I was intending on writing every week about the Financial Peace, but my schedule got the best of me.

Our 13-week ending session was on Sunday and it was fabulous.  We had a great facilitator and our group was fun!! I am very thankful Jeremy and I got to go through this together and that we can have a plan and picture of our lives from now on…at least when it comes to financial peace.  We don’t always know what God has in store around the bend, but with a financial plan, we can trust Him to provide and we will follow Him where He leads.

It’s been an incredible journey hearing the stories of people who put financial peace first and truly did rely on the Lord each step of the way.

Excited about what He has in store!!

Karen

Credit Sharks in Suits…

HA HA HA…so true!

Learning all about our credit score and what that entails. And how to deal with collections people.

Thankfully, we have not had to deal with creditors and collections agencies, but all the information was extremely helpful and informative. Part of the homework was pulling my credit report and seeing if there were any discrepancies. Thankfully my credit is good, however, there were some accounts of there that I know we closed, but weren’t showing that. So, cleaning that up has become part of the financial peace plan too. Not too bad, I should say.

The month is almost over, and we are doing well with the plan. I think I may stick with the limited Chick-Fil-A still.

Karen

CHEETAH!!!!!!!!

If you saw or have ever seen the video from this session, then you know exactly what I am talking about!!!! Longest video we have seen to date, but none the less, put it all into perspective about having “Gazelle Intensity” when paying off and tackling debt. It has been a good month…I am the one in the relationship that needs feedback, so I wanted to know all of our cutting back was totally worth it and that we were doing a good job at it. Turns out we were doing great at it!!! I may have to stick to my swearing off of CFA…YIKES! Nah, I won’t swear it off forever…like I said before, all things in moderation.
Here’s to moving forward and having Financial Freedom and Peace!

Thanks again Dave Ramsey!

Three weeks into Financial Peace with Dave Ramsey and let me just say, aside from doing our taxes, I had not seen that much paperwork in a while. In the video he began to show us all these forms for really an itemized budget with a zero balance at the end. It was really good, and thankfully, since we started using Mint a while back, we already have so much divided up into categories. If we had not done that, I might be a little overwhelmed.
We have been regularly attending our budget meetings each week, and so far, no big issues have risen…no arguments, no heated debates, nothing. I told Jeremy that I am sure we are bound to have one eventually, but maybe we are both in a place this time that’s different from any other time we have done a budget thing. Because we could never get the emergency fund thing down, we would always freak out whenever the big things came…new tires, emergency doctor visits, etc. I am excited that we will have our emergency fund by the beginning of next month! I know, it’s crazy to be excited at something like that…or maybe not.

Karen

The video this past week for Part 2 of Financial Peace University was in a word – HILARIOUS. Lots of details of how men and women are different…like we didn’t already know that…but talking in terms of money he uses the words, Nerd and Free Spirit. Easy to figure who is who in my marriage…I am certainly the Free Spirit, not denying it AT ALL. But I would argue that there is a little Nerd AND Free Spirit in all of us…just depends on the time and circumstance. So, after a many good laughs about that, his daughter shared a list of why it’s hard to be Dave Ramsey’s kid….again, hilarious!

When the month turned over this morning, it was game on for us and our new budget…it was kind of exciting!!! We decided to swear off a few places at least for the month, and although I believe that everything is good in moderation, there are some times where you just need to stop going to a place, because you go there A LOT. We picked a great month to do that since it’s only 28 days long. ha ha!
We started laying the foundation for kids and money…Boo already has a spend/save/share box and we decided Peanut needs something like it too. I am hoping starting them early will save them much financial heartache later on in life.

Peace and Finances really can be talked about in the same sentence!

Karen

Welcome to 2011 and Financial Peace University, brought to you by Dave Ramsey and First Baptist Church of Duluth!
Our church has entered into a 13 week study of Financial Peace University. It’s exciting. It’s scary…and I gotta be honest, for a week before our first night I was sick. It’s not like I don’t want to have peace in my finances, it’s just when we put it on paper, it seems like it’s a invitation for Satan to screw with it. That was my perception at least. This time seemed different though and although I was sick, I was welcoming it as well.

After the first video and small group, our homework was to work on Baby Step #1 and come up with our Quickie Budget. Surprisingly it went very well and I actually felt relieved to see our numbers on paper and be able to have a plan. I know surprises will come, but with the emergency fund, that certainly will relieve that pressure.

So, if you haven’t got a plan for financial peace, you should definitely go to Dave Ramsey’s website and get enrolled in a class!

Updates weekly…
I know. You are thrilled!!!

Karen