Praise God

I was able to catch up on all bills. All my bills are current, and all utilities, taxes, insurances, and mortgage payments are paid up in full. This is such a relief.

This month I am also on target to pay all my monthly bills as well.

I still have debt, but all the monthly payments are current.

I am praising God as it is all His money. Also praising my church, family, and friends for all their support and prayers.

~Becky

Financial Update

Here it is Oct. 1st. I have not posted too many financial updates, because I have been behind on everything for some time now.

I am currently all caught up on:
Mortgage
Taxes
Gas
Electric
Sewer
Car Insurance
House Insurance

I am behind on:
$200 Water bill (this is like for 4 months)
$160 Phone/Cable/Internet (this is 2 months behind)

My debt is higher than it was, but all monthly payments are current:
$700 Mastercard
$400 Kohl's
$1,000 Amazon

I have had to ask my church and family for help to get the stuff that I caught up on. It is very humbling and frustrating; but for July & Aug. I received no child support from Jason's dad, which really impacted my budget.

The Mastercard was used for Lady's grooming and unexpected vet bills and medicine as she was sick last month. I also had to fix a van that was given to me and register and get plates for it; all went on the Mastercard.

I should be able to pay all my regular monthly bills this month. I will not have any extra to throw at past due water and phone/cable/internet bills, but I should be able to make one full payment to each, avoiding shut off on those items. (By the way I am required to have a home phone for in home daycare, or I would just cancel it completely.) Hopefully Oct. will not have any emergencies that once again blow my budget (we have had so many in past 6 months with sewer backing up into house, multiple car repairs, Lady getting sick, and so on.)

I am so thankful for my family and church for helping me from falling off the edge. I am so blessed.

How is your budget?

-Becky

p.s. I know that I should have an emergency fund. I did at one point, but it is all depleted. Right now, even though I work over 40 hours 6 days a week, at numerous in home and out of the home jobs my income is only just about my bills. Their is barely money for our needs, let alone wants. Praying for no more emergencies for now is the best I can do.

p.p.s. I just paid my entire past due water bill. Now the only past due bill I have is my cable/phone/internet bill which is $160 (since it is 2 months behind.) Praise the Lord!!!

Finance Update

I was able to pay off my MasterCard & Kohl's charges (about $900 total.) I also am all caught up on all utilities, taxes, and other household bills.

The debt I still have:

-$127 owe dentist (technically Josh's dad owes all of this, and also owes me about $300 from his half of other medical bills I paid in 2011. We are supposed to split all medical bills 50/50. Out of the $450 he owes, he has paid $50. However bills are in my name and come to me, so this affects me negatively.)
-$200 owe my dad
-$170 owe paypal bill me (not due until Sept. 1st, if paid before no interest)
-$116,000 my mortgage

So about $500 in debt, not including mortgage. I plan to have paid off by end of summer. Feb., March, April, & May will be very tight months. Every penny made working at all my jobs will go to pay regular bills. Come June I will have 1-2 extra daycare children (but will not be able to do my cleaning jobs, so if I take 1 child it evens out, need 2 extra to get a bit extra in budget.)

I also have the $1,200 to clean/replace my ac coil so my furnace and ac unit will work properly again. I hate to spend this but it needs to be done.

How are your finances?

-Becky

p.s. The money to repay these debts came from my 2011 Federal Tax Refund.

Natural living as an idol

I just read this great blog post here. It is about Natural Living becoming an idol. I have been grappling with this myself lately, so it was great to read this post.

My thoughts are that God wants us to be good stewards of our bodies, our finances, and the earth. He gave them all to us to care for.

-Eating healthier food helps us be good stewards of our bodies.
-Making many foods from scratch is better for our bodies, plus if making these foods is a family activity it blesses God that we are spending this time with our family.
-Spending money on fillers (things that many companies are disguising as food) is not blessing Him with our finances. A bag of chips is about $3. I can get a small bag of organic apples for that cost. Eating organic, local, and healthier doesn't have to blow the food budget.
-Growing our own food is a better use of our finances, and the earth (no gas to drive to store to buy, just walk to your yard. As an added bonus gardening is great exercise.)
-Making our own cleaners is better for our bodies, our finances, and the earth.
-Eating organic and locally grown food is better for the environment (I am certain when God said for us to rule over the animals, it wasn't to abuse them. Free range animals that eat what God intended are better for us to consume anyway.)

That all being said if I spend more time researching natural living than talking with God, praying, and reading the Bible than natural living is an idol (and I am guilty of this.)

If I yell at my kids while doing above mentioned research (again I have done this) than it is an idol.

If I have an argument at Thanksgiving table with cousin over white bread verses wheat, maybe it is an idol (yes, this happened yesterday.)

My natural living should not be a stumbling block to sharing Christ. Or send a bad testimony of me (I don't want people to think I am judging them, because then they certainly will not want to talk with me about Christ.)

On the flip side God has been revealing how He wants me to live, and since I am the mom to two boys this also includes how they should live until they are old enough to live on their own. And my ultimate goal is to do His will for my life and share His good news. I have to find a better balance to do so, but I believe that for my life more natural living is a part of that.

