UPDATE - This Site Has Moved to http://Owningburtonfarm.com/ effective Fourth of July weekend, 2016. There are no more updates at this site on weebly.
See you on Burton Farm!
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Let me tell you all the ways my life sucked in the span of just FIVE days: 1. I got a speeding ticket Friday. I'm pretty sure he gave me a ticket for the guy in front of me. There's no way I was going that fast. Oh, I was speeding, all right. But not that fast. That's $222.00 that won't be going to debt destruction. Every Dollar Goes To Work? Huh. That's $222 that is going to work for the local officials. 2. I got a sunburn Saturday while hand-pulling weeds in our “disappointment garden.” The whole time I was out there sizzling I thought, I should go put on sunscreen; I'm going to regret this. Totally regret. 3. The Check Engine light came on in my car. Again. 4. My husband thought he just had something in his eye, but now he thinks it's pinkeye. That's contagious. We have two toddlers who are constantly sticking fingers in eyes, noses, and mouths. Grand. 5. I was so sure I was dying Monday that I started wondering if I had bought enough life insurance. Seriously, I was sitting outside with a sweater on in 90 degree weather, freezing, not sweating. I felt like I was suffering tiny electrocutions. Or maybe it was micro-naps. Either way, driving home was terrifying. (Just FYI: I don't do drugs.). 6. That afternoon, we got a letter from the insurance company. They are canceling our homeowner's insurance on the townhouse. 7. My son was sent home from daycare with hand, foot, & mouth disease on Tuesday. 8. This means we have to cancel dinner with friends Wednesday night because we don't want to infect their kids. I was really looking forward to hanging out with some friends. They make me feel like I'm not crazy. 9. I woke up with a huge rash. Do I now have hand, foot, & mouth disease? I thought that was just for kids. 10. I also found out my right-hand employee is transferring out of my office...His last day is three days from now. I mean, I knew it was coming down the pipes, but it's still a jolt. What am I going to do? 11. On the way home, the Check Tire light came on in the car. The Check Engine light is still on. 12. And the internet has been down for, like, three days at home. I finally called them about it and they can't get a tech out here for 36 hours. That's a lifetime of internet. They also would like to charge me a $125.00 fee, but will mark it down to $29.95 since I'm a first time caller. Do you know what all this life sucking is telling me? It's telling me, I'm being set up for a big win. There's absolutely no way life can continue down this crummy path. No. Something miraculous is going to happen. Like, lottery good. At least, something really good. I keep repeating money mantras in my head and writing them in my day planner. I have more than enough money to meet my needs and wants. Do you have a money mantra? Did you ever read The Secret (affiliate link)? It's not really a secret anymore, so *SPOILER ALERT* the basic premise is that You Bring About What You Think About. What do you think about? Do you think about all the bills you have coming in, or all the money you have coming in? Did you ever hear anyone say, “If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all”? They're bringing it on themselves. Either get far, far away from these people or tell them they're lucky they met you. And believe it. Your life will stop sucking so much when you stop saying it does. Tell me all the ways your life is awesome! Tell me about all the amazing blessings you receive. Tell me how lucky you are. Let us focus on the happy, the lucky, the blessings. When we focus on these things, we invite more of them into our lives. It makes us more open to noticing them when they happen. Then, see how you can grow it into more good things. Like, my determined three year old has had zero daytime accidents all week! This is awesome! I'm so proud of his accomplishment! This is a skill that will be very useful his entire life! (Okay, I'm dramatizing, but seriously, it's great, right?) Let's grow it into more good things: 1. He's also going to save us money because now we are only buying diapers for one child. 2. I think now might be a good time to discuss with my husband the possibility of Sting earning a small allowance so he can start learning how money works. 3. What else? His self esteem. He has confidence in his ability to master a skill. (I know what you're thinking: pooping on the potty is a skill? Yes! Aren't you glad you mastered it, too?) Now I can reference this skill when he is learning new skills. (Sure you can learn how to do XYZ; you learned how to use the potty like a big boy, didn't you? You can do anything you set your mind to, my love!) Things are starting to turn around for us. We received a refund check this week from the hospital for an over-payment (How often does THAT happen?). Money comes to me from many sources. You'd better believe that I will be putting that money to work in repaying our debt. I submitted a travel reimbursement request at work that will bring another $22 in the next week or two. What else is great? Next week, I get to move my nameserver to bluehost.com, which will make blog posting much easier for me and navigation easier for you. That's also the anniversary of the day my husband proposed to me in 2012. <3 It's also a three-day weekend, so I get to spend more time with my family. We're going to make popsicles and play in the sprinklers. I'm blessed. I'm lucky. I'm positive! Who's the “luckiest” person you know? Are they also positive people? There's a correlation. Promise. We demand that school teaches our children about sex and driving and argue how to explain the beginning of the universe. Why don’t we have a class in high school that teaches basic