The Cost of a Baby in our Experience: The little Things

When we were expecting Cora, there were so many things that were uncertain. I think that's the case for most new parents. Everything in your world is changing and you have no point of reference to compare it to. One of the things we spent lots of time discussing and thinking about was what will this baby cost us? 

Many things contribute to the cost of having a child, from insurance benefits to your particular tastes in baby gear and clothes. Everyone will have different experiences & find different price points depending on your situation & location. Even though I can't guarantee you'll spend xyz, I figure this sure beats those articles you see online that scare the bejeezers out of you suggesting that you could spend upwards of a bazillion dollars in the baby's first year of life. Here are our real life experiences in the cost of having a baby.

Right off the bat, You should know, this won't be what you spend if you want a lot of brand new items for baby. The way I see it is... the baby will use this stuff for less than a year. And in some cases, a month or less! WHY buy new things when there are gently used items that are in perfect shape for 70% off or more???  ( I will also note, that we did make some splurges that in all honesty are totally unnecessary or there was a cheaper way to get what we were buying at full price.)


The first thing we bought was prenatal books. We went to our local second hand book store and loaded up. In the end we compiled a library of 12 great books and the total cost was roughly $60.00 In retrospect - this was a totally unnecessary expense that I wouldn't make again - there is just so much information out there on the internet that I ended up using more than my books. BUT, if you want the books, they're out there & you can find them a lot cheaper than we did!

    Anything & Everything -  I quickly learned about the wonderful world of Just Between Friends sales. If you haven't been to a JBF sale before and you want to have a baby on a budget... GO! Well worth your time and money!! (check it out if you have older children too! They really do have anything & Everything!)

At the first JBF sale I went to, I picked up several items totaling out at $71.00!! (Portable changing table with cover that will fold, Boppy pillow with cover, a baby carrier, a couple of toys, drawer & cabinet latches, space saving high chair, blankets, piddle pad, spoons and other baby kitchen supplies, a few basic onsies in gender neutral colors, passy holder, diaper bag, & a bath ducky that checks water temperature). When I got home, I did a few Google searches and found some of the bigger items I'd purchased - we had saved over $113.54!! And all of this stuff were things I would be buying at some point anyway!!

Before baby girl came we went to two more Just Between Friends sales (in neighboring towns) - for both of those sales, we spent a total of $50.00! (items included Boppy infant positioner with cover, kitchen items for feeding toddlers, table bumpers & child safety items for around the house, various clothing items, a diaper bag - new with tags on it, two more child carriers, Johnny Jump Up & a couple of stuffed animals.) I didn't do the comparison against what it would have been new this shopping trip, but that comes out to roughly $3.50 each if you break it down per item - obviously some were more than others, but killer deals all the same!


Clothes, clothes & more clothes - I know I will sound like a broken record here, but I can't preach it enough! It is so handy knowing people with kiddos, really it is a blessing! We got tons of hand-me-downs!! What we couldn't use (wrong season, etc.) we passed on to others. Cost? Free! If you don't have access to someone for hand-me-downs you should seriously visit your local consignment stores (ie Kid to Kid, Once Upon a Child etc). They always have great deals, but around here they often run deals - as in every single holiday, no matter how insignificant. Even 15% off of already deeply reduced prices makes for an amazing deal!
We bought some clothes for Baby Girl, because how could we resist?!? Other than her Texas Tech gear (which I'm so ashamed at how much we spent, I won't even tell you here - feel free to ask if you're really curious!) everything we personally bought was from second hand stores and a couple of garage sales some friends of friends were having. I didn't do an excellent job of keeping up with those receipts, but looking back at budgets it looks like we spent about $60.00 (keep in mind, that bought us roughly 20 - 30 outfits, coming out to about $2 and $3 each!!).
As time has passed and we've needed to expand Cora's wardrobe with the seasons, I've learned that while these resale shops can offer great deals, I still greatly prefer consignment sales like Just Between Friends! Towards the end of their sale days, they run 1/2 off days on most of their items. This is when we stock up on clothes! We will pop into the sale early on, pick up whatever big baby gear and items we need that will likely be gone by the end of the sale. If I'm looking for a particular item of clothing for her, I'll quickly look through the clothing sections (which are very big!) but we save most of our clothes shopping for half off days!

