Monday, March 02, 2009

One Month Down

Well, we made it through February.

Every month that we are on this Damn Ramsey financial hell trip I give out a huge sigh at the end of the month and then I take a deep breath, count to three and jump back into the frigid waters.

We have been at this thing for one year. ONE YEAR! In that year we have:

*not used a credit card to purchase one ding dang thang.
*reduced our debt.
*used our $1000 emergency fund four times.
*replenished our emergency fund three times (we are in the process of doing it AGAIN, darn well pump!)
*managed to be happy with a little bit of nothin' and I do mean NOTHIN'!

Now let's thank God that February is over and this is why...

Goodbye basketball season. So long admission fees. See ya next year Coach Clay. After while smelly high tops, ankle braces and billions of different uniforms. Sorry to say I'm not shedding a tear, but I do tolerate you so much better than that OTHER sport.


Oh, and hello new hair cut and new glasses! I love you with that fluffy blue bathrobe! You know, the bathrobe that Clay said smelled like dust the other day? Yeah, that one. It's okay, because he doesn't have new glasses and his hair can smell like Cheetos, so dust smelling bathrobe seems okay.

Do you like my hair cut? Now do you want to punch me in the eyeball?

13 comments:

Cynthia said...

wow, is that bball pic at your house? You are so lucky to have a concrete slab to play on.

we have mud. weeds. gravel. neightbors dog poop.

farm livin' is the life I lead.


AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH


okay, the end of the muddy season is only a few months away. Just breathe, just breathe....

Gladys said...

Dang it your driving me crazy with the danged hair pictures.

keep up the good work on the Dave Ramsey thing. My daughter just started it. She is having a hard time beating her husbnd into submission.

Wife, Mom, and Slave said...

We're in week 8 of Financial Peace University. It's encouraging to see someone sticking to it. As you know, it is NOT EASY! I had to have a root canal this week so there went our emergency fund for the first time! (I even have dental insurance and it still cost me a fortune) I am thankful it was there but it sure hurt to have to spend from it. Good luck and thanks for sharing!

Kim said...

We haven't started Damn Ramsey yet, but we did manage to do something to drastically cut our monthly expenses - we quit smoking! We had a great motivator, in that I'm in the process of getting fertility treatments, but when I figured out we'll be saving $2460 A YEAR, I almost fell over. Not only will WE be healthier, but so will our checking account. I can't believe how much money we wasted over the years on something so stupid. Well, we're a little slow sometimes, but eventually we do catch on.

Southern Gal said...

Let's see the hair already!

I laugh every time you call him Damn Ramsey. It's like medicine. It tastes bad going down, but it's good for you!!

You sound like us with the used up emergency fund. My husband and I have an emergency fund that we called savings for years, but it has never increased in size so it really isn't savings. Anyway in the last month between four paid for cars, my husband has had to spend over $1300 in repairs on three of them. When our daughter called last night with her car jumping and hissing and sputtering, (it's been fixed the most)he was close to a nervous breakdown. I prayed really hard and it looks like it's something minor. Now if that danged heat pump will last for another year we might be getting somewhere. So feeling your pain.
Renee

Caryn said...

We just completed our first year of Dave Ramsey too. I guess thst strange pounding noise I thought was my heart freaking out over our financial situation was just you in Kansas pounding your head on your desk.

Over $8000 debt gone!

I also have 4 months of food stockpiled. This whole frugal living really takes over your life doesn't it?

Dea Burmingham said...

Keep fighting the good fight, woman! Damn, I mean Dave, would be proud. It is so worth it! Live like no one else, so that one day, you get to live like no one else!

Unknown said...

Show us your dang hair for Pete's sake woman!
Basketball is ending for us this week too, well at least for my son. Now I have to deal with March Madness........
Then baseball and softball starts in a month.

Becky Meyers said...

oh april...i LOVE the hair...well, what i can see of it, blonde....thats about it, so c'mon already!! eeh, i don't think you really got it cut, i think that you still have the ugly betty bangs and long hair, yup, thats y you wont show anything, cause there is NOTHING to show :)

Anonymous said...

Good for you!! We are on the Damn Ramsey thing for almost 2 years with a little deviation here and there which is very dangerous. I am so grateful that we did it because I know we would have been in huge trouble otherwise. My husband has been out injured from work since April of last year (he goes back last week) so we missed a ton of overtime and a good percentage of his wages, and my commission plan has shrunk down to about 40% of what it was. So the debt reduction was slower this year but it was reducing!!! Good for you, it is a good framework.
Glad you are loving the coupons. It has gotten to the point where I feel bad if I buy anything at 100% of it's price. http://www.refundcents.com/newcouponfile.htm. I use one side for grocery coupons, the other side for deals on restaurants, oil changes, chuckecheese etc. It's loosely divided as family fun/restaurants/miscellaneous.
I clip on Sunday and update (ie throw out expired ones) at any sports event that my kida are in.
I give a way coupons at the cash register to people behind me. I also leave coupons for baby stuff near the baby aisle (we have no infants). I am the coupon fairy:)
It's a treasure chest:)

jean said...

I love when you call it the Damn Ramsey Plan. Now, about your hair? Could you please post another photo? From the angle you used I could only see that you don't need a root touch up. Which reminded me that the skunk look I'm sporting needs some work. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. I have started using coupons thanks to you. My mother should be so proud. When my kids were in diapers & formula she use to send me home with all kinds of coupons and I would just throw them away when I got home. I couldn't stand the stress of keeping up with them. Now it makes me cringe to think of all the money I could have saved.

But now, I am using the couponmom system you linked to. I like it. I still get stressed and I still end up standing in the middle of the aisle digging around in an envelope but now the money I save is worth it.

Thanks! Now you can say you really have been an inspiration to someone.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I kinda do want to punch you. But I don't punch. I just pout. Or scowl. Or write comments.