Today is about saving money!

Today is saving money day!!!!

FIRST, I saved more money on my car insurance. i got to looking at EVERY detail on the bill and realized there were some discounts missing. SO, I made THAT phone call, faxed THAT info, and saved $700 a year for taking MY time to do THAT !WAHOO!!

THEN I headed over to Verizon.com. Really? I had NEVER EVER checked my "usage" on their website. WOW, was I getting ripped off. Since most of the people I know have verizon, and same goes for my husband, we were only using 390 of our 1400 minutes EVERY month for the past year!! HOLY COWZERS!!! What was I thinking... i am literally sick at my stomach at the thought of the money I have thrown out the window and at Verizon's doorstep. Ugh... makes me so mad at ME! SO, I got on the phone immediately and changed my plan. I saved $45 bucks a month. That is $540.00 per YEAR! WHOA BABY!

Now I am blogging AND waiting for the dish network guy to chat back with me. I am going to make some changes there too... if i don't WATCH the channel, i'm doing my best to get rid of it!

Let's save some money guys--don't let people TAKE your money without your consent and if you are NOT checking bills, that is EXACTLY What you are doing!

Say no to debt. say no to over charges. Say no to watching your money run away from you!! CATCH IT WHILE YOU CAN!

Dave Ramsey steps....in case you need reminding!

Get a full outline HERE.

Baby Steps:

1. Save up $1000.00 for your emergency fund.
2. Debt snowball!
3. 3-6 months worth of bills in savings
4. invest 15% of household income into IRA and other pre-tax retirement accounts
5. College funding for children
6. Pay off home early!
7. Build wealth and GIVE!

Okay so these are the baby steps that Dave Ramsey tells us to use. He is so wise. If you look at his plan it TOTALLY makes sense. And the best part is that you aren't trying to do 7 things at once. So many (from talking with people, financial tv shows, radio shows, etc) people are trying to pay off debt, save money, invest in their accounts, etc, ALL at the same time! Dave Ramsey takes the load off. By following his steps, you will SEE just how easy it can be.

Me personally... I will set aside money to help my daughter through school. BUT, I am not paying for all of her school. I believe in working hard, getting  scholarships, getting a job, and being there to help and support your kids without doing it all. That's my philosophy--i am not downing ANYONE elses. that's just me. So I don't have to save up TONS for college. I know in my heart the amount I would like to provide her with when she graduates high school, and that is that. I don't own a home. ONE day I plan to do that again, but that is in my ten year plan. I know the kind of house I want and I am willing to wait for it and save for it.

I am currently on babystep #3. I have 3 months saved worth of bills, but I would feel much more comfortable if I had all 6 months saved. This economy is scary, and I feel much more at ease with money put aside. I have NO debt, and I have an emergency fund. YAY!

So my goal is for the next 3 months to SAVE SAVE SAVE so that I can obtain the goal of 6 months worth of bills in savings. THEN, I plan to open a separate account to essentially start over with my savings. I am not going to touch my 6 months worth of bills until I HAVE to, and if I never do--then fabulous! But IF I do, I want other money waiting on me.

The goal for 2012 is this... SAVE. Save it all--save as much as you can.

What about your? What step are you on? What progress have you made??

Cubs tickets online

This guest post from Hong Alexander

I have been married and living in Chicago for five years now. We live in the Old Town neighborhood and absolutely love it. It is a quick walk to the zoo and the lake and also very close to lots of restaurants and night life that we like to be a part of on the weekends. Since we have lived in Chicago my husband has been wanting to go to a Cubs game at Wrigley field but he will never buy the tickets because he is so frugal. He always find a way to spend that money on something for our place or even for me but he is so self-less that he wouldn’t dream of getting Cubs tickets for himself. This year for our anniversary I decided to go online and buy him an entire set of season tickets. I was so excited I could barely contain myself. Luckily I was at work with access to www.t1internet.net which is our really fast internet provider. I already had the most amazing seats picked out for him that I wanted to get and I didn’t want anyone else swooping in and getting them.

