Financial Lesson from Glee...

...or at least from talking about Glee. 

Cousin DFx40 and I watch Glee together every week.  I told him that I would love to have the soundrackthat was out. He informed me that the show had a second volume out too. He went on to tell me that soundtracks of any kind are his weakness. He knows as soon as almost any soundtrack comes out, and he has to give himself a limit of 2 weeks to buy them. By the time the 2 weeks are over, the newness has worn off and he rarely ends up buying it. How awesome that he has discovered something that will help him with his finances for the rest of his life! To be successful financially (and in life) we have to realize two things. 

What works for me doesn't work for everyone. 
Mr. DFx40 prefers get up at 5am every morning and run 8 miles before the day even starts. If he waits until 5pm he is not going to run. F.I.L. DFx40 prefers to eat breakfast and be awake for an hour or two first.  If he gets up at 5am it is only because his dogs woke him up. Some of us can hang out at the mall for 4 hours on a Saturday and end up buying one $10 shirt that we have been looking at for a month. Some of us can't drive past the mall without going in and spending $100 on something we don't even want. 

I have to work on what doesn't come naturally. 
Brother DFx40 was born with a very active metabolism, and has to work very hard to gain weight.  Aunt DFx40 was born with a very inactive metabolism has to work very hard to not gain weight. Brother DFx40 can't lift weights once a week and expect to gain a lot of muscle any more than Aunt DFx40 can eat a salad once a week and expect to lose weight. Some of us find it easy to cook meals at home, but can't bear the thought of giving up cable. Some of us haven't had cable in years, but can't imagine making a grilled cheese sandwich.

These two things are not reasons for us to make excuses. We just need to realize that we all have strengths and weakness, and we have to work with what we've been given. I don't have a problem with tracking my spending (I love Excel), giving freely to others, or saving money. I do have to be careful in stores that sell yarn, in any store if I'm upset, or driving by a restaurant on my way home from work. 

What about you...what have you discovered that works for you? What things do you have to work on?

My Happiness Project

A few things have me thinking about happiness lately.

The first is the weather we’ve been having. We’ve had quite a few days of snow (at least for Texas), and many more days of overcast dreary weather. It always gets me in a little bit of a funk.

The second is a post from J.D. at Get Rich Slowly; It’s More Important to Be Happy than to Be Rich. J.D. makes the case that money doesn’t make our lives better, happiness does. And he makes a very compelling case.

The third is a site I stumbled on; The Happiness Project. Gretchen Rubin spent an entire year applying bits of happiness advice to her life and blogging about it. She also wrote a book about what she learned from that year.

On her blog, Gretchen encourages everyone to start their own Happiness Project. She outlines areas to focus on each month, and even posts weekly goals for each area.

January – Energy
February – Love
March – Work
April – Money
May – Mindfulness
June – Order
July – Spirit
August – Fun
September – Family
October – Friends
November – Attitude
December – Boot Camp Perfect

I know there are plenty of things I can focus on in each of her proposed areas. Since it looks like the sun isn’t going to be breaking through the clouds anytime soon, I should probably be a little proactive in increasing my happiness.

The first month, January, focuses on Energy. That happens to align with a few of my Firm Determinations for 2010, namely the ones related to my health. Running, riding my bike, stretching and exercising my back, and eating better are all likely to boost my energy. If I am going to keep up with all of that exercising, I’m going to need to make sure I get a solid 8 hours of sleep every night. And since I get up at 5am to run with Mr. DFx40, it looks like I need to get off the computer and head to bed!

What about you…how can you increase your happines by focusing on Energy?

Firm Determinations

I use to make New Year’s Resolutions every year. I’ll run every day, read my bible more, get more sleep, lose weight, etc. Let me be honest. I never made it past January. I think the reason why I failed year after year is that resolutions were either impossible, or too vague.

One of the areas that I have experienced crazy results in the last two years is my finances. Looking back, I am confident that the reason for this success was setting goals. Mr. DFx40 and I sat down when he decided to go back to school. We made some very specific goals for the short term and long term (the ultimate goal of course is to be debt free by 40). I don’t like to be like everyone else so instead of making New Year’s Resolutions I’m going to make Firm Determinations. Here are my 2010 Firm Determinations broken into 4 categories:

Finances
Since this blog is largely to hold me accountable, I should probably start with my financial goals. These goals are really just for half the year because Mr. DFx40 will graduate in May. Yay!

Save $5000 towards student loan repayment by May
Increase Emergency Fund by one month’s living expenses by May
Open a Roth IRA with retirement money in Money Market Account
Reevaluate goals in May 2010

Health
When I take care of myself my expenses are actually lower. Some of my friends argue that when they exercise they eat more. This may be true for them, but not for me. When I exercise regularly I pay closer attention to the food I eat, I plan out my meals, and actually spend less money on groceries. I also feel better and have more energy, which means I’m not sitting on the couch watching TV and snacking.