On a side note my definition of natural living includes family as #2 priority (under God.) This means lots of time spent with family, and teaching my children to value family as well. This goes against what many believe (many feel they should be with peers and kids own age all day, as in school; and that time with friends should come first, especially at Jason's age.) This may be right for some kids and families, but for ours I feel they are right where they should be at home. And I believe this is God's will for our lives right now. (Next year I may feel He calls me to put them back in school.) I want to be doing what He wants, even when it is not what I want or what the world says is right.

Any thoughts?

-Becky

More finances

So every Nov. bill is now paid! PTL!!!
I even got my Kohl's charge down to $155, which I will pay off at the end of next week.

Now to work on Dec. bills.
And Home Depot ($320) and MasterCard bills ($480.) Hopefully I can pay all Dec. bills and work on Home Depot Charge as well. And not add any new debt for Dec. (this will be the real challenge.)

-Becky

God's financial formula

About a year after I accepted Jesus as Lord of my life I learned about tithing. This is what God put on my heart about money:

It is all His. All the money that flows through our hands belongs to Him. All He asks is for 10% to be given back to Him. We should do this through our local church (He also calls us to be plugged into a growing body of believers.) This is so simple, if He gives me $100, I get to keep $90 of it. That is awesome. This 10% is off every penny that flows in our lives. If you get $100 for your birthday or as a gift or an extra job, take the first 10% and give it back to God. I also believe you should tithe on your gross pay, not just your net. Once again it is all His money anyway.

In addition to tithing it is strongly in my heart to give a love offering above and beyond that tithe. This can go to your church if that is where God is leading, or to help a friend, or to a missionary, or a needy child. The possibilities and ministries needing donations are endless. The motive of this love offering should be to share the love God has given you and plant seeds of Him in those you are giving to.

This is how I try to live my life through finances:
10%-to God through local church
10%-love offering (I currently sponsor two children through Compassion and give to our local Christ centered pregnancy center)
10%-savings
70%-live on

This may seem unrealistic, but this really is a trust issue. Do you trust that Jesus is truly Lord over your life? Do you trust He really will provide for all your needs when you are aligning your life with His will?

Start small, if you are not tithing at all, start with 1% and increase by 1% each month. If you are tithing, but not giving a love offering increase this by 1%. You CAN NOT out give God! I imagine this will have huge positive consequences in your life!

I tell you on paper my life does not make sense, how could a single mom with less than $20,000 income have no debt and own a home(well at least a mortgage?) It is only God (and trust me I have made some bad choices in my past.) I trust Him first with my finances. I remember it is all His money. He wants me to be a good steward of it. And if so He will let me be in charge of more.

-Becky

Oversight

I am trying to stay on top of everything, especially at co-op, but today I realized I still needed to buy about 16 more readers for Jason for history. So I just placed my final order. They were $152 with tax. Yikes. Another unexpected expense. So far his history class stuff has cost me $297. This includes a textbook, flashcards, memory cd, timeline book, timeline figures, and about 20 readers (books he has to read.) I wanted to get the reader's at the library, but they did not have most of them. Joshua's history stuff only cost me about $50.

Of course I think this is important, but still a bit pricey. Especially since I still had to buy all other other subjects for each boy.

Here is my homeschool budget breakdown for this school year:

$ 50 co-op fee
$297 Jason history
$ 50 Joshua history
$ 40 Jason science
$ 57 Josh science (book, student pages, and experiment kit)
$ 30 Joshua Language Arts
$ 50 Jason Language Arts
$ 15 Joshua handwriting
$ 15 Josh Latin (book and cd)
$ 15 Jason Latin (book and cd)
$ 40 Jason math
$ 40 Joshua math
$ 30 Joshua Magic School Bus reader's to go with his curriculum
$ 10 Jason vocabulary
$ 10 Joshua art book and blank book
$ 5 Jason blank book for art
$ 10 Wiki sticks for Jasons OT stuff
$ 20 $5 for each class for supplies (history & science for each child)
$ 40 new backpacks
$120 HSLD membership

$944 total on books, bookbags, co-op, and HSLD membership

(this does not include school supplies like pencils, binders, paper, and such, my mom bought all these-Thanks mom!)

I did budget $1,000 for this stuff, but I thought I had bought everything so I spent about $200 on other stuff, but after today's order I realize I needed the full $1,000.

I think we are all set for this year. We have to be, we can not spend any more on books this year. (Even though it is a weakness of mine.)

What did you spend on homeschooling this year? (If you homeschool that is)

-Becky

more financial praises!

All August bills are paid in full! Sept. rent is paid as well (it is due the first.) This month in addition to paying all regular bills I got an oil change and tune up on the car as the check engine light was on. I had the car over a year and had never tuned it up, so it was due. I got it with 60,000 miles on it, now it has about 85,000 (I had the car a year and three months.) Also we were able to sell a few things and get the homeschooling stuff we needed. We now have everything we need for school, and probably more than we need as well. We also were able to pay an unexpected gas bill, as well as buy a friend a baby shower gift.

God never ceases to amaze me!!! He has blessed us so!!!

