bless you all in this journey. Don't give up the fight!

Rebulding that Baby Emergency Fund again

Well, June budgeting went okay... We actually did pretty well with groceries and came under budget! Whoo-hoo! The only category we really went over was household supplies and sometimes that's just the way the month rolls out, isn't it? You have to restock your cleaning supplies buy cat food or buy laundry detergent. There's always something that just can't wait.

I will say overall for June I'm pleased with our progress. It was the end of the month that startled me. Chris received some distressing news about back taxes... We're working through that issue currently and dealing with it. When we know more I'll give a brief update.

We are making significant gains on rebuilding our Baby Emergency Fund (Step #1 of Dave Ramsey's plan) once again. $400 dollars and only $600 more to go! We'll get there... I just hope we can still save the emergency fund and deal with Chris' tax issue, instead of needing to use that money to fix his problem that has arose. In other news, my tax return is still on hold. Every time I've called CRA to discuss the issue I'm given a different answer. The new date to hear back from them is now August 17th, which is over four months since our taxes were filed on April 11th. At this point, I'm just throwing up my hands in frustration and giving it to God.

I know what the issue is, I know why there is a delay. Up until last year (2016 taxes) my income was much more significant. On paper it was high, because I have been taxed on the principle amount of the annuity and so I was paying thousands of dollars for income taxes. But last year our life dramatically changed. We were able to renegotiate the annuity and take early retirement. I had to guess at how much to pay towards taxes. (This was part of the "debt" we claim as our total owing.) So we paid a significant portion towards my taxes, but much less than any other year. I added up the number incorrectly, told our accountant it was $13K but in actuality we had paid a little over $16K. I had asked her if we should correct the number before sending in the taxes, she said "No, CRA will figure out the error and it'll be fine." Well, there STILL trying to figure out why there is a big pay difference and why our numbers are slightly askew. 

So here we sit and wait... to see how much we may get back... All the while feeling quite overwhelmed about Chris' tax issue now... 

If it's not one thing, Ir's another right? Oh well, The Lord has all this in His hands... We give it over to him and just try to stay the course with what we're doing for the month of July.

Onward and upward and all that...

Honestly, we know we'll be fine... we'll get through it just like we do everything else. Patience and faith will win out. We are thankful for another month of success and we hope our numbers look even better for July. 

Chris will be taking me out to lunch for my birthday. I'm 39 this year. I don't feel thirty-nine... and I was hoping to debt-free for my 40th birthday. I worry now that might not happen..... 

Keep pulling up your boot straps along with us, folks! If you're in the middle of your debt pay off, it's a struggle every month, but boy will it be worth it!! CANNOT WAIT!!!

The Debt Hole

We received some rather shocking news yesterday. Our debt hole is bigger than we thought when we first began this journey.

A debt of Chris' has come up that he thought was dealt with properly years before he met me -- before it became a debt -- and when we knew it was an issue in 2014 we thought we had dealt with it quickly then as well.

Apparently not and now it'll be a massive undertaking to deal with. It has been a blow to our momentum forward to debt freedom.

We are doing our best to get it dealt with quickly and sufficiently but it'll be a little while before we have some accurate numbers as to what the amount owing will be. On top of that, will be the fee for the expert helping us file the necessary paperwork to take on all this and fix it... That bill is over $1,000 a this point.

I will say, we're just starting to save up our $1,000 emergency fund and boy do I wish we had that money saved up already. I could really see the need for a baby emergency fund because Murphy's law has come down on our heads hard.

There were tears and frustrated long talks yesterday with many moments of unbearable silence while we tried our best to wrap our heads around this mess. Still today, in the light of another day, it looks almost worse than it did yesterday.

I'm hoping that once we've gathered the last of the necessary paperwork over the next week or two it won't be as bad as we originally thought.

We've learned a lesson here. All bills should be pay together, work should be double checked and receipts should be issued for paid services.

All we can do now is move forward and do our best.... I'm hoping to get this over with quickly...praying to God it's not as bad as it all looks.... Oh Lord, hear my prayer...

Spring forward with a little cash!

After trying to stay in budget with our debit transactions, we've decided to go back to the cash envelope system starting in June again.

May was a great month in a lot of ways for our budget but for the first time ever we only paid the minimum towards our MasterCard balance and spent the remaining money on things we needed and wanted.

Yup, we slipped up and let a bad month derail debt pay off train.