Run/log 600 miles
Ride my new bike to work 24 times
Do back exercises/stretches 3 times a week
Try one new meatless meal a month

Faith
I talked previously about why I want to be debt free by forty. I believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and I desire to live as he taught. However, I still get distracted with work and other things of this world. After being inspired by Matt at Becoming Last, I am determined to live missionally today instead of waiting until my financial goals are met.

Volunteer to lead college small group once a month
Spend time with children from bus ministry once a month 
Spend 3 hours a week reading and studying my bible

Blog
I am still new to the blogging world, and I know there are many ways I need to improve. I have a few things I would like to accomplish with and through this blog.

 

Post a new article once a week

Track all of my input/output and share it once a month

• Income/Expenses
• Food/Exercise
• Spiritual Growth/Live Missionally

I am very optimistic about my Firm Determinations because they are all SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed). I am starting a few days behind on my resolutions, but I still hope to have a favorable report by the end of this month.

What about you…what Firm Determinations have you made for the new year?

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all spend some time with those you love today to celebrate Christ's birth.  I pray you will all be touched by this season and find some time to think of those less fortunate as well. 

We are dealing with 8 inches of snow right now.  In Texas.  It has caused some problems for some trying to traveling, but it is beautiful.  It makes me thankful I have a warm home, ample food and clean water, and my family and friends.

We were able to deliver presents to the family we adopted this morning despite the snow and ice.  It was so awesome to see their faces and how thankful they were for a few pieces of clothing and a toys.

Christmas Spending

Well guys, its two weeks before Christmas, and I’m going to be finishing up my shopping this weekend. After our first two years of marriage, Mr. DFx40 and I realized that we needed to prepare a little better for Christmas. So our third year of marriage we started saving $25 a month for Christmas related expenses. We also accumulate $100-$150 in cashback on our credit card every year. That makes our Christmas budget $400-450, but we rarely spend that much. This year we will be buying presents for 32 people this year, and here are a few tips on how we keep our costs down:

Couples Gifts
My brother and his fiancé love movies. More specifically, they love Disney movies. For them we will purchase one or two movies that we know they want. Then we will add popcorn, hot chocolate, or some other edible gift to round it out. This will cost between $20-$30.
Last year we stumbled across some deeply discounted wine in June. We paired these with books, movies, and other edible gifts for the couples we knew would appreciate the wine. Because we had the ability to purchase the wine early, we were able to spend $20-$25 on each couple.

Picture Exchange
My aunt suggested a great idea a few years ago. Every three years when we get together we exchange pictures as our gift. These pictures mean more than a gift because we only get to see them 2 times a year. This year we took our pictures at our local Botanic Gardens, which were free to visit. They also allow amateur photos if you don’t use a tripod. We have a printer that prints good quality photos (most printers do these days) so the only substantial cost here is buying a frame for each family. Because we all knew the arrangement, we were able to look for discounted frames throughout the year.

Draw Names
This is what the adults did on Mr. DFx40’s side of the family when there were 15 people to buy presents for instead of 5. It worked great because everyone bought gifts for the three children, but only one adult gift. This meant we could spend $30-$40 on a good gift (or less, we changed the limit over time) and still save money over buying 15 cheap $5 gifts.

Christmas Gift Exchange Game
We play the Christmas gift exchange game at our office’s Christmas party every year. The limit is $10 so most of the time we purchase edible items and just work it into the food budget. When I was younger we got together with my father’s first cousins (16 people) and played this game. Because of that experience, I can offer some advice. This game might not work with young children who don’t understand why their gift is being “stolen.”

Just Visit
I believe that the reason Thanksgiving is so awesome is because you get together with family, eat, play games, have fun, and don’t have to worry about presents. Sometimes I actually enjoy Thanksgiving more than Christmas because of this. There is nothing wrong with getting together and not giving presents. However, if you’re like my mother and can’t (or won’t?) bear the thought of Christmas with no gifts, consider the next tip.

Adopt a family
We were very blessed this year and we were able to adopt a local family with our bible study group. The family is made up of 9 children ranging from 2 months to 15 years old. The two youngest children live with their mother and the other 7 children live with their grandparents. We were able to purchase each child a pair of jeans, three shirts, pajamas, and stocking stuffers. We also bought each child a bible with his or her name engraved on it, a few family games, and a restaurant gift card and free night of babysitting for the grandparents. There were ten of us to split the costs, so we were able to come up with the money pretty painlessly. This will be the most rewarding and appreciated gift I have ever given.

What about you…how does your family handle gift exchanges? Have you ever gone the non-traditional route and not given presents?

Entitlement

One night a couple of weeks ago I came home from work late and found my husband in his pajamas watching a tv show on the computer. The first thing I noticed about the house was that that it was messier than I left it when I went to work this morning. Then I looked a little closer and noticed that he hadn’t even laid out the load of laundry like I had asked him. So I changed out of my work clothes and walked to the laundry room. As I walked through the kitchen I realized the dishwasher needed to be unloaded and there were dirty dishes from breakfast and lunch in the sink and on the counter. Sigh.

I went into the laundry room, folded the load of laundry and walked through the living room to put it away. He didn’t even look up from the computer. So what did I do in response? I huffed back into the kitchen to clean and start dinner, banging pots and pans around in the process. Halfway through making dinner he had the audacity to walk in and ask me what was wrong.

