I have a success/setback.
I had saved up $500 (BIG thing for me…
I’m horrible at saving) using the budgeting tool, when my cat (before I continue: I am 29 years old, no kids, I’ve had my cat for 11 years, and he IS my baby…
and he will never do drugs or borrow my car, so this is a win-win for me) got a cough.
Thought it was a hairball, but it lasted 4 days.
Finally took him to the vet, and he had bronchitis, tapeworms, and an enlarged heart.
The visit and his prescriptions cost $480.
So, bad news: I’m back at square one.
Good news: because of the budgeting I had the money to help my cat.
Without the budgeting, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to take him to the vet, much less treat him for stuff.
And I didn’t have to borrow money from my parents (which I haven’t had to do yet, but I would have gone to them instead of a credit card…
they don’t charge interest ).
I just got the envelope binder thingy from Dave’s site.
I think its $19.95, but I think I got 2 for $29.95 (I gave one to my mom, who just declared bankrupcy).
Its not cheap, obviously, but I LOVE it and it fits in my purse.
I’m an organizer freak, so this gives me my fix for this year so I don’t have to spend my $75+ a year I typically spend at the Franklin Covey store.
Bad.
And I opened an IRA (I’m self-employed, so no 401k).
I only have $100 in it, but its a huge kick for me (I had one several years ago when I was making big bucks at a dot com as a web developer, but had to cash it out to…
you guessed it…
pay bills after I was laid off).
Its a Roth IRA, so I’m putting both my retirement savings and my home savings in there…
and I can’t touch it.
Daphne

Cindi, I can relate to about the kids
activities.  It’s a tough decision because you want the kids to be
physically active, learn to manage their time, and other things.  We have 2
boys who will be playing travel baseball this spring with one team going to
Cooperstown , NY for a tournament in July.  We have $700 in baseball related expenses due this
month alone.  The good news is that includes registration fees, so it isn’t
that amount every month!   Another struggle that I have is getting dh
to sit down and discuss the finances with me.  He agreed months ago that I
would take over the day to day stuff like paying bills, but hasn’t made
the time to ‘hand it over’ to me.    For a success…I want to start FPU at
my church.  I knew I faced an uphill battle because Crown Ministries is also
taught and strongly supported by the Sr.
Minister.  I now have received the ok
from him to present it to the Adult Ministries Council and need to get that
presentation together and get on their meeting agenda.  I had hoped to start
the classes in January, but have been told that’s not possible.    Pam