Getaway Recap

Nate and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary on October 5th. We went to Duluth this past weekend as a little getaway, and it was just what we needed. We did a lot of eating, drinking, and just enjoying the little adventure together. The weather was absolutely amazing—couldn’t have asked for anything better. Instead of gushing about how much I love my hubby and how great our time away together was, here are just some pictures. 

 

On a slightly different note, when our anniversary hit, baby fever hit hard again. It’s difficult for me because I know how much we both want children now, but we feel like we should reach some of our other goals beforehand. And it’s just hard to balance the feeling of wanting a child now and wanting to reach other goals first. I know that there is no perfect time to decide to have a child. Other mamas and families out there, what were your discussions like on this topic?! I’d love to hear.

Surprise

Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.

 

Nate and I have always valued experiences over materials. We think it’s an important outlook on life to have. The truly important things in life are few, and being with each other and creating memories together is one of them. Last Thursday, Nate gave me an early anniversary card. He included this excerpt from an article (http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/can-money-buy-happiness?page=2): 

Many people assume that filling a large house with possessions will make them happiest. So why might a cooking class or vacation getaway trump a new kitchen floor or TV?

In one recent study, Cornell University researchers found that purchasing an experience tended to improve well-being more than buying a possession, in part because people are more prone to comparisons and buyer’s remorse with material goods.

Also, objects tend to deteriorate with time, but experiences can create lasting memories. If you share lessons or dinners and vacations with others, the social connections can make you happier, too, experts say.

“Experiences are just easier to appreciate,” says Lyubomirsky, who didn't work on the Cornell study. “We are made happier by experiences. You’re more likely to recall it. It’s more likely to become part of your identity. You’re the sum of your experiences, not the sum of your possessions.”

Even though we have been budgeting a lot and throwing as much money as we can at our loans, Nate also pointed out that we should reward ourselves and create more memories together. The surprise is that Nate planned us a trip to Sanibel Island, Florida in December! I'm so excited to explore the island together. It will be like a second honeymoon, since the “honeymoon” we went on last year was with all of my family. We will be paying for this by not making any extra payments toward our loans in November. 

I’m a lucky girl to have a husband who is super good at being financially conscious and responsible, but also one who realizes that sometimes you just have to take a vacation, relax, enjoy new experiences, and just be together. 

Brief Marriage Reflections

Nate and I have our first wedding anniversary in a few weeks. When people tell you that it goes by fast, they aren’t lying. For the past couple days I’ve been reminiscing about our last year together and just how grateful and blessed I am to truly have a husband who supports and loves me to no end. Looking back on our first year of marriage, I’m proud of us as a couple. Some people say that the first year is tough, but for us, it wasn’t. I think this first year we have built a great foundation, especially because we have really mastered communicating with each other. Focusing on paying off debt has driven us to communicate openly and clearly with each other, and that has transferred over to all areas of our life. This past year we have also done a lot of “dreaming” for what we want our of life together, and that has us both excited for the future, short- and long-term.

I’ve also been thinking of what kind of wife I am and want to be. With Nate and I both working, Nate studying to be a CPA, me coaching a dance team, and us both taking care of the dog, it can be difficult to focus on what the other needs and wants. But I think I’ve done a pretty good job at supporting Nate with all of his endeavors. And I know that, essentially, him getting his CPA will hopefully enable me to become a stay-at-home mom. So for that I’m sincerely grateful. I cook and clean a lot, because I value it and actually enjoy doing it in our marriage. I love when I’m able to have dinner cooking and hand Nate a drink when he gets home from work. Call me traditional.

We started this blog as a way to work through the "burden" of paying off debt, but it has become a blessing because in doing so, it has taught us more about who we are in our marriage, and has taught us how to work together. 

 This is the very first picture we took together, only a few days after we started dating. Now we will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary in a few short weeks. Exciting times are ahead!

Catching Up

It’s been almost four months since we have blogged last. Super sorry; blogging just got away from us. Aside from being busy with summer activities, the summer was actually demotivating for us. I originally thought that it would be easier to save and put more money toward our debt in the summer. I figured that we would be able to do fun, free activities outside. Buuuuuuut it turned out that the things we wanted to do took money because we wanted to be out and about more—going to the lake, happy hours on patios, etc. We didn’t totally get derailed, but we did loose motivation a little bit.

On the upside, though, we did manage to make extra payments toward our loans. With the payments we made and with a very generous gift of a family member, we were able to pay down roughly 20% of our original outstanding amount. We are planning an anniversary trip to Duluth, MN, in October, and we plan on rededicating the intensity after that.