We also bought a couch (something we desperately needed) and we're very glad we made some monetary sacrifices to buy it. No regrets there.

I will say though, we stayed in budget and we didn't go in the red....we just didn't pay as much towards that one bill like we hoped to.

Chris and I hope to receive an answer back from the Canadian Revenue Agency about my tax return by the end of June. That might help us a little but until then we're just going to stick to the plan of paying cash for things like groceries, household goods, eating out and miscellaneous items that come up. Those four categories seem to be where the money gets eaten up the most easily.

I will say it was so inspiring to see Budget Girl (Sarah Wilson), a well known Dave Ramsey follower, pay off her student loan debt after 3.5 years of budgeting! That began to jump start our focus again to kick this debt's butt! We'll get there...one purchase (or non purchase) at a time... It's all about choices and what ways to cut corners and stay on track for the greater good.

All I can say is Chris and I are not perfect and this has been a tough road for us. We're facing some big realizations about what is possible for our future and what may not be possible... Thankfully, our goal to debt freedom is worth it! So worth it! That we're willing to continue to sacrifice for just a little while longer (another year or so) in order to save for a car, vacation (honeymoon!) and maybe even possibly a house (Rental or ownership? Not sure which yet...)

For now, May will be remembered as the "what not to do month" with the realization everyone makes mistakes, can be forgiven and move on. Really, it wasn't that bad, we still stayed in the black with our numbers, we just didn't make as big of a dent in our debt pay off as we had first planned. June will be better. June will definitely be the "a step towards debt freedom!" month. In the meantime, I'm thankful we've gone back to the cash envelope system again!

April in Review!

Well, I can't say we did great, but...we actually did do great....I think I need to explain that very contradictory statement!

Chris and I had a few major things go wrong and come up this month. So we went over budget in almost every category within our budget. ARG! That's so annoying but I will say we were still in the black at the end of the month and we didn't use our MasterCard or Line of Credit to get by.

I guess the most major downfall was my laptop is dying. It's slowly fading away and it wouldn't be worth it to fix the darn thing. That means shelling out some money for a new one. We know the computer will die in the next month or two so we decided to bite the bullet and do a payment plan for a laptop through a reputable online website. Payments are reasonable at $134/mth and it's only until the end of the summer. We'll be fine... and to counter that set back we've set up a sinking fund for electronics so we're placing some money into a savings account for any further replacement of electronics just in case another device of some sort decided to croak on us.

I guess the other sad part is the couch. Yes, our three-seater  La-z-boy is on its last leg. The right side of the couch is slowly pulling away from the frame and there's just no fixing it. We'll be saving for a replacement couch in a few months.

Besides all that it was an expensive month from groceries and household products. We seemed to run out of everything in the same month. My oh my, we went $230 over budget on groceries and almost $350 on household supplies! .........I won't even go into what we spent on eating out!

It was a strange month for us. Lots going on and it just was an "off" month all around. I will say though we've now been actively paying off debt for a full twelve months and in those twelve months we've paying off more than $30,000 in debt!

We may have had a weird month this April, but everyone can have one month where things are just haywire...This was ours and we're still in the black. Yup, still in the black and we were able to put more than $1,000 towards our MasterCard bill (Thank you Chris for your tax return!). All and all...we're gettin' there. Slowly but surely.

In May things will be put right again. Not to worry! This is not the beginning of a downward spiral. We'll get there...and we'll have this MasterCard paid off in now time! (less than $4,900 more to go!)

Hope everyone else had a better month than us in April!

March 2017 Budget in Review!

I think we can give us a score of A-! Good progress made and we still stayed in the black at the end of the month. I LOVE watching our debt snowball kick this debt's butt! :)

Number Crunching

Curiosity got to me. I decided to crunch the numbers today and see how far we've come with our debt pay off. Ironically, our first calculations in December of the total amount of debt at $50,500 was incorrect. As it turns out we had $51,233.68. Over fifty one thousand dollars. My heavens...!

Furthermore, that number isn't even accurate either. We can't say much at this point but as some of you know I have to pay my taxes in advance. As a result I did a rough estimate that it would probably be somewhere around the $15K mark as all previous years for taxes were in the $20-25K mark for the last 5-7 years or so.

We left our jobs at Superintendents in April so that means we were only being paid from work January to April, cutting down that income significantly, but of course my "old" annuity still ran from January until April as well and the "new" annuity amount started May 1st.

