Don’t tell anyone.
We just made our final house payment.

What? Congratulations! Why don’t you want anyone to know?

Well.. you know how it is. People start thinking you’re bragging. Or worse, they will think that we must have a lot of money. I just don’t think they would understand how much we have sacrificed to get here.

I knew how she felt.  When people hear that we have no house payment, they look at us like we won the lottery.  That somehow it was luck that got us here.  I guess they are right. Just not in the ways that they think.

I am lucky:

• to have married someone who is willing to go to work every day
• to have kids who don’t mind sharing four to a bedroom
• to have friends that put up with me making pizza instead of ordering in
• to have family will visit us, so we don’t have to always travel
• to have a country that support our desire to be independent
• to have a God that blesses us beyond what we can ever ask for

It would be a lot easier to just sit back and listen to the woes of those that “haven’t been so lucky” and not say anything.  But what have I done to be ashamed of?  Was it choosing water instead of soda when we ate out? Was it refusing to buy fruit out of season?

The problem with saying nothing, is that it denies all the ways that we have been blessed.  If I don’t tell people how God “coincidentally” kept us from getting pregnant with our first baby until we made our final debt payment, then I am deny that miracle.

And worse, I am teaching my kids that being a good steward with my money is something to be ashamed of.

Have you ever felt this way?

Posted in Debt Free Living | 1 Comment »

Growing up, the words “put it on the sewing pile” were like a death sentence to any clothes.  Early on I learned the magic of a safety pin, and all of my badges were securely stapled onto my sashes.

If those remedies didn’t work, then the item had to go in the yard sale pile so that at least some one else could have the opportunity to fix it and love it.

It’s not like my mom didn’t know how to sew.  She did. She used to make doll clothes for me when I was little.  But then we started growing up, and well, I guess life happens.  And a sewing pile was the last thing on the list. For years.

So you can imagine what kind of sewing habits I have.  I can do it. I even took a sewing class in college. I’ve made bed spreads and dresses, napkins and gifts.  But at the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is mend.

I know. I’m lazy.

But luckily, I am also cheap.  I hate to throw perfectly good stuff away when I know I could fix it. So I created Mommy’s fix-it bag.

I had a bag with a lot of pockets.  It was actually a freebie from Hubby’s business conference.  It was perfect for organizing scissors, threads, baggies of extra buttons, and extra needles. You know what I did with it?

I took it to soccer.

During the week, as I sorted laundry, and purged dressers I looked for things that needed fixin’ and I put them in the bag.  Then during a soccer game I would pull out my needle and thread and fix a button or two by half time.  I had the whole pile mended by the end of the season.

Now soccer is over for the season, but instead of letting things stack up again, I take my bag with me when there is a chance to I might be just sitting for a while: School board or PTA meetings, waiting at the doctor’s office, or even going for a long drive.

Next on my list: teach my own kids how to fix-it themselves!

Posted in Doing it Yourself | 1 Comment »

Make Dilemmonade!

So here is our dilemma:

Last week we had a fire in our oven.  A potentially bad fire.  The heating element on the bottom caught on fire.  Not spilled food.  The actually heating element caught fire like a fourth of July sparkler. Luckily, I was still standing in the kitchen when it happened.  So I was able to turn the stove off right away, and the fire eventually went out.  Whew!

Later, hubby tried to remove the element from the stove.

POP!

There was a big flash, a bang, and then our power went out.

The oven had short circuited our main house switch.  Let me tell you, I was saying some serious thank you prayers to my Hubby’s angels at that point.  I was sure he could have been electrocuted.

Once we got power back on, we did some research on this oven.  To replace the bad element would be about $75.  Then we started reading the reviews.  It seems that we weren’t the first people to have this happen to them. In fact, many of the other stoves burned completely, and the firemen were even called.

Suddenly, I wasn’t so interested in getting a new element.  I wanted a whole new stove.  We’ve had this stove for about 8 years.  Old enough that there is no warranty, yet too young to replace.  It had had a good track record up to this point, what are the chances that another freak accident would happen to us?

$75 to fix an otherwise perfectly good stove, or $450 roughly for a new stove?

What would you do?