Here are some other updates in our super exciting lives: 

-I (Shaina) got a new job! I still work in publishing, but it was just time to move onward and upward. Plus, I’m making more moolah.

-Nate passed his second CPA exam! He will start studying for his third exam very soon. If he passes his third and fourth on schedule, he will be done in February.

-My sister-in-law had a baby in August! Her name is Avrie and she is just so adorable.  I’m happy to love on another baby before Nate and I have our own.

More posts to come soon!

Lastly, here are some pictures of the pup. Just because. 

 

Tracking: Manual vs. Automated

In past posts I kind of explained how we budget, from the budget meetings to how we split up our variable and fixed expenses. The one aspect I haven’t touched on much, which I believe is crucial to budgeting, is tracking.

The first step to budgeting is having a plan. Sitting down with Shaina and discussing our plan before each month is our first step. But how do we put that plan into motion? How do we know that our plan is working or that we are staying true to what we had jointly decided? To put it simple, I track everything. There are so many ways to track inflow and outflow of money these days. One simple search on the internet could land you dozens of online or mobile based platforms that claim to be the best money tracking tool available. What are my tools of choice? Good old-fashioned spreadsheets and a simple mobile based check book.

I realize just mentioning the word spreadsheet can cause most people to cringe; however, there is one aspect of spreadsheets that I have found to be the link between budgeting and actually staying within said budget. Most individuals who budget sincerely have great intentions of staying within them. The fact that most budgeting tools today have created a way to automate the tracking process of the user’s spending has created disconnect between the spender and their budgeted goals. Users are quick to think that using an automated app will take care of everything for them and somehow make all their overspending problems go away. Automation, to most, means easier. And there is nothing easy about getting out of debt. I firmly believe in a more hands on approach. I know this isn't the only method and I realize that there are people who have used those automated applications, and have gotten great results. But for us, being on top of our spending means knowing where our money is at every day and staying hands on.

Most automated spending trackers today allow the user to set up notifications of when spending in a particular category has exceeded the original budgeted amount. In my eyes, this is far too late. I don’t want to know when I have over spent. I want to know before that happens. So whether or not you’re checking those automated apps daily, or updating a spreadsheet, you need to be hands on. Using a spreadsheet and a simple mobile checkbook app, I manually enter each and every transaction. When a paycheck comes in I add the transaction to our account, take out all fixed expenses until the next paycheck, and am left with what we have available to spend on the items that we have previously discussed in our budget meetings. As those items occur throughout the month, I simply deduct the transaction. This really helps for certain categories that aren't as easily tracked as those one-time purchases, such as gas for our cars that have multiple purchases throughout the month. Having two cars and two different commutes, causes us to have two different needs as far as the amount of gas we each need. Using the simple checkbook app, I can keep track of our gas spending to ensure we don’t go over. These simple tools help me to always know where we are at, so when Shaina says she needs to fill up, I know how exactly much she can spend on a tank of gas. 

As with any budget or budgeting tool it takes tweaking and adjusting to find something that works for you. I used to be a big user of one of those automated apps. I would link to all of my banking accounts that allowed me to “track” my spending. Too often I would over spend in a particular category, would then be notified, and would roll my eyes at the message. It was too late. I had already spent too much. There may be other products out there now that offer a better notification system today, but, using these simple tools has worked well for us so far.

It is said that budgeting and getting out of debt is 20% about the numbers and 80% about your decision to get out of debt and the lifestyle changes and decisions you will have to make to get there. Tracking the numbers to make sure you know where your money is at is only a fraction of the battle. Being immersed in the process and being so hands on has forced us to change our lifestyle. Manually entering a transaction has more to do with discipline than anything. Discipline is needed to change a lifestyle. Doing things that will force you to stare your challenges straight in the face is the only way you will build up enough passion or motivation to overcome them. If I didn't have to look at our money balances everyday and be reminded of our budgeting goals and the reason behind them, it would be far too easy to ignore them. If you don’t face them daily, you will ignore them. Just as if you automate too much, and you’re not annoyed by the fact that you’re going over budget or you don’t know where you money is going, you simply won’t solve the problem; you will ignore it. This is why I choose to use the tools that I do.

If anyone is curious as to how my spreadsheets look or what mobile app I use, feel free to let me know.

I’m excited to get back to our intense and intentional plan of paying off debt. $25,000 paid off and counting!

