Financial Peace Update

Well, we just finished our sixth class last night! And, what a difference it has made! In six weeks we have:

- began the process to dump our current whole life insurance (which is costing us a fortune!) and getting new term life insurance

- as of today, we will have $450 in our emergency fund - and this is after running at a $200 DEFICIT each month prior to starting this class!

- we submitted the required paperwork plus a version of Ramsey's form letter and a copy of our current month budget to my student loan company to ask if they could me in a 6 month forbearance period where we pay only interest while we get our bearings with this. People around us told us - no way they'll approve it, DaHubby makes too much money, it'll take months 'til you hear from them, etc. Ten days later, we received a letter from them saying not only would they love to work with us but they gave me TWELVE months instead of six.

- DaHubby's got the mini-van with "for sale" signs in it, he's got the wood boats he handmade with signs in them, plus he started an Etsy account for some additional handicrafts he can sell.

- I've been going through the basement and have been an Ebay fool! For example, on Monday I listed a drafting table we got for free five years ago when a local company went out of business. It's a wonderful old table and I intended to use it for crafting and such but I just haven't had the time I'd hoped for since the Vikings' arrival. I did a little quick researching and listed it for local pick up only for $99. Within 24 hours, I already had a bid! That'll be a confirmed minimum of $99 in our pocket within two weeks!

And, we've acquired some funny frugal stories...

I won't tell ya' how many times we've had Raman noodles in the last three weeks! *wink*

While at DaGrandparents' last Sunday for my MIL's birthday celebration, she offered to keep Flicka for a couple hours while we went home, got some stuff done, whatever. We actually turned it down because the extra trip back to their house would have meant I would have needed gas in the Focus before DaHubby got paid today! LOL

And, last night, the Focus was now *really* low on gas but we had to pick up Flicka and go to our Financial Peace class. Hmmm...so in an effort to not debit any gas and to honor the "when-the-cash-is-gone-YOU'RE-DONE" philosophy, DaHubby comes outta the garage with the gas can for the lawnmower! LOL No lie - we put 2-3 gallons in the car and had enough to get that running around done last night and enough for me to get to the bank and to the gas station this morning! LOL

I get the feeling many would be horrified by the lengths we're going to but it's actually become a game of "how far can we get on as little money as possible?" No one is being deprived of anything - we're not going hungry, we're not endangering the Vikings with no heat or anything silly like that but the Vikings and I DID stay home the last two days and found fun around our neighborhood and back yard as opposed to driving all over. It isn't about being "punished"; it's about being disciplined, I guess. And, we're tired of worrying about money!

If we can sell the van, it's only 14-18 months before we could call Dave Ramsey on his radio show and be one of several who can scream "WE'RE DEBT FREE!!"

And, speaking of screaming, remind me to share the story about hollering "CHEETAH!" when checking the mailbox! LOL