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Sometimes there is a limit to the number of jobs your kids can take on.  So if you find yourself in a position where you may have been overpaying for jobs or allowances, there are 3 approaches you can take.  You can:  Give them a reason for reducing their pay, add jobs to the list, or

3. Add to their responsibilities.

Their financial responsibilities.  This list will, of course, depend on the age of your children.  But get creative, you might be surprised how kids will look at costs differently when they are expected to contribute.

• Have them contribute more to gifts that they buy for others.
• Pay for gas for special trips
• Buy their own treats, or fast food
• buy clothes or other accessories
• pay for entertainment: movies, rentals, cable, internet, phone, etc.

Anything that your kid uses, even as a member of the family, can be open game.  These are things that they will have to pay for eventually, so why not get them in the habit of doing it now?

As your kid sees their costs going up, they may actually start looking for ways to earn money.  Imagine them offering to do a job!

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This is part two of You Asked It! “How do you retrench if you have already been overpaying?”

If you find yourself in a position that you need to renegotiate pay, whether for jobs or for an allowance, and you don’t think your kid would understand, or agree to reason, try

Approach #2: Add More Jobs to the List

• Don’t give Pay increases
• If you pay a salary style allowance this is easier to do.  You just simply add more jobs with out increasing the pay.
• if you pay by the job, try these:

1. Try combining jobs without increasing pay.  For example, if you pay $.25 to dust the living room, now make it living room and dining room for the same price .
2. Underpay for new jobs to reach a desired average.  Example, $.25 to dust the living room, and only $.10 to vacuum

• Offer the job to someone else.  This works best in a competitive job market (read: bigger families) when there is a limit to the number of jobs available.  When there is a limit to the amount of total money to be earned, your kids will discover the joys of bidding for jobs.

When your kids want money, they will be willing to do the work for it.  If you have been overpaying for jobs for a while, it may take some time before they realize this.

Look for part 3 of Renegotiating wages.

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After reading My Kid Just Wants to buy Junk, Audrey from Alice Audrey.com asks, “How do you retrench if you have already  been overpaying?”

Well, nobody likes getting a reduction in pay, especially for no apparent reason.  So there are 3 different approaches you can take if you find that you have been overpaying for jobs or allowances.

The 1st approach: Give them a reason.

This may depend on the age and reason-ability of your kid.  Here are some examples:

• We can’t afford to give you more than _____ anymore.
• We have done some research and comparing and it turns out that the going rate for______is really only____.
• We don’t think you have been spending your money wisely, so we want to cut back until you can show us that you can make better choices.

Honesty is always the best policy, so make sure that you give a true reason.  It is also often the more difficult route.  Many parents don’t have the guts to just tell their kids  the truth, especially when it comes to financial matters.  Maybe it comes from a fear of being called a hypocrite, who knows.

Check back next time for #2 & #3 Ways to Negotiate Wages.

Posted in Making Money, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Miss Love is five and a half now, and very much a girly girl. She loves to wear dresses, and dance to her ballerina music. Her favorite animals are butterflies and can you guess what her favorite color is? Pink? Purple? Maybe Red? Nope.

She says her favorite color is green. But then you have to ask her why green is her favorite. And she says that green is her favorite color because green is her Daddy’s favorite color. And she loves her Daddy.

Isn’t that precious? Imagine a world where we all loved the things that our heavenly Father loved, just because we loved Him. Would it make us act differently? Would we treat people differently? Would we give differently?

Remember 2 Corinthians 9:7: “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver”

Tags: Why I Give
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New York.

A city of bribery? That’s hard to say.  After $1.5 Million paid to school kids in New York City, the economists could not find  any measurable sign of success. Heres’ how the test was set up:

Fourth graders were given $25, and seventh graders were given $50. Per Test. The catch was that their test scores had to improve (the article is not clear on how that part was actually measured).

Interestingly, this test failed, as in there was no improvement.  It is most interesting to me in that this was the only sample where they were actually focusing on improving test scores, and looking at test scores to see results.  In other words, they were actually comparing apples with apples.  Rather than giving the kids apples, and then testing their oranges like it seemed like they were doing in the other tests (Dallas, Washington, D.C., Chicago)

So then, why did it fail?