Back from the Hiatus

Hey all—we didn't mean to take a break from blogging, life just got in the way. Here is a snapshot of what we have been up to:

-We didn't pay any extra payments towards our loans in April (the extra thousand-some that we usually do). We decided that we are staying another year in our apartment, so we (ahem, I) wanted to get some new décor. We got this really cool antique wood trunk that Nate is refinishing. When we get that done, I’ll be sure to post some pictures. Aside from getting some new décor items, we also got some miscellaneous items that didn't fit into our normal strict budget. 

-We both have been busier than normal. Nate has been studying for his CPA exam, so that takes away a couple hours each night. I’m also taking an online grammar class, watching my nephew once a week after work, and assistant coaching a dance team. Some days I feel like we are both so busy getting things done that we barely have time to spend together. I’m looking forward to summer, that’s for sure.

-I got another paid in full notification a couple weeks ago. That was exciting. It wasn’t for a huge amount, but even these small moments are successes for us. 

I thought that “taking a break” from paying extra on student loans would be helpful and fun, but in the end, I discovered that I actually kind of regretted it. Yes, it was nice to get a new shower curtain and what not, but it’s not like I’m any happier. Toward the end of April I started to think that all this money we were spending on stuff could be going toward the loans, contributing to our goal. It made me more anxious because now that is one more month that we have to pay on loans. I know I’m probably over thinking it, but when you want something so bad, it’s difficult to not get obsessed with it. Now I feel like I’m more motivated than ever to scrimp and save.

We went grocery shopping tonight and ended up being $21.39 under budget. I’m starting to accept the fact that in order to do this, I can’t make the meals that I really want to. Mainly, I want to be a good wifey (is that word annoying?) and make yummy dinners for Nate to come home to. But he has made it clear that anything I make he is happy with. He isn't a picky eater, and for that I am grateful. So there we were, in the frozen food aisle, realizing that we were under budget. We were debating whether or not we should get some gin and tonic. Literally, it was a tough choice. The angel on our shoulders won; we decided to not get it.

While that choice might not seem like a big deal at all to some, it is for us. I get that it’s not life or death, but it’s more of a lifestyle change that I think we are more willing to accept now. I was talking to Nate last night about how I feel defeated by how much we still owe, and he reminded me that we can’t focus on that. Instead, we need to focus on spending as less money as we can each month so that more can go towards the loans. So, in the big picture, I’m willing to sacrifice the little things in order to get what we want. Delayed gratification. It sucks, but it’ll be worth it. No shortcuts, work for it.

Saving Monies

A couple people have asked me what Nate and I do to save money (other than budget like crazy people) so I thought I would do a post about it. None of it is rocket science. Not even close. We don’t do one or two big things to save a lot of money. It’s the combination of many little things that add up. I’m sure we do more than this, but here is a short list:

• Make our own dog treats. Nate and I are pretty picky when it comes to the treats that Mazi gets—we would only buy treats that had a few ingredients that were actual food, so they were more expensive than your average Milk Bone. I looked up some recipes on Pinterest and started making dog treats. Even though I have to spend some time making them, we are saving money and I know exactly what is in the pup’s treats.
• Make my own individual oatmeal packets. I love bringing oatmeal to work for lunch. Call me weird. A couple months ago I started buying big canisters of oatmeal and making my own “packets.” I put a half cup of oatmeal, a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, and then either some pecans, almonds, or cranberries.
• Sunday dinners at my parent’s house. My parents like to have big dinners sometimes on Sundays. It’s such a win! We don’t meal plan for weekends, it’s yummy food (think full Thanksgiving style food, for real), we get to catch up, and we get leftovers for lunch. Score!
• No cable. Nate and I didn’t have cable for over a year, but gave in and got it a couple months ago. But then we cancelled it. It’s expensive and you get caught up watching stupid shows. Sure, sometimes we want to watch shows that are on cable, but we get over it.
• Make do with what we have. For example, our sheets have ripped twice; therefore, I’ve sewed them twice.
• Buy store brands. I used to be one of those people who always bought name brands because I didn’t think the store brands were as good. For some things I still buy name brands because they are indeed better quality, but I’ve found that many store brands are just as good if not better than name brands. Sorry I’m being general, but you know what I mean. 
• Keeping track of what we spend at the grocery store. I do a menu plan for two weeks and put all the food we need on a list on my phone. Nate uses his phone to add up all the items we get at the grocery store to make sure we don't go over our $110.00 budget for food every two weeks. If we go over, we put something back. It's that simple. 

There you have it. What do you guys do to save money?