Debt-Free Christmas & November Numbers

Last month, even before Thanksgiving, we started - and finished - Christmas shopping. Thanks to a budget, our ING Christmas account, and careful shopping, we will enjoy a very nice holiday season without adding to our debt. In fact, while this past month our debt reduction was minimal, December should see us right back to our big payments. It will feel good going into the New Year without the added weight of holiday expenses to worry about!

Total debt for November:
Down by $335.41

Something New

I have a great affinity for trying new things. It bodes well for me that our homeschooling lifestyle is free-flowing enough for me - and the kids - to continually try new things, take up new hobbies, and embark on new adventures. From a monetary standpoint, this has been both a blessing and a curse.

The good: I've explored, and continue to explore, lots of ways to make money (some successful, some not-so-successful) The not as good: I've also explored lots of things that cost money, in some cases a lot of it. $100 for lip-balm making supplies, $50 for ribbons, hair clips and hot glue guns, $40 for a better cupcake tin, flour sifter, and decorating set. Yes, I like to do new things.

This year I've been a little bit more focused. I am one final exam away from becoming certified to be a nutritional consultant, something I've wanted to do for most of my adult life. Next year, God willing, I am going to complete the training to become a registered yoga teacher, before I move on with the Master Herbalist certification, the next piece of the Holistic Health Practitioner Bachelor's degree. All of those things of course cost money, but anything that is furthering a passion (and will eventually lead to a career) is money well spent.

This month, I am writing my second novel for NaNoWriMo, and because that's apparently not enough newness for me, a few days ago I also signed up to be an independent distributor for Beachbody, because I believe in their products.  Beachbody is the company that sells such workout programs as P90X, Insanity, TurboJam, and Slim in 6;  as well as a whole line of supplements including the Shakeology shake.  Because I've actually learned something from all my past endeavors, I know that I am not a salesperson.  I know that approaching strangers, hosting home parties, and passing out catalogs is not for me.  I am however, very excited to apply some of the internet marketing techniques I learned from my last e-course to share both the products and the business opportunity with others.  I'm approaching it like I approach most new things:  as a fun new challenge, and an experiment to see how much I can learn and how far I can take it.

If you want to join me in my challenge, this is a GREAT time to do it, because it is completely free to sign up from now until the end of the year (it is normally $39.95 to get started)  You can check out my website for all the details, or you can just send me good thoughts and good luck, and vibes for another fun and successful venture.  :)

October Numbers

October was a good, good month.  Going full steam ahead into the last couple months of the year.  Total debt for October:

Down by  $1553.51

Book Recommendation - 9 Steps to Financial Freedom

It's not a new book... in fact, it's a decade old.  But I saw it for $2.00 at Goodwill the other day , remembered how much I'd liked it way back when, and thought I'd buy it and give it another read.  It's full of good practical advice on everything from 401Ks to mortgages to life insurance, and she keeps it interesting with lots of personal stories from her clients.  But what I really love about Suze Orman isn't so much her nuts and bolts financial advice (which is of course helpful and sound) as it is the emphasis she gives to the spiritual aspect of money. 

I'm a highly spiritual person, so I believe that everything is spiritually connected, but I think it's easy to lose sight of that when it comes to money.  This book proved to be a good refresher.  Everything from our earliest memories of money, to how we view money, to how we treat it (even in such seemingly trivial matters as how we line it up in our wallets) to how much and with what attitude we give to others.... it's all connected, and it's all important.   Every bit as important - if not moreso - than paying your bills on time.

If you've read it already, it's a good one to re-read.  If you haven't, put it at the top of your next library list.

September Update and Money Issues

First, for some old business:

Awhile back I posted about some news that would have a positive impact on our finances that was not yet official. Well, it's official now and I'm excited to share it. Mike just got another promotion (the second in three months), and has now officially moved from a Manager to a Director position. I am so proud at his growth in the company, as it obviously speaks volumes to their satisfaction with his performance and work ethic. I am also very thankful - very thankful - that in this poor economy that he even has a steady job, one that not only puts food on the table and keeps a roof over our heads, but also allows me to continue to stay home with the kids. It is a blessing, and it's not one I take for granted.

Financially, the past few months have been .... weird. As excited as I've been at the blessing of having extra money, I've also been squarely confronted with the fact that I still have a lot of hang-ups when it comes to money and spending. And just like a dieter can never permanently lose weight until they identify and face WHY they were overweight to begin with, I know that we can never truly be financially free until I deal with my attitude towards money. It still makes me anxious, it stresses me out, and it takes up entirely too much space in my head.

