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April in Review

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Oh, April.

The beau and I definitely let loose this month and while that felt good, tallying up the month’s spending did not. We aren’t progressing through Baby Step 3 as fast as I had anticipated and we’re the only ones to blame. After all normal household expenses, we should have deposited $5,684 toward savings, but we only deposited $1,780.

Ouch.

But a friend, who has also successfully paid off all debt using this plan, reminded me that we paid cash for everything this month! Despite how long the list, we didn’t dig ourselves a bigger hole. I was appreciative for that positive outlook and reminder.

Here’s a list of everything we purchased that wasn’t budgeted for:

  • our summer CSA via Denison Farm // 22 weeks at $595
  • our annual garbage bill and quarterly water + sewer bill // A lot of Troy residents in my neighborhood were complaining about these two invoices coming due at the same time. I wasn’t shocked and was prepared for these two expenses because they were both due at the same time last year. Shocking how that happens! Our garbage fee went up by $4 and our water bill was consistent (actually slightly less).
  • our last two flights for holiday were booked!
  • the beau and I each got our haircut
  • we had some business expenses: postage, a new URL and web hosting for said URL
  • we paid to have our taxes done
  • the beau had his snow tires removed
  • we each purchased some running gear (sneakers and fuel, both on sale and a race registration)
  • Mets radio ($3)
  • Kitty’s end of life expenses
  • and a few random splurges: milkweed seeds for our yard ($7) and a new rug ($242)

Life.

On the plus side, we did have $11.03 leftover from our eating out / alcohol envelope, so that’ll go in to our vacation cash fund! Whoop whoop! We’re both pretty excited to get our garden up and growing in May; there’s nothing like stepping out into your backyard and harvesting food for dinner.

Our emergency fund is officially 58% funded. I’m still gunning for a July 1st end date – we’re really going to have to buckled down these next two months to make it happen – or get another side hustle. We both have a long list of things we’d like to do / purchase, but can’t until this step is complete. Don’t be surprised if you see us working at Trader Joe’s – I’m joking, kind of. Baby Step 3 is hard, y’all!

Springtime Favorites

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I don’t know about you, but I’m loving the weather this past week or so! The birds are chirping (my favorite way to wake up!), the sun is rising before 6AM, our windows are open in the house, even through the night. The heat has been off for a week! I repeat, I no longer have to pay for heat! Ahhhh, life is good. Spring is a favorite time of the year for me – so green and warm. I remember being a kid outside waiting for the bus in weather like this, thinking nothing could be better than waiting without a coat on.

I’ve rounded up a list of things that are additional favorites of mine from around the Internet – happy surfing! xo

Now that we’ve finished binge watching Queer Eye on Netflix, I’ve become obsessed with the History Channel’s Alone. We’ve just finished season one and I’m admittedly learning a lot about wilderness survival! I’m excited to see season two start because there will be three women attempting to win the cash and survive the longest.

And because I should always be focusing on watching less and reading more, this book is STILL on my dresser and WILL be read this season. Do you manifest materialistic things into your life? Interested in having me share more? Because I totally think I do it on the regular – and I think you could too!

Speaking of books, NPR’s best books of 2018. I’ll be adding a few to my list!

I’m a woman of influence, which means speaking up instead of falling silent. Regardless of what political party you align yourself with or how discouraged you are, I encourage you to read and to continue to show up at the polls. It’s very early, but here’s a list of candidates who have thrown their hats into the presidential race.

I love this company and want this coat in my life!

With an empty house, the beau and I are finally starting to dream about settling in to our home – aka buying furnishings that a cat once ruined. First items up on the list: a couch, an area rug for the living room and bedside tables. We found this company that makes couches out of recycled plastic bottles! We’re going to visit the store in NYC this summer to give them a test.

This lamp is the bedside lamp of my dreams – and it’s on sale!

I’m officially on the hunt for a special dress for dinner at NOMA. I’m looking for something that I’ll be able to not only wear that evening, but throughout our holiday and back home at work. When I’m looking for something, I can’t seem to find it… but when I’m not shopping / don’t have the cash, my list is forever long. Does that happen to anyone else? Do you have any suggestions? I have stumbled upon this dress, this one, this color block one, this bright red one and this one – but they aren’t all work appropriate.

