Shut up about Dave Ramsey already...

I know many of my close friends have probably wanted to tell me to 'Shut up about Dave Ramsey already...' because since march (when we started taking Dave's Financial Peace University) it's all I've been talking about. Cash. Our struggles. The budget. Yada Yada.

I got my mind of my money and my money on my mind. What can I say?

So just hear my out one last time and I promise I'll stop talking about it.

Dave's method of madness is to cut up all credit cards, live on a budget within your means, pay and live by cash only. The hardest part of this whole transformation is the written budget. It's the hardest part because you have to have some self control...which I dont have much of : ) When we wrote down how much we made each month, what came out for bills/tithe ect... we realized that with our left over money we were just plain 'blow it' on nothing. We had nothing to show for the extra hundreds of dollars we had left over each month. I'm pleased to say that we've been credit card free since Spring. We'll have one vehicle payed off after the 1st of the year and our debit will be in the Pilot and our home. Which I think is pretty good!

In September, after seeing Colts little face and sensing the fear of seperation anxiety, I was blessed with the opportunity to stay home. I still work a few hours a week, but my main focus in life is being a mommy and it is what I've always dreamt of. At this point, with me bringing in almost no money we really had to be faithfull with the money we did bring in. It has taken major discipline and self control. I remember sitting on the couch one night last month crying because we looked at the numbers and after putting money away for a few months in a "Christmas Present Fund" we only had a few hundred dollars to spend on christmas presents for all our families, friends, bosses...everything. I was so upset because I lovvvvve to give! That is the best part of Christmas and that wasn't the number I had in mind...we have big families and I was just hoping we would have more. We devoured the sale ad's each Sunday looking for the best deals and actually did a great job at getting the most bang for our buck. It's going to be a really great Christmas.

Without plastic money you're reminded of what really matter around the holiday season. It's not all about presents and gifts. Even though their great, it's about God's love and being with your families. It has been long 'cash' journey. We're still adapting to me not making very much money but I get to see my babies face all day everyday and that is something you can't put a price tag on.

We're reminded of Gods promises and his faithfulness everyday. About a month ago Andy received a Advanced EMT bonus from the Fire Department that we weren't expecting and just yesterday we received a check from the hospital for a hefty ammount. Aparently our insurance covered some things that we had already paid for and after the hospital received the check from our insurance company they cut us a check for that ammount! You don't even know how excited we were yesterday. I was jumping up and down in the kitchen like a crazy person...and the 1st thing I said to Andy was 'Guess who's watch over us????' God knows the desires of your heart...all you have to do is be faithful.