Debt Free in...

I told everyone who reads this blog - and I am surprised how many people there are - that I would update when we figured things out. Well... we haven't figured everything out but we are working on it.

1. We are not moving... housing market may be hot for people to sell houses but I am not sure about townhouses. Plus, if we did sell this place, would we be able to get into something comparable for less mortgage plus condo fees. I don't think so... at least not what we have researched.

2. Van... wow, we made a big boo boo but a necessary boo boo 14 months ago when we bought our van. For those of you who do not know our Sante Fe saga... let me sum it up to say it was a lemon. In less than 3 years we had the front struts done, the transmission changed, the engine blew - which threw ball bearings through the starter and one of the pistons... I was NOT taking my family into that thing again.
Now this was a challenge for us as we still owed a bit after we traded it in for our van. We chose to add that cost to the price of our van which increased our payment. I also realized that we are still paying the Sante Fe off and have not started paying off the van... OY! Needless to say, we cannot trade it in yet. I am very OK with that as I was not ready to give up my van... vanity rules on that one... Sorry, I'm human.

3.The TFSA's paperwork has been filled out and is being processed as we speak. Once that comes in, we pay off the MasterCard and put the rest on the Personal Loan and the debt snowball begins.

4. Our wonderful friends and bookkeepers, Michael and Tania Spears (www.spearsbookkeeping.ca) have agreed to be our financial accountability partners and will loan us Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Excited and scared on that one!

Some other things have changed... I have picked up a part-time job on the side as an executive assistant. It will be challenging to balance things but I will make it work.

More importantly, my hubby was offered a permanent full-time job with Canadian North Airlines as a technical writer starting March 24... yay for benefits and vacation and perks! :) He has also been picking up contracts on the side too so that is fantastic.

As of right now, we will be debt free by August 2017. When that changes, we will let you know!

As I am writing this, the hymn "It is Well with my Soul" by Selah is playing right now. This is one of my favorite hymns and the truth... It is well with my soul!

Thankfulness

We have come to a point in our financial journey where we are back on track - for the most part. Our summer vacation, which we did not budget for, was our down fall. We had a lot of fun but used our credit card to finance it all. Then when we returned, we had a few set backs. We chose to use our credit card for gas and groceries until we could get back into the "black".

I know all of the die-hard Dave Ramsey fans are telling us that we should have cut them up long ago, and they are right - to point. Although we used our credit cards, they also helped us get to a point where we can live on cash again. Yes, credit card debt gets a lot of people in trouble but it also helps get people out. I think there needs to be discipline when it comes to anything.

The other thing we have done to get back on track is around food. We went "shopping" in our freezer one week and found an entire weeks worth of meals frozen. That really did not shock us but made us realize that keeping track of what we have in our home already is part of stewardship.

We have also started freezer cooking. This also helps with how busy we are with both working full-time. It is a large upfront cost but well worth it. We made 18 meals from www.whoneedsacape.com around Canadian Thanksgiving (mid October). Near the beginning of December, we were still finishing them up. We did not use them on Mondays (we have our Bible study group and bring something separate) or on the weekends. We have done a second batch with 40 meals. They have saved many nights. Prep the food in freezer bags, take them out the night before, throw it in the slow cooker in the morning and supper is done when you get home. It sure has saved us from eating out or unhealthy on many of those nights. Twice a year we also buy 1/4 beef from a farmer in Saskatchewan. I am proud to say we did budget for that.

It is now Christmas and we have used our credit cards for our shopping. It is now maxed out and we have made a plan to pay it off in the next year. Mark from YNAB posted a blog post a few weeks ago about setting a REALISTIC goal for the next year. We have done that and I believe we have a good plan going forward. Having goals is not something we are very good at but it is a promise we have made to each for the coming year.

We may also be facing a challenge. My husband is a contract technical writer and he was just informed that his current position, where he has been for a year, will be reducing his hours to two days a week in 2014. He has been applying but has not been offered a new contract. We have also planned, or started to plan, for that. It is something we should have planned for months ago.

This year, or almost full year, of using YNAB and taking a good look at our finances has been very eye-opening. We are very, very thankful for all we have talked about and learned. Here's to 2014 and more improvements in our financial journey.

We're in the BLACK... for a couple of days

Wow! It has been a challenging month! Finally "manning" up and looking at our budget and where we are financially has been difficult. 

We have spent a lot of money this month on bank fees. Our bank charges $5/day for overdraft - and unfortunately, we have been in it a lot this month. It has taught us, though, how important it is to try and stay where we are.

How have we climbed out? As I said using our overdraft a bit, paying minimums on credit cards, buying minimal groceries, keeping up on our bills, and eating what food is already in the house. If you are struggling, I challenge you: look in your freezer and cupboards. What is already there? Do you have leftovers that you have stored away for a "rainy" day? This is the time to use them. If you are not making a list when you buy groceries... DO IT!  That will save you from buying more than you need. Those are a couple of things that we did and it has definitely helped a lot.

We won't be completely out of the red for a few days but it is definitely looking brighter!