Help a girl out! Where’s your favorite place to shop for staple, long-lasting items (that can’t be purchased in the mall)?

February + March Recap

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So here’s the thing about my opinion re: all things debt:

  • it’s my personal opinion (influenced by Dave Ramsey, yes), not yours, and if you ask to hear my opinion or help, there’s no reason to get defensive if you don’t agree with me
  • it’s not a professional opinion, as I am not a professional financial adviser
  • it’s personal but has proven to work for us AND THOUSANDS OF OTHER PEOPLE

Just had to get that off of my chest before diving into the recap. I’ve been putting it all out there for over a year now and I’m well aware that what we’ve done / currently doing is not the norm and doesn’t align with everyone’s views on money, credit cards, debt, etc..

I know we’re weird as Dave puts it. And I know a lot of you want to be weird too because you’ve told me.

Everyone keeps asking me how. Here’s the thing: we became debt free by deciding to become debt free. If you’ve been following along, you know that we made a lot of sacrifices and said no to a lot. Getting out of debt was hard work, every single day sticking to a budget BUT it was a whole lot easier than making excuse after excuse and staying in debt. And I get it, getting to the actual point to take action AND following through with your plan is probably the hardest step. It took me YEARS of following the Dave-ish plan – while racking up more credit card debt – until it just clicked and we ran and never looked back.

Can you tell I’m sick of people reaching out to me, making excuses and wasting my time? I make zero dollars when I teach FPU. I make zero dollars when I respond to your private messages. I make zero dollars when I reply to your texts.

And don’t get me wrong, I LOVE receiving the texts and messages from friends and acquaintances who are rocking the baby steps and want to update me on their progress. Keep ’em coming! But I can’t stand the people who talk the talk but can’t walk the walk… month after month after month. I’m just not welcoming that in my life anymore. Bye, Felicia!

Like many changes in one’s life, there needs to be a mentality shift.

If you want to lose weight, you have to be committed to changing your diet in order to see the weight come off.
If you want to run a marathon, you have to be committed to running a shit-ton of miles / following a training plan to cross the finish line.
If you want to be debt free, then your spending habits must change.

Numbers (weight, miles and savings) change when YOU change.

And you have to be fully committed. You can’t eat healthy for a week and expect lifetime results. You can’t run 4 miles and expect to cross the finish line of a half marathon and feel good. Been there, done that, ha!

This is my motivational, get off your ass or shut up speech.

Back to the recap:

February and March weren’t high savings months for us, but for good reason… we’re paying cash for our summer holiday! Yes, it’s true, DR doesn’t suggest taking a holiday until you’re debt free with a fully funded emergency fund, but we’re flexing the plan for a once in a lifetime opportunity to eat a vegan meal at NOMA. Ahhhh! We’re still in disbelief that we even got a table for two! Total so far we’ve spent just over $2300 for our flights, dinner reservation and our accommodations (a hostile and Airbnb). Traveling on a budget posts to follow once we’re back and prove it can be done, ha!

We also lived a tiny bit.

  • The beau and I each got a haircut
  • We had taken Kitty to the vet.
  • We celebrated my dad’s birthday
  • We had car things pop up: an inspection and registration
  • We each bought new sneakers and the beau got a few new items of clothing for work
  • And we splurged(I’m kidding) and got new sheets for our bed from HomeGoods and mousetraps + lawn bags from Home Depot

Livin’ it up I tell ya!

We’re still using the envelope / cash method (for groceries, eating out/alcohol, gifts, car insurance and personal cash) and I’m still on the meal planning bandwagon. We’ve even thrown in a little twist on the envelopes: if we have any cash leftover at the end of the month, we’re putting it into our change jar. We usually roll the change at the end of each year, but we figured we’d do it right before our holiday and use whatever’s in there as spending money. Boom! It won’t be much but it’ll be nice for those times when we don’t want to spend money – like in the airport on food. It’s so expensive to eat in airports! This time there’ll be zero guilt.