 Diaper pails! We decided to go with the Diaper Champ rather than the Diaper Genie. Reason? You can use regular trash-bags in the Diaper Champ - the Diaper Genie requires special bags, an added expense once baby comes. They retail for about $30, we bought ours for $10.75 in perfect condition from a local resale shop! {And if I'm being 100% honest, we bought another one for $10 at a garage sale to keep over at my Dad's house, obviously not an essential expense, but my point is - this was not a one time, can't ever find that great of a deal experience!} To save even more? A trashcan with a lid would work just fine! Really the key here with any system is to just take out the trash often!

Cora on the knock off Boppy.

Nursing Pillow - I had gotten a Boppy with a cover at a JBF sale ($10-$15 range), but I knew that I'd like another one to have in our bedroom (and my friend swears it is really handy in postpartum recovery to sit on!). If you're pregnant, I'm sure you get the promotional emails for free Nursing Covers, Nursing Pillows, Carseat Covers etc., you just pay shipping! It is a great deal, but just be warned... their Nursing Pillow is not exactly like a Boppy! It's smaller and not as wide and it's cover doesn't come off to wash. If you have larger hips, like me, then it is a tight fit to use it as it is intended. Was it worth $12.90 (the cost of shipping and handling) to get a nursing pillow? Yes! Just be aware it isn't identical to the Boppy.

Bottles - We picked up a gallon zip lock bag full of the bottles we chose (Platex Drop in System) at a consignment sale much like Just Between Friends for $5.00! There were 10 bottles in the bag, bringing the cost down to $.50 a bottle! We also got some drop in liners in a brand-new, unopened box for $1.00. This only left us needing to buy new nipples for these bottles (they had them at the sale, I would just prefer to buy this item new).

The total we spent on the items besides furniture, pack and plays etc for our first child; Roughly $300.00. Now that we're expecting baby #2, most of those items won't need to be purchased again. We're anticipating that our largest expense for this child (outside the cost of prenatal and birth...) will be clothes!

In the end, I can admit that I'm afraid to think of what the cost of some "smaller" items would have added up to without the generous gifts of friends and family. Crib sheets, blankets, Dreft detergent, bottle sterilizers, Bumpo seat & tray, nursing covers, carseat covers, diapers, wipes, bibs, shoes, clothing accessories, toys, burp rags - all of these are things we didn't have to buy but all of these things are items I see at JBF sales & resale shops all. the. time. My point? Don't buy new until you have to!! 

I have done my best to include all the items I can think of in this category - if you have a question, please feel free to ask! I would love to share any information we may have on finding these items at reasonable prices!

Cloth Diapering, done cheap!

 

We decided to try cloth diapers when we realized that at the rate we were going through Disposables, we would spend about $50 a month on diapers (on the low end). I also found that a particularly economical brand of Sposies (disposables) that actually fit our daughter well put off this odd chemical odor when she wet the diaper. It was faint, but there, not very comforting. Buying cloth diapers on a budget was a big issue, we already had enough disposables from showers to get us through for a little while so we decided to buy cloth diapers one or two at a time, starting with the cheapest, quality ones I could find.

We picked Pocket Diapers because it seemed easiest! Easy is key in our house! I also knew that if it wasn't easy-peasy John wouldn't really be interested in it. All in Ones would honestly be easier, but line drying diapers helps them last longer and I read over and over again that it took a long time to get All in Ones to dry. As we expand our collection I plan to add a few AIOs here and there, but for now I'm really happy with the pockets. After you wash & dry them, stuff the insert in the little pouch (I do this while I watch TV or while Cora plays in her jumparoo) and they're ready to go! When it's time to change I just put the whole diaper in the wet bag. On washing day I just pull the inserts out of the diaper as I toss it in the washer.

Prefolds (& covers) are significantly cheaper! This is probably what you think of when you hear Cloth diapering, the flat piece of fabric you pin to the baby. I actually really considered doing this! Now there are these nifty things called snappis that replace the pins, I was totally sold! Problem was, I knew I would end up being the only one in the house actually putting cloth diapers on the baby if I picked this style. It was only going to end up being practical & economical if I could get my husband and any caretakers (ie my father!) on board!

