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Life Happens 10%

I heard a really great quote today:  "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you respond to it."  Check out this amazing 90 /10 Video.  It really gave me a positive boost!

This is my theme for the week.  I cannot always control what happens to me, but I am learning how not to immediately panic, make bad decisions or give up.  Focus on the 90%.

Things will happen. You throw you back out after planning out your work outs.  You file taxes and discover you owe money.  A child gets the flu when your insurance deductible just started over.  You get a flat tire.  These things will happen.  Sometimes, it will happen at the worst time.  While this song is about a break up, "I will survive" is my motto today.  I have learned to not panic when these things happen.  It was not an easy road to get to this point.  After so many unexpected things to crop up, I have learned over time, the more I try to jump in and fix it immediately, the worse it costs me in the long term.

The last few weeks, even months have been a series of unexpected events.  My over time ended, which was giving us a nice amount of cash to replace a few things like our bedroom furniture, to pay for school field trips, eating out and attending a few paid events.  This was followed by 2 sources of my side income ended due to changes in corporate policy designed to save money.  Instead of allowing this to prompt me to pick up the credit cards, or to panic about losing money, I am, instead, building on other avenues and projects.

Following some of Dave Ramsey's advice, I have started using the debt snowball method to list out our debts from smallest to largest.  I have always been the one to keep track of our budget and expenses and worry whenever something unexpected happens.  This time, my husband and I are working as a team to eliminate our debt and track our expenses.  We also found a picture of a disapproving Dave and whenever we are tempted to overspend, I am going to put that photo on our fridge.




I made some really nice spreadsheets to use to track our debts and budget.  I have put them all into a really cute binder.  Every week, I take out my binder and work out our bills, our spending and plan all of our meals using a menu.  I use online grocery ordering and pick up to prevent overspending and impulse buying at the grocery store.  Our kids now make dinner 1 night a week, and I plan something simple that they like, and every Wednesday, they make dinner.  This allows me to work late and my husband to commute home without worrying he has to rush in and get dinner going for everyone.

 Tonight, since it is my Saturday catch up day, I am making the ingredients for burrito bowls at home.  Everything is made in advance and as each child comes in from work, they can assemble their own dinner.  This leaves me the freedom to work on laundry, deep cleaning our main rooms, paying bills, writing and all the other tasks I fit into my day.



On one of my spreadsheets, I have listed our total debt, total monthly payments and created another column for the end of the year, when I get to write in how much lower each of these bills are.  Visually being able to see those balances going down, makes me happy.

Our baby turns 13 this year and will start 8th grade in the fall.  I have a few goals set for the next 3 -5 years.  #1 Priority is to be debt free, except our student loans, before she graduates.  One of the ways I hope to accomplish this: I cut up 5 of our credit cards.  With scissors and I didn't flinch.  It makes it easier not to charge if you have nothing to charge on.  At the end of this month, I will be down to just 17 payments on my car.  I have put the months into my journal and as I pay off each one, I cross it off.  It makes me feel better every time I can mark one off.

The last couple weeks, my husband and I have been spending time together working out at Planet Fitness.  This has been really nice for me because we get a few minutes to talk to/from the gym without the kids.  [We have 3 kids still at home: 19, 18 and 12].  This has become our source of getting out together.  We have also been going to local low cost events a couple of times per month.  Our next event is to attend a special guest speaker at the university midway into the month.

I am looking for more budget saving or debt reducing ideas.  I will probably be posting more of these ideas as I find them and try them out.




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