I pray you have felt blessed this month as well. I pray that God will continue to bless you in Sept.

-Becky

Praise

All Aug. bills are now paid. We have gas in the car. The car is running well and getting a maintenance tune up as I type (with the money to pay for it in the checking account.) We have food in our house to last until the end of the month. Sept. rent has been sent as well (it is due Sept. 1st.) Almost all homeschool supplies have been bought (we need about $200 more to get everything, but do not need it all right away.)

We were blessed with two financial donations this month (thanks Cindy & a blogger friend) as well as some gift cards to the food store (thanks Sue & Bill.) God is so amazing. I had only planned on not working until June, so all my bills were only paid through the end of June, yet here it is almost the end of August and we still are ok.

I did have to touch some of my savings, but that is not the worst thing in the world. I still have an emergency fund that will last about 6 months, plus my house buying fund.

I can not say it enough that God is so amazing!!!

-Becky

Finances cont.

I was able to pay myself back the $75 I spent yesterday. Now I am figuring out how to come up with:

$43 gas bill due Aug. 11th
$116 electric bill due Aug. 12th
$200 owe contact money need asap to get contacts

$359 needed by Aug. 11th. Plus I need $260 more to cover Aug. bills, but I should make this at my Sat. job., so it is really the $359 I need to figure out.

I just posted on a few of my friend websites that I am available for childcare. Plus tomorrow I will go through the house and see what I can try to sell online. We have some dvds that I can try and get like $5 each for. I also have some new ladies clothes that are not my style (not the ones you bought mom.) They still have tags on them. I have 6 new shirts and 1 pair nice capri's all new with tags. Maybe I can get a few dollars each.

I also may not have to pay the gas bill as I am on the budget option and next month (Aug.) plan recalculates. It looks like I am over but will call Monday to see about that (meaning I paid more than I used, so in Aug. they credit the difference.)

It will all work out. It always does. I just am using this as a reminder to only spend cash, and once that cash is gone don't borrow from another budget category.

-Becky

Financial check up-opps!

Finances not looking so good. I should not have spent so much mad money over past two months. I had paid all my bills until Aug. 1st, but today I spent $75 that I didn't have to spend, and when I got home from water park I had a gas and electric bill that I was not expecting (they are due in Aug., but I thought I had prepaid enough to cover them as well.)

I have to figure out a way to come up with:
$75-pay back money I used today
$200-owe my contact fund (which I need new contacts asap)
$120-electric bill
$45-gas bill

$440 needed by Aug. 11th

Plus I will be short about $300 on Aug. bills as well.

So actually I need about $740 by the end of August. The main reason is I was scheduled to go back to work ( I had been off due to my ankle surgery) on Friday June 19th (I think that is the date.) But since my brother died on the 14th of June (the Sunday before) I was not able to go back. So my job had to hire someone else (since I had already been out 3 months.)

I also spent too much mad money on stupid stuff in the past few months (expecting to be back to work by now.)

I will work my Sat. job in Aug. and make about $240, so I will need to find another way to come up with about $500 by the end of Aug. I will start be seeing what I can sell in our house. Next, I will ask everyone I know if they need any childcare from now until summer's end. That I can do with my kids as to not incur any childcare costs.

Now, I do have money in an emergency fund and a house fund as well, but my goal is to not touch any of that at all.

I think it is good to evaluate where I am financially a lot, to avoid being in situations like this.

How often do you check your finances?

-Becky

What we spent on Ohio trip

Kevin and I took the boys to Ohio to visit my grandmother last week. We left Monday in am and returned home Friday night. It was so nice to spend time with Kevin and visit my grandmother. She really enjoyed having us there.

Here is what I spent:
$ 50 Food for drive up (very healthy stuff may I add)
$340 Hotel (with pool and free breakfast included)
$140 Entrance to Football Hall of Fame and souvenirs (I even got Kevin a Christmas
gift)
$ 75 Walmart (clothes for Josh & bathing suit for Josh)
$ 15 Out of state scratch offs (our road trip tradition)
$ 45 Gamestop (boys forget DS lite & DSI chargers-I got them each a car and house
charger)
$ 30 Shopping at local Goodwill (just for fun)
$ 36 Getting two copies of my birth certificate (I was born in Ohio, and my old
birth certificate ripped apart)
$ 100 Gas

$831 Total spent by me on trip

Kevin spent (that I know of):

$ 50 Gas
$ 50 Football Hall of Fame souvenirs
$ 50 Pizza Hut
$ 65 Friendly's (we took my granmother out to eat)
$ 20 Cold Stone

$235 Total Kevin spent

$1065 Approximate money spent on 5 day trip to Ohio. About $210 a day is not too bad. Of course we could have greatly reduced expenses for this trip by not staying in a hotel and staying at my grandmother's, packing proper clothes for Josh, packing all DSI & DS lite components, and not eating out. But although we went to Ohio to help my grandmother, I also wanted the boys to feel like they were on vacation and have some fun as well. They got to swim in hotel pool every night and now they can say they went to the Football Hall of fame (big whoop to me.)

Any vacation plans for you? How much have you budgeted for vacations this year?