The three brands we initially purchased were, Alva Baby, Kawaii, and Sun Baby. (I wish I could find a reputable dealer for Happy Flute diapers, if you have suggestions I'd love to hear them!) These brands are the cheapest options I found out there. Eventually we plan to try the more expensive options one at a time. Each of these brands runs roughly $7 a diaper.

If you want to try these diaper brands out one at a time, I found that Amazon was a great resource, except for the Kawaii diapers - just order those from their website (Amazon had them for twice the price!). (Fair warning, shipping these diapers one at a time is pretty pricey as far as shipping is concerned, they're coming from Canada.) This is particularly relevant for trying out Sun Baby diapers. On their website, you have to order them in bundles, which is great if you know it will work for you, not so hot if you just want to check them out.

A note about these sellers - The Kawaii diapers shipped out of Canada and always got to me in a very reasonable time frame (roughly a week from ordering). The Sun Baby diaper I ordered was off Amazon, so I can't speak to the shipping times from the actual company. Alva Baby diapers shipped out of China and their shipping times showed it. They shipped the day after I ordered them, but I got them 3 weeks, 6 days later. Considering I paid like $.06 for shipping - I'll order again, you just shouldn't count on getting them quickly.

We decided we needed roughly 9 diapers to get through a day based on what we went through a day in disposables. Obviously, I'm not a fan of doing laundry every single day, and I've read that hang drying the diapers will make them last longer so ideally we will get our stock up to 18 or more diapers. For now I'm diapering Cora in cloth on the days I'm home with her during the week, so Tuesdays and Thursdays. I wash on Wednesday between so that I'm good for Thursday and again on Friday or Saturday. I try to get at least one weekend day in cloth, this will get easier as we get more diapers.

My wet bag from Sweet Bobbins

The Extras -  Beyond the diapers you will have at least one more need. Wet bags. To get started I purchased a medium sized wet bag that is big enough for my needs. Since then I've added a pail liner for my diaper pail, but that isn't necessary! If you plan on using cloth diapers outside of the house, you'll also need a wet bag that can go in your diaper bag. I recommend this amazing Etsy shop for your wet bag needs!





If you are really interested in saving money I recommend looking into cloth wipes! I looked at buying some but as cute as they are I just couldn't justify spending so much money on wipes, even if they are reusable. I made my own - I'll post about that another day. It was so easy and I have more wipes than I can use in several days and the cost was very reasonable! They don't add any more work to my diapering routine because I just toss them in the wet bag and then the wash with the rest of the diaper laundry!

I'm loving cloth so much! I hardly notice the added "work" of using cloth over disposables and I'm so much happier with putting them on my daughter!

52 Week Savings Goal for 2014

When I first started looking into the YNAB system, I read the e-book about the Four Rules of Budgeting written by the founder of You Need A Budget. He said that when you are making BIG purchases, no matter the reason, it's hard to stop and step back from spending that much money each month and refocus on living using less money and budgeting wisely. 

This past summer with Baby Cora on the way, we had some BIG purchases that needed to be made! Every month we were budgeting to drop almost all of our expendable income on something. From our Insurance Deductible to pay the Midwife, to paying for our Doula, nursery furniture, a new car... the list was endless. We depleted our savings in a hurry and haven't had a chance to build it back up. 

For 2014 our goal is to regain some financial balance. Rebuild our savings, which isn't nearly as easy to do as our budget is tighter than ever with baby related expenses and paying on those fabulous hospital bills we incurred back in October. 

SO, we have joined in the 52 Week Savings Challenge hosted by House of Rose!

I'm really confident we can complete it and I get a happy warm feeling inside thinking about having at least $1,378 in the bank at the end of 2014!

Budgeting for the Busy

Budgeting is a huge part of our lives. John and I embody those statistics that randomly pop up about how much a marriage discusses/revolves etc around money. Today alone we have exchanged 16 texts about finances and our budget. Thankfully we are on the same page about how we should manage our money so we aren't (usually) in the statistical group that fights about finances.

My very favorite budgeting tool is YNAB - but just as I said in my YNAB post, "it takes dedication and work" to log each and every transaction into the program. Getting behind even one day can throw off our budget by quite a bit.

Life has been really busy here of late. We've gotten moved and are working on settling in and setting up house, but I'm also ginormous pregnant! If I'm struggling to keep up with recording our finances now, I doubt it will get much better come October when we have a little-one in tow. So, we have regressed to our old days of budgeting and I'm so happy!