Oh, and food wise, I’m now buying organic as much as I can. Yes, it is slightly more expensive however since the 21 day processed food / sugar cleanse that I completed, I’ve been buying far less processed food items – so I’m essentially transfer buying. Spending less on the easy, processed stuff, and spending more on healthier, real food items. Still 100% plant based and still 100% within budget.

Because I’m finishing this post two month’s after starting it, I can disclose that we’re getting basically nothing back in taxes this year – which we prefer. And by nothing I mean like $300. We’d rather have our hard-earned cash NOW (or on a monthly basis) rather than loaning it to the government, interest free for a year, then getting it as a giant lump sum. We’ve found our sweet spot with deductions to allow us to basically break even. Being debt free and an emergency fund sure does change your outlook on specific things!

Speaking of things, our emergency fund is now 47% funded – wahoo! My goal is to have it fully funded by July 1st because we’d like to start investing in retirement ASAP and we’ve got a couple of home projects we’d like to complete this summer. Our deck needs to be replaced and while we’re at it, we’d like to install french doors / replace the sliding glass door that doesn’t have a screen and leaks cold air into our home like woah. It’ll take us a couple of months to save up that cash while investing, so we’ve got to buckle down and pinch those pennies!

Another two months in the books… and another one more than half-way completed. Baby Step 3 is far more difficult for me than Baby Step 2 mentally, because I am a spender and want to relax and shop, but we’ve got goals and I’m not shopping until we hit them!

{Today’s Notes}

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Dear Beau: I forgot to mention this a couple of weeks ago when I had to stay home from work, sick in bed, but I think it’s the cutest thing when you lock the front door. Granted I can’t get out of said door when locked from the outside but I was snuggled under the covers unable to move anyway. Thank you for thinking of me and keeping the door locked. Dear Self: I’m proud of you for sticking it out and completing a 21 day cleanse. I think that’s the longest “challenge” you’ve set for yourself and completed. I’m especially proud of the fact that you didn’t cave and eat shit / drink wine while grieving the loss of Kitty Kitty Cocoa Puff. Dearest Kitty Kitty Cocoa Puff: Who knew so many people were fond of you and your antics! I miss you more than I could have ever imagined, and am thankful for all of the stories, photographs and adventures that I’ve documented in this space. Looking back always brings a smile to my face. Dear Taylor: Only you would be able to hear the Vampire Weekend undertone in this morning’s yawn. For that, I am grateful.

This is probably my favorite photograph of Kitty – it makes me giggle each time I see it. He was a HUGE meatball when I adopted him, almost 25 pounds!

January in Review – a new baby step!

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Time flew by while we were in Baby Step 2, and I think time flew by in January even faster now that we’re in Baby Step 3. For those of you who are unaware of Dave Ramsey’s program, Baby Step 3 means we are officially out of (consumer) debt and are ready to build up our emergency fund. An emergency fund should be 3-6 months worth of savings for EMERGENCIES. Not for Christmas. Not for new snow tires. Not for a family vacation to Disney, lunch out with a girlfriend or a even a function / sporting event for your child. Examples of an emergency: a car accident, an unexpected illness that takes one out of work for a period of time, the furnace quits during the coldest time of the year, the loss of a job… even a government shutdown.

January was an interesting month for me. Yes, I felt horrible for what #45 did to a lot of families by throwing this public temper tantrum and shutting down the government, HOWEVER I kind of had zero sympathy for them because if they had an emergency fund, 34 days without an income shouldn’t have been a problem. I know, I know, if this happened 18 months ago I would have had a completely different outlook. But I now know better and I am choosing to do better. This is not the first time the government has shut down. Personally, if I knew there was a chance this could happen to me or my spouse, I’d prepare a little more. Easier said than done, I know, but c’mon, 34 days should not cripple thousands of people. I was secretly hoping Dave Ramsey would offer discounted memberships to federal employees to help them find a long term solution because the problem here is not the President, it’s a lifestyle/spending problem.