Oh yeah. I might have forgotten to mention that it was the only day off he had that week. And being the patient man that he is, he responded with a gentle explanation to my tantrum. After a week filled with two 12-hour clinicals, 18 hours of class time, and two 12-hour shifts at work, he was enjoying his only evening off. Oops.

Our sense of entitlement gets us into trouble sometimes. When we feel entitled to have things our way all the time we end up hurting other people and our relationships suffer. A sense of entitlement is what gets many people into debt also. We feel entitled to spend more than we make because we work hard, we don’t get paid enough, or we don’t get recognized for our work. The list goes on and on.

There are very few things that I think humans really need: basic shelter, clothing, food and water. Anything else other than that is a luxury. But think about all the people around the world, including children, who don’t even have all of the things on that short list. It wouldn’t take much for us to scale back on our “necessities” to ensure that others basics needs were met.

What about you…in what ways do you find yourself feeling entitled? Is there anything you previously felt entitled to that you have gone without to help someone else?

Budgeting for Home Repairs

We bought our house two years ago when we moved to be closer to family. Because we co-owned a house with my parents before we moved, we knew that owning a house on our own would mean more expenses. And I'm not talking about utilities, insurance, or taxes. I'm talking about all those little (and not so little) repairs and updates that go with owning a house. Our "new" house was built in 1980.  The previous owners had completed some updating, but there were still a few things we noticed (some before we moved in, and some after) that would need to be updated or repaired within a few years of moving in. 

What we knew to budget for when we moved in.
New Fence: The fence at our house was in pretty bad shape, and just needed to be torn down.  But to keep our dogs in for a while, we made a few quick repairs with left over fence planks. 
HVAC Unit:  The sticker on our HVAC unit showed that it was 18 years old so we knew we would need to replace it in a few years. We had the unit serviced and they didn’t find any huge problems with it, it was just old and inefficient.
Paint and small repairs:  Two of the three bedrooms had never been painted and were the original dingy, white. Their little girl’s bedroom was a Barbie purple that didn’t match any of our décor. We knew we would want to paint, but it wasn’t urgent. Our new house also only had ceiling fans in the living room and office, and living in Texas we new we would want to install new fans in each bedroom.  Our house also didn't come with a storm door.  Not a huge deal, but there are 2-3 months of the year we can turn off the AC and open up the doors.

How we decided how much to save.
New Fence:  We had money left over from selling our first house (and paying off my student loans) that immediately went to fund most the new fence. This was our priority because it was in the worst shape, and my dogs are smart.  The repairs we made wouldn't keep them in the yard for long.  We measured the length of our fence and headed to Lowe's.  I'm a spreadsheet junky so I was able to estimate the number of metal posts, 2x4s, and fence planks we would need and get a pretty good estimate.  We only had to save for two months before we had the rest of the money to replace the fence.
HVAC Unit:  Luckily we had friends who replaced their unit and ductwork shortly after we moved into our house. Their house was 200 square feet smaller than ours, and they moved the location of their unit because of remodeling. Because we are good friends they didn’t mind telling us how much their unit cost. We used that number as our goal of cash on hand to have before we replaced our unit.  We decided we would plan on replacing the unit 2-3 years after moving in.  So we took the estimate, divided it by 36 months, and started putting that money in savings.
Paint and small repairs:  Painting the bedrooms was something I had mentioned to my parents and a few family members. Because I had shared this with them, for my birthday they pitched in and gave me $100 to paint. The ceiling fans ended up being Christmas presents from my parents and grandparents, and the front door was a birthday present from Mr. DFx40. 

Why I’m glad we prepared.
Just over a year after moving in we had a little trouble with our HVAC unit leaking water, so we took a closer look. That’s when we discovered the sticker showing that the unit was 18 years old was not correct. The actual installation date of the unit was when the house was built. In 1980. After that discovery we ramped up our savings because we weren’t sure the unit would last through the year. And unfortunately, we were right. Our air conditioner stopped blowing cool or hot air this October. When the technician came by to service it he said it had quite a few leaks, and the coils were aluminum and couldn’t be repaired. They gave us an estimate on 5 different units, two of which qualified for a $1500 tax rebate. After some discussion and prayer we decided to go with the less expensive of the energy efficient units. After the $1500 tax rebate, the energy efficient unit will actually be cheaper than the regular units! It does make us a little nervous for our savings account to take such a large hit, but it does feel good to have the cash ready and not have to use credit.

Since we prepared early on for this, we will reap many benefits.  First, we don't have to take out a loan to replace the unit. We have the cash on hand. Secondly, things were timed almost perfectly for us to get a $1500 rebate on our taxes that can go directly back into the emergency fund, which equals almost 1 month of expenses for us. Thirdly, we will actually be putting the cost of the unit on our credit card, getting 5% cash back, and paying it off at the end of the month.  I'm pretty excited!

What about you...what home expenses have you budgeted for?  Which ones have taken you by surprise?