Before our days of YNAB and now that I need to take a step back, we are using Mint.com to manage our finances. 

Unlike other programs and softwares, Mint automatically updates your transactions and codes them for you. The most I ever have to do to manually enter information is occasionally correct where an item was applied (ie a haircut being applied to the grocery budget) or split a transaction between more than one category. 

Safety?  While I'm not an expert in computer stuff, I feel perfectly safe giving my information to Mint to compile my finances in their program. I know several other people who use this program and none of them have ever had issues either. You can't actually move or touch your money through the program - all you can do is see what you have done with it.

This is different than other budgeting ideas in terms of you are only seeing what you've already done with your money. SO, if you go a bit crazy on a weekend shopping spree Mint is only useful as a tool to tell you where your money went, you're not telling it where to go or giving it a "job". BUT, Mint does have a budgeting tool! You lay out how much you will spend in each category & you can get email alerts as you are nearing (or exceeding) the allotted amount in that line item on your budget.

Privacy: A feature that I really like is the log in - for YNAB you can just click on the icon & there's all your account balances and information from the past however long. It doesn't show account numbers, but someone can see how much money you have & where it is. With Mint you have a username and password to access your account. Much like your bank website or other financial institution, if you're inactive for a certain period of time it logs you out.
(Handy if you're at work and get distracted & walk off from your desk!)

OH - and did I mention that this is FREE?!? Mint.com is 100% free! I am a firm believer that everyone should have a budget! Even if you make way above your cost of living - you need to have a plan for that money honey! The only way to make your money work for you is to plan out where & how you spend it! So, if you're new to budgeting and just want to get your feet wet, this is a great way to do so! 

(All of these images are screenshots from Mint.com not my actual account information)

Reevaluating the Necessities

With Baby Girl on the way it has become painfully obvious with just a glance at our finances that me being a stay-at-home mom just isn't an option.  I have worked so hard to convince myself that I will be fine in returning to work - and I think I would have been had it not been for some unfortunate turn of events at work that have left me, well Less than Satisfied with my job.

We've been wanting for me to go back to school for some time now. I've found the Graduate program I'd like to attend and part of the degree plan is online - Score for flexibility! Now I really have the push I need to get my rear back in the classroom... but it all circles back to finances. 

When we look at our budget we see several things:

School - well unfortunately that means more loans but won't really "cost" anything right now.

 Child Care - If I'm not working, or not working as much this cost would obviously decrease, but there is no denying that this is an expense we would have starting in November/December that we didn't have in our current budget.

Daily Bills - No matter how I look at this category, I can't figure out what we're going to cut. We've chosen to live such a "bare minimum" lifestyle as it is to get out of debt. There just isn't much more we can cut out...

... or is there?  We've lived with a little bit of "koosh" in our lives for a little bit too long.
Yes we budget our money to death, but when I'm out and decide I just have to have a soda before I get home spending that extra $3 out of budget doesn't make us or break us financially. I've gotten spoiled.

Source

When I think about going back to that world, a world that isn't far behind us - a world where, an extra time of eating out will totally ruin the budget for the month. A world where I have to make clothes stretch past the time that my friends would, and hand-me-downs are a way of life because there just isn't any wiggle room in the budget for new things. It's hard. It's hard to imagine going back. Especially since we don't really have any friends living a frugal lifestyle on a tight budget (or not as tight as what we're about to be doing...).

Re-evaluating what we consider to be the necessities seems to be the current solution to the problem.  Cutting something that we've become so accustomed to, but isn't a basic need of life. Should we cut Satellite? or Internet? - I can go to the library for Internet, but could I with an infant in tow? For long enough to do school work since I would be in classes again?  TV, surely we don't need that - but I seem to have forgotten what life is like without it.

When is there ever enough money?  Do you ever have enough? My parents always said that if you waited until you "had enough money" to have kids, you never would. I agree. I didn't think there was room for our Little Girl in our budget, until I had to find space for her.

Spending more time with my child (even if I can't swing being an exclusive stay-at-home Mom), getting my Masters degree - those are the things that are important to us right now. Those are the things that matter in the long-run and we sacrifice for what matters, right? Even though we know it will be hard.