Having said all that, our taxes for 2016 was a guessing game. We guessed wrong. That's all we know so far.

Anyhoo... as of right now we've paid $30,520.33 towards our debt! Whoo-hoo! $30K paid and only $20, 825.34 to go!

In a few months we think that 20K left to pay will start to really pick up speed and fall off very quickly.

Things are in the works and the dollar amount towards our debt keeps gettin' better.

Every year I've been pretty bitter about paying taxes. This year, not so much... I came into it more prepared than any other year previously. That helps! It helped having the right attitude and mindset of things above, not things below.

Hey, if Chris and I can do this...you can, too. :) Don't be afraid to file your taxes and crunch those numbers! Pay off that debt, especially if it's tax debt. It's worth it! :)

Don't be afraid!!

We talk about our finances often, with each other and other people. We're not afraid to talk about it. It's not the big elephant in the room anymore.

Chris and I had two great chats about finances today. A dear friend was going over her budget this evening and I couldn't help but be excited for her written budget! Yes, budgeting makes me all sorts of happy. I'm weird... what can I say....

Then we were off to the bank, to chat with a bank manager about some financial goals and plans we have in mind. We were late for our appointment -- thank you OC Transpo -- but thankfully our bank employee was gracious enough to still see us before her next appointment. In the midst of our chat, we went over a few general information items she wanted to ask us, and discovered that we're budgeters and had already paid off approximately $30,000 in less than a year with about $20,000 or so left to go. She stopped talking, looked stunned and whipped her head back around at the computer screen to examine our bank statement numbers again. 

"I wish you could teach my daughter how to do that!" she exclaimed.

We tried our best to be humble and indicate the amazing Dave Ramsey plan that we're following. Emphasizing it's a lot of sacrifice, having a written budget and following the plan to the best of your ability. 

It can be incredible the reaction you may get if you are open and honest with people sometimes...You never know she may mention our success to her daughter or a friend may see the benefit of writing out a budget for their own hopes for the future.

Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and do something daring -- like talk about finances! The more we talk about it, the less scary it is... Being honest with our Heavenly Father, your spouse, yourself , friends and family can mean the difference that only you get out of debt, or having your family or church family out of debt, too,  Isn't the point of this journey we call life, to support one another? By being honest, we can truly be an encourager for those who don't see a way out of the mess they're in. 

So yes, I may seem a little overly passionate about the idea of sitting down with pad of paper, and calculator but there's a fire in my belly, a passion that I just can't contain and I pray everyday that someone else be inspired by the stirring of the Holy Spirit to give this a try for themselves. If you're too afraid to do this alone, reach out to someone you trust who can look at those finances with you. Honestly, after the first 10 minutes it's not so scary anymore and soon after it gets really exciting and fun! 

February 2017 Budget Report

Devotional Questions

Upon exploring my devotional for today, I came across some really interesting questions. Now, the topic of my devotional has to with setting goals for the year. It could be any goal, really, but for Chris and I our goal for 2017 is to pay off four debts and to continue to stay on budget every month. We give each other some grace when we're not perfect, but all and all we try hard to accomplish our goals every month.

What was interesting about my devotional was it talked less about the goals you wish to accomplish and more about whether we're listening to God's voice in our walk to debt freedom. The devotional broke down into three key sections; assessment, longevity and surrender.

Assessment spoke about taking a look at where we are currently. Examining our commitments. Who's influencing us and then asking ourselves what must change or stay the same. Asking The Lord what habits we can break or what could change in the near future. Prioritizing our commitments.

Chris and I are not one to over schedule ourselves. Actually we're the opposite. There's a very specific reason for that. Our lack of wheels. It's difficult to commit to things when you just don't have the transportation to come and go as we please, but having said that, we do commit ourselves to a certain schedule in our day-to-day lives, but it doesn't really further the cause for Christ in the ways we'd like to. That's something to change.... and that will take some thought on how to change it while working around the issue of no transportation..... Hmmm.....

For longevity it asked the big question of while setting daily, monthly and yearly goals do we keep the big picture in mind. A lot of people would assume our "big picture" is to get out of debt so we can spend more money. Actually....no... that's not quite accurate. Our get of debt goals really have to do with not being slave to the lender any longer and giving like no one else. We've felt a few things placed on our heart in ways to give and we hope to get there within a timely fashion. But it's a good question isn't it? Are your daily/monthly/yearly goals getting you where you want to go? Sometimes in order to give later we have to stop giving so much now. That's a hard pill to swallow!