A few weeks ago I went to Hobby Lobby with the kids because they wanted to buy a chemistry set. We spent a long, long time browsing through all the cool science kits, bought the chemistry set and then some, and ultimately spent twice as much as I'd planned. We had the extra money. All our bills were paid, all our cabinets were stocked. We'd paid extra to our credit cards. But I was still so wracked with guilt that I came home and immediately listed some unused Wii games on Ebay to make up the difference. Why? And why, when my sister invited us to go horseback riding (something I really love, and hadn't done in over 20 years), why was my first inclination to say no? Why was my first reaction, "That's crazy, we shouldn't be spending that kind of money"? Is there something wrong with spending money if you have it? Should you not be spending any extra money at all if you're under debt?

I'm not looking for answers to these questions... just sending them out into the great unknown. I've been surprised over the past several weeks, realizing how much work I still need to do.

It's not a bad problem to have though, and I'm thankful I have it. I know it's just another step in the journey. And any step, large or small, is a good thing.

Total Debt for September:
Down by $1101.70




P.S. Thanks to a little bit of sensible prodding from my husband, I did go on the horseback ride. And it was wonderful.

August Numbers

This is lower than it should be because 1) we funded our TV project, 2) we had some unexpected expenses this month, and 3) we registered Everett for t-ball, which while not unexpected, we'd for some reason neglected to plan for it.

But it's still down, and down is good.  Since Mike's raise in June, we've paid off $2720.71

Total debt for August:
Down by $542.46

(Almost) Free TV

I feel stupid.

I feel like I should be doing one of those commercials.... "I can't believe I was spending so much for car insurance."  Only instead of car insurance, it's satellite television.  For years now, we have paid - way too much - for the privilege of watching TV, first through Directv, and for the past three years, through Dish Network.  We didn't have the most basic package, but we didn't have HBO, Showtime, etc either.  We still paid $90+ a month.  Almost $100/month.  For television!!  It was our last really superfluous bill, and we've toyed with dropping it for awhile now, always coming up with some reason not to.  The last time it came up though, we were determined to do it, which required some research and planning to make sure that everyone was happy and comfortable with the decision.

And yes, we could have just dropped it, gotten rid of the TVs and stopped watching altogether.  Of course that's always an option.  But, well, we like our TV.  It's a funny thing.  So many people (not all, but a lot) who choose not to watch it come off very self-righteous about it.  Instead of watching TV, they're spending their time reading, crafting, playing board games, solving the world's energy crisis [insert any other "worthwhile"-sounding pursuit here]  But it's not either/or!  I LOVE to read, do crafts, and play games.  But I also, unabashedly I might add, love my TV, and wanted to find a way to watch it without spending $100 a month.

The first step for us was to switch from Blockbuster to Netflix.  I feel like we were the very last Netflix hold-outs, but I was stubbornly clinging to Blockbuster because 1) I liked that we could exchange our mailed movies in-store, and 2) I liked that the boys got a free game rental every month.  As it turns out, neither of those things compare to the wonder that is Netflix streaming.  TV shows, movies, documentaries.... all streamed to your house 24 hours a day, all included for the same monthly fee (which starts at $9 for one movie out at a time)  You can watch live streaming on your PC, or if you have a Wii or PS3 you can request a (free) DVD to stream through those as well.

Step two was Playon.  Playon is $39.99/year for the first year, and $19.99/yr after that, and makes it so you can watch from free websites such as Hulu or CBS.com right on your TV, through your game system.  Where Netflix is great for catching up on past seasons or older series, Hulu is the perfect solution for watching current favorites.   They don't have everything, but they do have most shows, and most everything else can be found somewhere, whether it's from Amazon's Video on Demand, on DVD a few months later, or..

on good, old fashioned live TV, which was Step three:  hooking up to our local channels with an antenna.   We'd never tried it before because we've always had satellite, but lo and behold we get several local channels over the air - for free - and they come in beautifully.

We absolutely could have stopped there, and the total cost would have been for the Playon, which breaks down to $3 and some change per month for the first year, and $1.60/mo every year after that, and the Netflix subscription (which starts at $9, but we decided to get the $18 plan which I'll explain in a minute)  That's $21 a month, instead of the $114 we were paying before!!  ($96 for Dish, $18 for Blockbuster)

But because we have four kids and five TVs and wanted everyone to be comfortable (and did I mention how much we like our TV?) we did make some initial investments.  We bought two Roku boxes (about $70 each), which allow you to stream Netflix right to the TV without having to go through a game system or a computer.   Extremely user friendly and easy to use.  We also bought a newer TV for our bedroom, because we wanted to hook it to my laptop and watch Netflix and Hulu that way, and the one caveat to that is that you need a TV that has the proper outputs and inputs.  Finally, we had to buy some new cable to get it all hooked up.  And we opted for the $18/mo, 3-out-at-a-time plan with Netflix, because you can simultaneously stream to as many devices as movies on your plan.

We have been testing it all out over the past few weeks, and have so far been extremely happy with our decision.  We've really been enjoying discovering new things to watch on Netflix, and are able to watch nearly anything we want the day after it airs on Hulu.  In a couple of months, it will have all paid for itself, we will still be enjoying our TV, and we will be saving over $90 a month.