If you think about it - please say a quick prayer.  God has been so diligent in providing for us, we know He will again.  We got into this house when it seemed we were out of all other options and avenues of finding a home. We were able to afford more than we ever thought we could when it came to getting a new car before Baby Girl arrives {though these things may seem trivial, they were major stressors at the time!}. For the time being we're doing our best to keep all of our options open and available and wait for God to show us which path to take.

Babysitting Exchange!

Being as budget conscious as we can be leading up to the birth of baby-girl and of course once she is here - I am so excited that I've been able to arrange a babysitting Exchange!

Y'all babysitters are flippin' expensive! I would know, I once was one and I remember just how much money I would rake in! An average night out can run you $50 in babysitting fees, that's more than the cost of the meal we would have gone out for!

We have friends & family that will be more than willing to watch baby girl, but I certainly don't want to wear that welcome out. So, my friend Sonya who has two little ones suggested we set up our own little babysitting exchange between the two of us! 

I haven't found a lot of other moms around here who do this; or if they do, they don't put this name on it. I of course don't mind the "hey can you watch my kiddo tonight and I'll watch yours when you need it" but that can easily become one-sided and one of the parties becomes very used and feels abused by the constant request of "favors".  I personally would much prefer an arrangement that we both stick to and can both use and honor.

From doing my research, I've found two tried and true methods of co-ops and exchanges - the Equal Time Arrangement or Coupon Method. Equal time is exactly as it sounds... more on that later. The Coupon Method is a little more complicated, but would be really effective in a co-op of 3 or more people. When you join the co-op, you get "coupons" for a set amount of time and you buy babysitting with the coupons from another family in the co-op. To arrange the sitter, you post in a group setting, like a mass email or much more up my alley, in a facebook group that you need a sitter for X number of hours for Z number of kids & any other details relevant to the situation. Susie Q is running low on tickets and is available so she says she will take your kiddos.

Sonya and I have agreed to an equal time arrangement. If I have her two for 3 hours, she will in-turn watch my little one for 3 hours another day. (2 kids are more work than 1 baby you say?!? - Never fear, I address that later.)

 Since Sonya and I are friends, we don't need too many rules to start our little exchange out, especially since it will just be the two of us. I'm hopeful though that we will find a network of moms and kiddos after baby-girl comes and we can set up a complete co-op or a few other individual exchanges so that we won't always have to rely on Sonya in the event that she isn't available.

Variables to Consider when setting up your own exchange or co-op:

Equal work - Other babysitting co-ops or exchanges I've found will charge more "time" for babysitting multiple children. So they charge 'per child hour', if they have two kids that you watch for 3 hours, you've just earned 6 hours babysitting from them. While others charge more time against babies in diapers. 

For our arrangement - we figure that her well behaved 2 children are "cost equivalent" to my (hopefully) easy-going single baby who will need diaper changes. 

Picky, picky - In a co-op situation, you can find yourself faced with the difficult situation of needing to say "no" to a family that has a disruptive, misbehaving, or otherwise poor behaving child. This is when the Coupon Method would be perfect! (I hope to use this if I can gather enough parents into a co-op) The  problem family with the disruptive kiddo won't be able to really earn any tickets, therefore can't really ask for services. 

In an exchange situation, I can't forsee this really being an issue simply because you will very-likely know the family and child before entering into the exchange agreement. If their kiddo is a little toot, you know better than agreeing to this!

Familiarity - This is an issue we haven't given much thought to because as far as we can see it won't be an issue for us. However in larger co-ops there may be members that you simply don't know. This can be avoided by setting up the co-op in your mom group at church or child's class at church but that isn't a sure fire answer to knowing without-a-doubt that your child is in safe hands. To this I've found two answers, I think they would work best when used together.  

Background checks! They aren't fun, but important when picking the person you are entrusting your child's life with. I've also seen home checks by the co-op administrator being suggested  before a family can be admitted to the group.  

Socials Who doesn't like a fun yard party for the adults while the children have a playdate?!? Get to know the other families in your co-op by having monthly get-togethers at different houses!

Location, location, location - Sometimes I may be available to have an extra kid or two tag along with me on a Saturday afternoon while I run errands, or deal with things around the house. It's entirely different if keeping that kid means that I have to have a totally free afternoon to go sit at someone elses' house and entertain their child. Worse yet, if I have to make other arrangements for my children during this time. The only solution to this I've come up with is charging extra tickets or "time" against the bank if they require you to keep the child at their home.