Asking God for His vision, as the devotional went on to say, is much more important than the little things we might be doing now. Sometimes sacrifice is worth it, and sometimes giving without holding back is worth it... It's all a balance and on His timing. But this question, really stuck with me, "You'll be able to ask yourself and The Lord, will this goal benefit me next year? In ten years?"

Ten years... I'll be almost 50! Oh heck no, I don't want to be in debt when I'm 50! God has much greater things for us than paying for debt still in our fifties...

And lastly it spoke about surrender. Laying our goals at the feet of Christ. Once the vision is set and you've prayed on it, just lay it at His feet. We do... every decision we make we make with the intentional knowledge of the goal Christ has for us. Every time we go shopping, I can see the wheels turn in our heads, "Do we really need this now or can it wait?" One of my favorite ways to shop is just to go window shopping. Knowing I'm going to a store to browse or look at a specific item without the intention of buying it gives me a great thrill and feeling of accomplishment. I don't get sucked in by those "Buy one get one free!" signs or sales that make others feel antsy to buy the item now. No, this new method of budgeting gives me the freedom to be intentional with what I buy and how I buy it. It allows me to save a lot more at the end of each shopping trip as well and as a result, staying on budget is a lot easier than I ever thought it could be!

I'm looking forward to shopping next month at one of my favorite craft stores. As of March 1st I'll have some pocket money I can spend however I wish, but that also means, I don't have to spend it if I don't want to. I have found budgeting gives us permission to spend. It's funny how that has worked out.

So ask yourself those questions. Are you giving where and how God wants you to give? And if so, will it accomplish the goals God has set out for you? Lastly, don't forget to give yourself grace when we make a mistake or make a decision someone else may not agree with (including me!). God loves you and He wants the best for you. He desires for you to reach your goals this year. He's on your side! You can do this!

10 Things I want to do when I'm Debt-Free

We all need to dream a little. Y'know, have goals. If Chris and I are getting out of debt without a reason at the end of this journey then it'll feel like work without any reward. No fun in that and I have admit there are days right now when this whole getting out of debt thing isn't very fun so, having something exciting to look forward to at the end of all this kinda makes it worth it.

One of the biggest things Chris and I will have to decide is whether we want to own or rent a home. We still haven't figured out that question yet. There's pros and cons to both ideas but I have to say my biggest fear about owning a home (and ironically I've owned two houses before) is being able to afford the utilities bills on top of the mortgage and property taxes. You see, when I owned houses before, in my early twenties, I didn't have mortgages on either house. I owned them outright. Now with this whole crazy increase in hydro cost on top of all the other bills, it's kinda scares me. Furthermore, we have a very fixed income. It'll never increase (until we get pension) nor will it ever decrease. We will receive the exact same amount of money down the penny forever. Hmm... we're praying on this question... and thankfully we have three or four years before we have to decide that big question.

We've been asked "Well, if you need more of an income why doesn't Chris work again?" Easy answer to that, which I have explained previously to folks: it'll make our taxes go up again. So, half of what Chris makes will go towards taxes. No point in that happening again. We have a good income, we just need to manage it well and live within our means.

Beyond that, there are a few things that are important to us. We look forward to having a little more freedom financially to able to do some things for God while enjoying the pursuits that interest me. Here's the "Ten Things" list we came up with:

1. Continue to tithe and give where The Lord leads us

2. Save for car 

3. Disney World 

4. Budget specifically for Bible Journaling 

5. Budget for books and records

6. Buy a new couch 

7. Buy a new desk 

8. Save for a honeymoon cruise 

9. Visit mum & Eric in BC 

10. Save for adoption

We're excited about the future... very excited. All this budgeting now will be worth it. For now, our couch that is slowly falling apart will have to survive a few more years. (Chris was having trouble with it just after dinner, this evening.) We will have to continue to scour the shelves in the laundry room for abandoned books that peak our interest and I'll just use our plastic folding table as my art desk until we can afford the secretary's desk that we fell in love with at Ikea.

Small sacrifices.... so worth it.....

I can't wait to go to Disney World or our cruise honeymoon though... looking forward to that! Can't wait to finally be able to seriously look into adoption... We still talk about the kids everyday... That dream is still there... 

Living like no one else, so later we can live and give like no one else....