It rains, it always does and for the thousands of federal employees that this affected, it poured. That is why you have an emergency fund (aka a rainy day fund). Okay, I’ll get off my high horse and share a story:

Mid-January, just days before my birthday when it was super cold here in Upstate NY, I emailed the beau and told him I missed Mexico. We both miss Mexico (and the sunshine and the tacos). We immediately started researching flights and cheap places to stay and concluded that we could get away for a week for less than $2,000 – yes, sign us up! The only catch, the trip would have to be postponed until March due to my work schedule. No big deal we thought. Well, we held off for a day so that I could discuss this plan over with my boss and while driving the next day, I heard an update on the government shutdown. I got on my high horse and thought, “if they had an emergency fund, they wouldn’t have to turn to food stamps or loans.” Then, I felt like a hypocrite. Here I was, planning a trip to Mexico with the money that should be going toward our emergency fund! I told the beau and we both agreed, no Mexico until this Baby Step is completed.

I share this story because we are normal. We want a break just like everyone else. Many people say, “you worked hard, you both deserve a trip!” but guess what, we don’t deserve a trip. We worked hard to complete a task that should have been done years ago and will continue to work hard until we’re done and we have the extra money to spend. There is absolutely nothing wrong with WAITING AND SAVING for what you want and need in life. I feel like this post is getting preachy but I’m in a raw mood today and give zero fucks.

Back to January.

Drum roll please…..


We deposited $4,417.09 into savings this month! Whoop whoop! With the $1,000 we already had in there (plus the interest that’s been accruing over the last year or so, $18.06), we now have 1/5 of our emergency fund funded. That happened fast! Should an emergency happen to us at this point causing both of us to be out of work, we’d be able to pay all the bills, put food on the table (aka live like we have for the past 17 months) for at least 1.5 months. It’s mega fun to see that savings account grow throughout the month, as opposed to seeing our checking account dwindle (and never see that cash again).

I like this quote from Dave: when you are in debt, you PAY interest. When you’re debt free, you EARN interest.

There were a couple of changes made this month:

  • January was a dry month for us… except for our last cider punch for the Nine Pin 26er Challenge and a beer I drank on my birthday. This saved us some cash from our eating out/alcohol envelope.
  • We budgeted $100 each for personal spending money. We don’t have to confirm or ask for permission to spend this money, it can be on anything our little hearts desire. What’s funny is that I had a list of things I wanted to do / buy with this money but when push came to shove aka last week, I had only spent $4.40. Ha! I have no clue how the beau spent his, I have an idea, but I spent mine on a tablecloth (that needs to be returned) and a calcite specimen for my office. That didn’t total $100 but because I did spent $50+ on shipping for new members on my Young Living team and samples for others, I considered it a wash.
  • A couple items we paid for out of pocket that weren’t originally in the budget: a domain name renewal for this website, my AAA membership, a couple of gifts, our first quarter water and sewer invoice, a scrub brush for our shower, a strainer for our kitchen sink, a parking meter fee and deodorant cream for the two of us. Yes, the beau has officially kicked Axe to the curb! YES! I also paid two co-payments out of pocket because my FSA card wasn’t working, but those will hopefully be reimbursed in February.

Oh, and I’m no longer side hustling. We did have supplemental income thanks to my growing Young Living business, a couple alcohol mail-in reimbursements (ha!), and I finally cashed out Ibotta. Side note: I hate that app. I’ve only had problems with it ever since Hannaford changed their rewards program; I will no longer be using this for additional savings.

We both agreed that meal planning (at least for our dinners) not only saves us money, but also time. We both work well having a calendar on the fridge with what’s to be made each night specifically. Typically the beau works out at night before dinner so I dive in and get started with dinner prep. But last night when I walked in the door, he was already sauteing the mushrooms for our creamy carbonara. I leave our go-to recipes neatly on the counter so that there’s never any questions (or deviations from the recipes, ha!).

That’s it, folks! Same hustle, same results… but different Baby Step! If you have any specific questions for me, feel free to reach out or comment below.