We're so excited for this opportunity, even if we won't be using it for a few months... you know until little girl makes her appearance and I have managed to un-attach myself from her enough to leave her with someone else...

Do you participate in a Babysitting Co-op or Exchange?

What are some pros/cons you've run across in a structured setting like this? 

YNAB

As you probably know by now, John and I work hard to get out of debt and to live within our means.

"There are no normal months. Your expenses do not occur evenly throughout the year, and if you don’t plan for the high-expense months, you’ll be in a world of hurt."

Source

A vital part of that is keeping up with a monthly budget.
We've tried a couple of different budgeting methods but the one that has worked the best for us is YNAB.

YNAB is short for You-Need-A-Budget
It isn't exactly a fun fact but, no matter who you are - you need a budget!

YNAB is really easy to use! It keeps all your information in one place and helps you to monitor your expenses and find ways to reduce unnecessary spending.

It's also not for the faint of heart. You can't be half-hearted about wanting to fix your finances or a spending problem and use YNAB. It takes dedication and work.

YNAB works with 4 basic principles -

1. Give every dollar a job
2. Save for a Rainy Day
3. Roll with the Punches
4. Live on Last Month's Income

You make a budget for each month, based on known expenses and what you've spent in previous months.

One of my favorite features of YNAB that I haven't found with another form of budgeting is the ability to see the average of past months amounts spent to help you make an educated decision on how much you should budget this month.

In full disclosure, there is one of the YNAB steps that we opted to change up a little.
As you may know, we also use Dave Ramsey principles for managing our money. According to Dave Ramsey, your first step towards Financial Freedom is to save $1,000 and then start plugging away at your debt snowball. With YNAB, you're supposed to save 3 months income and then start making extra payments toward paying off your debt. To be honest, I'm just not that patient, so we went the Dave Ramsey route. (Praise God) We haven't had an emergency that has set us back much more than our Dave Ramsey savings account so we haven't gotten off our financial track due to a set back.

The details:  You can get YNAB free for 34 days if you're interested in checking it out but aren't sure that you're reading to take the plunge.  The cost of the plunge you ask? $60.00
This is a one time purchase, and for us - it was worth it!
If you follow this link, you can get a discount on the purchase of YNAB software as a referal bonus.

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated by You Need A Budget Inc. The views and opinions were entirely my own based on my experiences with their company and software. Also, for the record: I have changed some of the figures numbers and amounts you are seeing (a girls' gotta have some secrets ;)  )

Treading Water

Keeping up with the Jones' is an expensive and dangerous activity.
But it's the way that most Americans choose to live.

Materialism run amok, debt up to their eyeballs - unfortunately, when I look at many of our friends this is what we see. We struggle to keep ourselves on our path to financial freedom and out of the paths that lead to more financial destruction. Fact is, living within your means isn't fun and it isn't socially accepted.

John and I will get on a kick and see something that we just have to have.
It's not usually something small that we can just save a little and purchase.
We want to find ourselves debt free living the life of tomorrow, today.
Treading water is tiring.

The Rich rules over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender.
Proverbs 22:7

 I drive an old truck. I hear things from others all the time, financial myths - "you'll pay for the car payment in the gas money you save not driving the truck". False, it's interesting what others assume without doing the math to check it. Unless you drive a tank or an incredible distance in your daily commute - you'll only save about 20-25% towards a car payment.

In John's office, lunch is a social activity. We've cut his eat out days to about twice a month. It's really nice that they offer for him to go out with them, but dogging on him for brown bagging it gets old.

Eating out is a major social aspect with our friends. We're slowly adjusting our regular dinner dates to a pot luck night... others aren't so eager to jump on the bandwagon.

Shopping for new clothes is an interesting issue as well. I love shopping, but it just isn't a financially responsible approach to clothing ourselves. We're blessed to have access to great resources for purchasing good quality, second hand clothes.

All this makes my friends sound like jerks which isn't true. They think they're helping. They've bought into the financial myths. {And we're probably a little sensitive to it all since it's less than fun to begin with}

Sometimes sticking to our financial plan feels like we're just treading water.
But slowly and surely we're making progress, the shore is just in site and we're getting closer to it.