Did I mention????

That my insurance has gone WAY down!!! i mean like by over 2500 a YEAR!!!! Now THAT is saving money, my friends!

So how IS it gonna feel being debt free?

I think it's gonna feel pretty dang great! :)

I haven't really had time to sit and process just EXACTLY what being debt free is going to mean... but i have a few plans already in the works...

1. GROW MY SAVINGS!
2. GROW MY IRA!
3. Help my husband get debt free
4. Give more. Above and beyond my tithe.
5. Plan a HUGE vacation. it's WAY overdue. :)
6. Live STRICTLY on cash. I want to ditch the debit card for cash ONLY!

So this isn't the most elaborate list ever, I know, but I haven't much time to process everything! BUT I am super, DUPER excited!

Dave Ramsey would be proud!

Well folks.. I sold my car! I've had it listed on Craigslist for a while and finally got a serious person that wanted to see it. She met me yesterday and drove it, and called me this morning with her final offer and I took it!

So... the Honda is going bye bye. :( Kinda sad, BUT... i'm trying to make Dave Ramsey proud.

Dave Ramsey says "SELL YOUR CAR". I've heard him say that for years and kinda let that go in one ear and out the other. I just figured it was a way of life to have a car payment. AND to have a spouse that had a car payment too. Then about a year ago I started really feeling guilty about having a car payment. yes, I HAVE to have transportation. My husband and I can NOT be a one car family. Some families can and that is TERRIFIC, but we simply can't. There is NO logical way that would ever work for us. So I began praying about it. I knew that by selling my car I would be 100% debt free. I would owe nobody NOTHING and I knew that would be a terrific feeling.

My dream car is a car that I won't be able to afford for quite some time, but how much QUICKER I could own my dream car (AND pay cash for it) if I sold mine. I have been faithfully paying on mine double and triple time over the past year. Finally I am WAY over what I owe. So I knew then that I could sell it, get a profit, and then turn around and pay cash for something==so that is EXACTLY what I am going to do.

The car I am buying is by no means by dream car, BUT, it's going to be a good one. (I pray.) It's a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer. It has 86k miles on it which is significantly less than my Honda, but it is an older car. Dave Ramsey says to "buy a beater." Well, I can't exactly buy a beater, but i can buy something nice, decent, clean, and in good shape that will get me where I need to go WITHOUT having a car payment.

another thing... I will see my insurance go down significantly. Insurance on my Honda is a lot because its FULLY loaded. There isn't one more thing that could go in this car. It has it ALL. Plus I won't have to carry as much coverage.

So, today I am getting ready to bid farewell to the Honda. I'm sad because i have liked that car JUST fine, but I am more excited about selling my car, living debt free, and watching my savings grow more and more!

I understand that i'm just 27 years old, but the future is scary. Nobody knows when there jobs will be cut, when prices of gas, food, etc, will rise even more than they are now, and i don't think I will be fortunate enough to retire with social security. So, i have to handle these things on my own.

To some this will seem extreme and i'm okay with that. To others it will seem awesome. To me it just seemed like the right thing to do, the smart financial decision I needed to make, AND I felt God's hand in this situation.

So goodbye Honda, and hello Mitsubishi. :) At LEAST it's still foreign. :)

I'm afraid of my IRA...

I realize that seems silly, but I will try my best to make it not so silly.

I have been faithful to put money in my IRA over the past 10 months. I have been proud of myself. BUT, what about the ups and downs? SO many people will argue that IRA's are the BEST way to invest for your retirement, but maybe i'm not cut out for this. i don't like the "Risk" factor. I don't like the fact that I watch my money grow, then fall to nearly nothing. THAT makes me so nervous.

So what do I do? Do I keep investing? And just assume that the natural economic trend will take place and one day the money will go back up again? Or do I keep it there, leave it alone, and invest in other ways.

Any tips? any advice?