Clues came out in the exit interviews with the students.  But it wasn’t what they said, it was what they didn’t say.  The “scientists” asked the kids how they could improve their test scores, and none of them knew.  They were motivated to earn the money, but they did not know how to accomplish the goal.  The students may have been even more frustrated by the ‘Bribe’ because they were being offered the right carrot, but not a clear map on how to get there.

In many scientific experiments, studying the tests that fail is almost more telling than studying the tests that succeed.

Next time, I will lay out what the lessons to be learned from each test should be.

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This is the question I was asked this morning by Miss Love(5).  She had just finished cleaning the bathroom mirrors on her own initiative.

“Ummm… Well…I, uh, never told you that I was going to pay you anything.”

“Oh.”

“You see, if it is a “JOB” then some body will say something like, ‘I will give you money if you help me.’ If they don’t say that, then they will think that you are just helping them to be nice.”

“Oh”

“So, if you are wanting to earn some money, you would have to say something like, ‘I am trying to earn some money, do you have a job I can do?’ That way people will know that you want to get paid at the end.”

A basic money lesson that we had overlooked. But now we know.

This linked in:

Posted in Job V Chore, Making Money | 2 Comments »

If you are interested in ways to save money on college, check out this guest post I did for Good Financial Cents.  Not only will you learn some tips about ways to trim the cost of college, but you will also get some tidbits on my own college experience.

If you are in School, have kids that are, or are looking to go back to school, here are some ideas to help you cut some serious money off your school bill. Some ideas may conflict, or are situation dependent, but I am sure there is something here that will work for every one.
1. Don’t Go! I know this is supposed to be about graduating without debt, but the best way to not have debt, is to not go in the first place. Not all jobs require a diploma, check out whether this is an investment that is worth its return.
2. Choose Major Wisely This reason is two fold. 1. make sure you have chosen a major that will end up in a usable degree, and 2. many scholarships are awarded based on your choice of major.
3. Get Good Grades. Scholarships are handed out to students with high GPAs, it also opens up your options for which schools you can get into. Many people don’t know that you can negotiate tuition at many schools, but this is only possible if you have the grades to back up your position. There are in house scholarships that financial counselors are allowed to award if you can prove that you are a worthwhile student. This is also true if you end up having to take out a loan. Lending agents are more willing to negotiate terms with a high GPA (read lower risk) student.
4. Be involved. See get good grades. These reasons all apply here, too. So even if you were not blessed with the brains, colleges are still looking for students that will have a positive effect on their campus, and exhibit leadership skills. This goes for banks, too. Prove that you have potential and your position is much improved.
5. Go for the Scholarships. Every one says this, but not everyone does it. Thousands of scholarships go unclaimed every year, equaling millions of dollars. Some of the scholarships out there are very specific in their requirements, so who knows even though many apply, you may be the only one who qualifies. Look into qualifications early. There may be some easy things that you can do, or join to make yourself more attractive to committees.
6. Consider Corporate Sponsors Many big name stores have a certain amount of money set aside for helping the community, supporting schools, or scholarships. Sometimes you have to be an employee, but often you just have to submit an application.
7. Send Out those Graduation Announcements People love to give money for a graduation presents. So spread the word to every long lost relative you can find. Now just don’t go spending that money on a last chance backpacking trip and Europe, and you are one step closer to graduating debt free.
8. Add it to your Christmas List This doesn’t work for everyone, but if you tell family and friends that you have a goal of graduating debt free, they might be more inclined to give you money, instead of that desk calendar that they had their eye on.
9. Choose your College Carefully Many people want the Ivy League education but few people need it. Consider your career goals, and decide how prestigious of a school you REALLY need.
10. Apply for Financial Aid Early. Financial aid comes in many forms and from many sources. Sometimes it is free money, money with a lower interest rate, or deferred payments. Apply for everything that you qualify for. You don’t have to take it, but it’s good to see your options.
11. It may be wise to use a small loan that you take out your freshman year that has deferred interest instead. Put your cash into an interest earning account, and use it after you graduate to pay off that loan when it becomes due.
12. Get a Job. Not only will the extra income help pay for college, but having work experience now, will help you get that better job after graduation.
13. Transfer as many credits as your college will allow. Taking summer, or even college classes while still in high school, from a community college and transferring them to your choice school, can save tons of money while not lessening the degree earned.

What was the best way you saved money while in college?

This is linked in:

• Thursday 13

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