Today I pray for those who are walking in the same path as John & I.
I pray that you provide for all of our needs while guiding our financial path to freedom.
I pray that working together to live in financial peace will strengthen marriages.

renting vs. buying

 


This is the current topic in our household right now and I'm curious what your take on it is.

When John and I left our last house for this one we swore we would never rent again.
We'd been burned by our landlord - in retrospect we would have seen the signs that we were signing an awful lease with awful businessmen but alas, we were young and naive.

Today we find ourselves in a financially comfortable house, but it's a temporary solution at best.

The facts: we've got to move. John is driving 115 miles to & from work each day. He is very sweet about it but I don't want that much of his time to be sucked into a commute in Dallas traffic each day. Fact, we have 2 dogs and a cat that need space to roam (not a ton, but a big back yards worth). Fact, we're still working on becoming debt free, so we want to make financially smart decisions.

My parents have only ever owned their homes.
I've never truly seen the world of renting beyond a temporary solution.
I'm having to move beyond the idea of it being a stop-gap and considering it as an option.

Right now we're leaning heavily towards renting a house in the spring between our two jobs.
We're excited about the possibilities of being closer than 30 minutes from the restaurants we like.
Closer than half an hour from the movies!
We're also thinking about starting a family, so in roughly 6 years we will have a child that will start kindergarten. I refuse to put my children in the ISDs we would be living in.

Should we even consider buying a house that we wouldn't live in for more than 5 or 6 years?

What did you do when you were first starting out as a young married couple?
Rent or buy - what swayed you?

Thrift Store Wonder!

A major part of keeping a monthly budget for J & I is shopping second hand clothes.

My last trip to Platos Closet I hit the Jack Pot!!

I'm pretty hit or miss in any thrift store, but particularly that one for me, so I was quite excited!!

4 shirts + 1 dress + 1 shrug + 1 pair flip flops + 2 pair shorts

= $75! That's an average of $8 per item!

Did I mention that over half my haul still had the store tags on the items?

Sporting my new Pink shirt the next day at Mamas Write!

Thrifting is a huge blessing to us!

John was quite accustomed to name brand clothing and paying retail prices when we first got married. I had been raised in a house with 4 kiddos - we either bought it second hand or it was hand-me-downs. Buying second hand is really all I know (not that I don't shop regular retail stores - I love sales!) 

Stores, particularly Platos Closet, allow me to get John his favorite brands at a quarter (or less!) of the cost!

I keep a list of the things we need (or want) in my wallet - when I've got a spare few minutes to swing by one of my favorite stores I know exactly what we need and I don't get so caught up in shopping (& spending money) for the sake of shopping.

What about you? Do you thrift?

Student Loans

We have a tax deadline quickly approaching and life is crazy - 

but I just had to share this! 

AHH! It drives me crazy!

(And I laughed for a long time when I read this... maybe I need more time away from my desk)

 

We don't mind paying back our student loans - it's just that they changed the terms on us and now we have less time to pay back student loans (equivalent to the cost of buying a house) in a third of the time that they give you to pay off a house!

Journey to Financial Freedom

John and I have been working toward getting debt free for a while...

...pretty much since we got married!

We've made a lot of progress but feel like we needed more direction and definite plans on how to get from where we are now to being Debt Free! So, we thought about it for a while (it was honest to goodness laziness that we put it off for so long... that and the lovely denial stage) and we have started the Journey to being Debt Free with Dave Ramsey!

I wanted to share a few thoughts with you on what I've learned so far and things that stand out to me!

If you're on the fence - maybe this will be the push you need!

"It is human nature to want it and to want it now; it also a sign of immaturity"
Can I just be honest and tell you that we really struggle in this area!  It is so hard to make yourself understand and commit to the program when you want or "need" something but the money just isn't there and won't be for a few months!
We're working on growing up.

One area where we are a tad bit stronger is something we didn't even know we were doing "right" in the Total Money Makeover plan!  I drive an old clunker of a truck.  It was a nice truck in its hay day...17 years ago! It runs fine (most of the time) and gets me from point A to B just fine.

Dave Ramsey says that your friends and maybe even your family won't understand this concept - the things you do to save money and become financially free.  He wasn't kidding! My friends don't get  WHY we do it - explain as we might, debt is so normal to them that they don't understand why we won't just take out another loan.

I now have an answer that I didn't before!

The Rich rules over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender.

