Finances and Goals *UPDATE* Share My Excitement

Have you read this book? After listening to Dave's radio show several afternoons, I borrowed his book from the library just to see what the hype was all about. Wow, did he ever change my thought process when it comes to money! His straight forward way of writing appealed to me on many levels and my hubby has even read through it the last few evenings. So after changing our thought process and putting the pen to the paper for a few days I wanted to reveal to you what we accomplished.
Hubby has been busy picking up extra jobs and selling items the last few months. I've been working hard to spend as little as possible while chipping away at debt. Following Dave's guidelines, an unexpected gift and the move of some stagnant funds brought us to an exciting new place! Here is a list of goals I posted on Dec. 31, 2007. The brown type is where we stand today.

1. Pay off our credit card and keep it off. This continues to be one area we struggle in. Our balance is NO WHERE near the national average, but it’s enough that it is a thorn in my side. This will be one area I attack with a vengeance! PAID OFF! As of this morning our balance is zero.
   
2. Pay off my surgery bills... this may take a while. Everything still has not been filed with our insurance and we have a pretty high deductible. Patience, faith, and trust will pay a huge part in this... I feel so much better that I know it was worth it! PAID OFF! We had been making payments on this when the hospital contacted us (it was a shock) and asked if we wanted to fill out paperwork to see if we qualified for financial aid. This particular hospital offers different levels of aid 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% of your bill can be discounted based on income. We laughed because we never qualify for this type of stuff, but I spent an hour filling out the paperwork. Three months later we received a letter stating that the amount we had paid was sufficient and the remaining balance would be discounted. I nearly fell out of my chair!
   
3. Continue to build savings. It always dips lower than I like this time of year. Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps! At the end of May we will not only have $1500 in an emergency fund we will have 3 months of living expenses placed in a money market fund. Our goal is to have 6 months expenses by the end of the summer. This is due to shifting some accounts around to work for us instead of for the bank!
   
4. Replace our roof. We have 3 areas that leak, with one area getting worse. We are thinking about a metal roof, adding extra insulation, and extending the roof to cover our front porch. What a huge achievement and blessing this will be! Our economic stimulus check will go towards this.
   
5. Fund what I call our “extra categories”. These consist of things that sneak up on us and cause a leak in our normally tight budget... school yearbooks, birthday parties, business trips, new shoes, etc. My goal is to get a certain dollar amount put aside in each category that seems to drain us. Then when these expenses come along the money is there. All of these are 50-75% funded through December. The category that lacks the most is our Christmas fund. I'm working on it!
   

Wait there is more! We paid off our suburban 2 years early! PAID OFF! Now the payment money is going to build up our living expense fund.

Since hubby is leaving his job and his retirement is currently in a state government fund he will have to roll it into a different fund. We now have a good idea where to put this and it will be a great start.

Hubby's current contract runs out Aug. 20. He still has a school trip he has to sponsor. Because we are used to only being paid once a month that August check will stretch into September. He will be baling hay all summer and has a couple welding jobs lined up also.

I've decided to forget about an Etsy shop for a while. I am working on several birthday and Christmas gifts that I've had stuck in my head. I also have a tub of items to sell on Ebay and my mom (who is very talented) and I are going to host an "open house" in October to sell our craft items. We are also looking into some local craft shows.

None of our goals would have been accomplished if it weren't for God's hand. We know that and are so thankful. The momentum will slow and the struggles will come. But we know where we've been and now feel that we have a little better knowledge than we did even a few months ago.