personal finance? I'm not talking about economics. Even if it’s an elective, I believe we need a class at least available to students who want to learn how to manage money in a responsible way. We need to teach them how to avoid the consequences that result from bad money management. This course could change the courses of their lives and set them up for success. Instead, the classes have a challenge for them to get a random salary and then ask them to make a budget. Fine. That's fun for most of them, and challenging for others. But when you tell a seventeen year old to budget a household on $18.00 an hour, it paints a very unrealistic picture in his mind about how he will be able navigate the world. If he drops out of school, despite you begging him not to do so, and then seeks work without a GED, will he make $18.00 an hour? Not likely. I say we give them ALL minimum wage salaries in the challenge and see how they are able to pay their bills. This might drive someone to strive for more out of life. I don’t remember when I was taught how to balance a checkbook, but it had to be in school, sometime. And I’m pretty sure my parents showed me, too. I do remember learning about stocks and investing some, and having that contest to see who could pick the best stocks at the end of a period of time. If you were eighteen, making your first money, would you? Could you afford to be that risky with your money in the stock market? I remember being in high school. I was a teacher’s aid several times, so I didn’t have to take P.E. again, because everybody knows Erica doesn't like to sweat. I even took a class on Folklore. I loved my teacher, but I’m afraid the only thing I really remember about the class is something about the Maypole dance. And I don’t know if I could use that knowledge for anything productive in my life now. But if I had been offered a beginner’s class on finance, I like to think I would have opted to take it. Oh, and we talked about the price of peanut butter in the little jars versus the large jars in economics. But what about PERSONAL economics? How did that peanut butter translate to my life? I don’t know if I made that connection in school. It was in the years after high school, when I started living on my own, paying my own grocery bills. Nobody talked to me in high school about saving for my own retirement. Nobody taught me about credit scores and how having a high credit score could keep my interest rates, mandatory deposits, and even my insurance rates lower. I was fortunate enough not to have to worry about student loans, but I know a lot of folks are struggling for years with huge balances, unforgiving interest rates and un-bankrupt-able student loan debt. I remember at college that the credit card companies would set up tables at the campus student center, offering free tee shirts to us for signing up for credit cards. I even signed up for a credit card at the beach! By the time I graduated, I had at least six credit cards in my name. Fortunately, my mother had taken the time to show me how credit cards worked. I also, having graduated with a math minor, have an unusually high affinity for anything with numbers, including how interest is calculated on credit cards. But what if you’re not taught at home? What if your parents worked two full time jobs and you had to fend for yourself until everyone landed at the homestead for dinner and even then it was rushed, and then on to the next: homework, showers, good nights? Or what if your parents were lousy financial examples and you don't want your life to be anything like theirs? Now everyone has their own phone and we talk even less when we are home together. Kids in school now have even more to do, and I see how this would potentially add to their stress, but I feel it's necessary. I just don’t see kids looking up debt worksheets on their phones to teach themselves about mony. No, it’s whatever broke the internet that day. Or, what's that app? Instagram? Snap Chat? I'm not hip. But maybe you, your child, your niece, your grandson, maybe they’re special and wouldn’t need this class. So, what am I saying here? They need a class? Yeah. Yeah, I do think they need a class in high school that teaches personal finance. They need someone to develop a curriculum with spreadsheets and charts and tests to see if they absorbed the information. Yeah. A real class. With a syllabus and handouts and worksheets and everything! I can see it in my mind: 1. Cash a. It’s a method of agreed-upon value assigned to currency b. Why is it not wise to depend solely on cash? 2. Checking, Debit Accounts a. How to write a check b. How to balance a checkbook c. What is overdraft? How does it work? 3. Saving a. Why it’s important b. Basic Savings Vehicles and how they work 1. Standard Checking 2. CODs 3. Money Markets c. Saving for Retirement – 401K, 403B, TSP, ROTH & Traditional IRAs, and the magic of compound interest 4. Credit a. What is credit? Who is FICO and why’s that number so important? b. How to earn good credit. c. How to ruin your credit d. How credit affects interest rates on loans and credit cards, security deposits, even job prospects. 5. Loans/Debt a. Why debt is dangerous b. How to stay out of it c. What you do to get out of it 6. Bankruptcy a. What is it? b. What are the consequences? 7. Taxes a. How are they assessed? b. What happens when you don’t pay. Bonus Materials a. Side Hustles b. Spending Wisely c. Investments What would you add? And, who? Who’s going to teach this class they so desperately need? Another teacher? Before or after all the coaching they do? She doesn't have time. What about the one who supervises In-School Suspension all day? Maybe he’s had enough. Me? Oh, Heavens. No, I couldn’t. I haven’t taken the six years of developmental education classes that are required to talk to our youth. WHO? Who can teach this class? Can you? Will you?