Proverbs 22:7 

  

Are you on the journey to Financial Freedom?
Anything you're surprised by?
Any lessons you've learned recently?

Desire to Inspire: Taking control & Letting go of your Finances.

Kind of an oxymoron when you phrase it that way...

It wasn't right after college, or right after J and I were married, but at some point during our married life we began to feel like life was on fast forward.  It happened to be October the first time I noticed it happening... then the next thing I knew it was March.

I was sitting at my desk absolutely baffled as to where the last 5 months had gone.

I first thought it was because we weren't marking time by deadlines passing or semesters ending, but I've realized it's because we're always looking to the future wishing away the time we have now.

It isn't that we don't love our lives and enjoy the days as time passes - but we were consistently thinking that Pay Day is only a week, or two weeks away. 

We were marking time by money and gauging our happiness based on the balance of our checking account.

My encouragement for you if you find yourself in a similar situation:

- Turn your situation over to God. You should be aware of your financial realities but they shouldn't dictate how you enjoy time with your family and the quality of time you have with them (don't let it affect your mood)

- Figure out where your money is going.  Breaking down bank statements from the last 6 months into detailed spreadsheets will give you an idea of your frivolous spending and help you to cut those costs or eliminate them all together.

- After you know where your money is going, talk with your spouse. Create a budget that you both agree upon and are both willing to stick to (it's important that you both are committed to sticking to the budget).

Freecycle - Review

       If you aren't familiar with Freecycle, I recommend you check it out!  It is a Yahoo Group that is run by volunteers. 
Much like Craigslist, it works by location. We have been able to clean out a lot of our messy cluttered junk this way. Many of these things would either bring no money on Craigslist, Ebay etc or were just too much trouble for me to spend much time messing with them.

      I've gotten rid of these things quickly and effectively using Freecycle: trash can holder, aquarium, a box of random junk (plastic spoons, mismatched mugs, ribbon, yarn etc), countless articles of clothing (grouped by general sizes or themes), scrap wood, a broken dryer, a broken refrigerator, buckets, cheap plant pots, filing cabinet, a dresser that needed some serious restorations... the list goes on & on.

     I am most proud of my find on Freecycle! We got this couch for free! 

Not a great picture of the couch - but Clyde likes it!

Best part?!? It's a hide-a-bed!  It is in great shape! The only issue was with the cushions. : (
(Suggestions on essentially replacing the fabric of the cushions to something else entirely?
the structure of the cushions is still fine, it is just the outside of them that's the issue)

When it's just John and I around the house we keep sheets on the couches anyway (to protect them from our dogs that like to get on the couch when they *think* we're not looking).  

Washing them on a gentle cycle helped some... but for a free couch that solved a lot of our "where to put guests" issue I'm not complaining!

Do you use freecycle? What do you think about it?

Our "Freedom Account" and Savings Update

       I stumbled upon this blog all about how to live as a family of 6 on less than $28,000 a year!  The first post I read about was regarding her "Freedom Account". She got the idea from Mary Hunt's Debt Proof Living. A freedom account is a checking account that you set up for irregular expenses. The point is you have planned ahead and the cost doesn't break the bank or go on those never-ending credit cards.

      Irregular expenses are the thing that kick John's and my tooshes when it comes to budgeting. We have gotten really good at managing our monthly expenses and are finally ready to expand out and start saving - but as soon as I'm ready to hit that "send" button and move money from our main account over into savings something "comes up".

      I say "comes up" in a sarcastic tone, because usually we knew it was coming - or should have known. Like last months sudden car expense, well the check engine light had been on for a while so I should have known... *roll eyes here*. Fortunately it was a cheap-ish labor bill and the fix was even cheaper, but we also found out that we will soon need to replace a $200 part, but it bought us time. And I can go ahead and say that next month we'll have the "surprise" of needing to register the car. Like that doesn't happen once a year?!?

    Off the top of my head I would say that we should save for the following events/issues/bills in our Freedom Account.(Wedding/Shower gifts, Baby shower gifts, Car Registration, Car Inspection, Routine Car Maintenance) I'm sure there are more, but we'll have to figure it out as we go. Basically, you add up all these expenses and divide it by the number of paychecks you get a month, in our case 4. I hope it helps with the unexpected!

    Regarding our other savings... we haven't made it far, but we're working on it! : )