Here's a list of 9 Painless ways to save money or to find money in your budget for paying off debt. They just require a little bit of mental energy. I promise, you'll be surprised at how much you can save or pay off quickly! You can see results as soon as your next paycheck. 1. Say you set a budget for X amount of dollars and then you come in under budget for the month, what happens to the difference? Usually, you just absorb it into your budget. Now what would happen if you were to transfer the difference to savings (or the debt you're shaking down). You were already planning to spend that X amount of dollars. You already had planned for that amount to be gone from your life*. Why not put it toward your goals? Let's see this in action: Say I have a townhouse on the market for sale and no one is living there. I have budgeted $100.00 per month for the utility bill, which includes, water, sewer, electric, gas, recycling, you name it. Then, since no one is living there and I'm running the A/C only to keep the house at a balmy 80 degrees, my utility bill comes due at $78.22. Budget ($100.00) - Bill ($78.22) = $21.78 additional money toward debt. Now say we have a credit card with a balance of $2500.00 at 18% interest and say we put that $21.78 to work every month. Do you know what would happen? Instead of paying it off in 204 months (That is seventeen years, y'all), you would pay it off in 40 months (3.5 years). You would pay $832.55 in interest, rather than a whopping $3,173.22 in interest. I hear what you're saying, though. “But Erica, I could use that $21.78 a month to buy a candy bar at the movie theater!” Well, I know how much you liked my last math solution, so let me illustrate why my idea is better with some more math: An extra payment of $21.78 each month for forty months totals $871.20 = extra amount paid. $3,173.22 (total interest paid without the extra payment) - $832.55 (total interest paid with the extra payment) = $2,340.67. Stay with me. It's going to be worth it. Just one more step. $2,340.67 (total interest you didn't have to pay) - $871.20 (total extra payments you made) = $1,469.47 money that stayed in your pockets. Wait. I hear boys in the yard. How many milkshakes did we just buy? Total Debt $275,226.22 We have paid off 0.37% of our debt since the last Debt and Net Worth Post. Technically, that's not even one percent, but the graph won't go to fractional percentages, so if I get to register the reduction at all, there you have it. 1%
So, what action did we take this month?
I signed up to start having the monthly mortgage payment come out of my check every two weeks, on the day after I get paid. This will work out to be one full extra payment each year. That simple trick will shave five full years off of the life of the loan. Also, I rounded up both biweekly payments to the next dollar, putting two more dollars per month on the mortgage that I wasn't paying before. This is easy and automatic. For an easy explanation about how half-payments work, you can read this post from www.PennyPinchinMom.com. Also, I'm no tax expert, but I think I can put that tax refund to better use throughout the year, rather than a lump sum in February. Last month, I updated the taxes my employer takes out to reflect my married + two status. Both my Federal and State withholding did have me as married, but with one and zero exemptions, respectively. The difference was hardly noticeable on my most recent paycheck. It's not an even number, so I'm rounding it up to $25.00. Another eighty seven cents won't hurt too much, right? This will be another $600.00 per year going toward debt reduction. And it's painless. I've created an automatic payment for every other week toward our signature loan. Every Dollar Goes to Work. What did you do this month to get yourself closer to your goal? Let me know! *Net Worth as of May 2016: $53,599.20, not including insurance or retirement savings and benefits. I spent three hours Saturday pulling weeds by hand, clearing 8-12" wide circles around the new seedlings so there would be less competition for water. It was probably only about 1/3 of our massive garden. I pulled weeds until my hands wouldn't grip anymore. Surprisingly, the numbness in my hands I usually experience from doing fine motor movement was gone. Pulling weeds _IS_ exercise!
This post contains links to join my teams and sign up for the money saving apps I use regularly.
Pretty, right? So, my husband and I decided to Stage our Townhouse for sale since it had been on the market vacant for over nine months with no offers. Because we are going under by about $600 a month for every month it sits unsold, he agreed to let me take two months' worth and stage it for sale. Instead of using our credit cards, I used the Flexible Spending Account reimbursement check we received as working cash for purchases. *Update to the Update! Two baby piglets came home with my husband this weekend! They're so stinking cute! (And I mean stinking!)
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