Journey to Financial Peace - Part 1

Let's start at the very beginning – a very good place to start, naturally. ;o)

Early 2000s. Financial Peace University [FPU] was offered at my then church. My concept of Dave Ramsey and FPU was that this class was for middle-aged families who had major financial difficulties, as in major credit card debt, mortgage, etc. Sort of like an AA for finances. For some reason, I just had that stereotype in my head.

2009. Nate and I decided we weren't happy with our finances. We didn't have what we considered major debt, but we just knew there were a lot of things we should be doing but weren't, such as saving for retirement, and we had no idea where to start. We got Dave Ramsey's book, "The Total Money Makeover," as a gift. We excitedly read the beginning of it, and then...stopped. Not for any reason, but I don't think we had hit enough of a "rock bottom" to feel desperate enough to change our situation. Dave Ramsey says, "you have to get mad." We definitely weren't mad at that point.

2010. Toward the second half of the year, I went through a period of unemployment. I have no idea how we managed without racking up a ton of debt. Our idea of a budget was to write down the bills that we had to pay, such as our loans, etc., and then to make sure we covered them. It was an attempt, but it certainly wasn't a very good way to go about it. So suffice it to say, we weren't budgeting at the time. Right before Christmas, I was offered a job, and we moved to Texas. You can read about all that here and here.

Early 2011. We hadn't been in Texas longer than a few weeks when we felt convicted about the fact we hadn't been tithing. It's embarrassing to admit, but we hadn't tithed faithfully pretty much ever. We put in a little here and there, but the 10% God requires as per the Bible, yeah, no. We didn't. I recently heard a statistic that 5-7% of Christians tithe. I could write a whole post about this, but I'll just say that that makes it easier to admit since we obviously weren't alone. Tithing has changed our world. It requires faith. And because of that, we have been forced to get our finances under control. It's been HARD. But God is faithful.

August 2011. Remember up there where I said we hadn't hit rock bottom? Well, in August, we did. Three weeks without work in addition to three planned (but not budgeted-for) cross-country trips? If we had been budgeting properly, we could have saved the money beforehand. But, we didn't. Because of our own lack of planning stupidity, we got ourselves into consumer credit card debt for the first time. Yeah, that one is hard to admit. Ouch. This is what Dave Ramsey calls stupid tax (the price you pay for a stupid decision). Anyway, we discovered that Financial Peace University was offered at our church, and the class had already started. BUMMER. We didn't have the money for the class materials anyway. But, we "got mad" and were determined to do something about this hole we had dug for ourselves.

September 2011. We did our first real budget in September. That process is initially so hard. To scrounge up all of the info of where every single dollar you spend goes is, well, painful. But so worth it. I can honestly look back and say it was the hardest part. We also took an Equip class at our church about what the Bible says about how to handle money. Our new way of handling our finances was definitely not perfect, but we felt encouraged. I started listening to The Dave Ramsey Show hour-long podcasts, which helped keep us motivated. We researched more about the Seven Baby Steps (which we now have memorized), and we started saving for our baby emergency fund plus cost of materials for the FPU class at our church that starts in January.

October 2011. Nate and I finally understood how the zero-based budget works and wrote out our monthly cash flow plan. Thanks to bumming materials from an old FPU kit, we started using the envelope system for groceries, eating out/date nights, personal care items, vehicle care, etc. It has helped a ton to not just use the debit card for those things. Before if we had gone over our budget by $5, I would have just said, "oh well." Now, when paying with cash, I can't do that, and it really helps us stay under our budget. At the end of the month, we finished Baby Step One: the $1,000 emergency fund plus the cost of materials for FPU! We feel so encouraged. I started listening to the 3-hour-long Dave Ramsey show at work, which continues to inspire and keep me motivated to start Baby Step Two and our debt snowball.

November 2011. We wrote our zero-based budget/monthly cash flow plan at the beginning of the month, as we will continue to do. As we are right now, we are scheduled to pay off our consumer credit card debt by the beginning of March 2012, though we would love it if we could beat that. We have budgeted for a teeny-tiny Christmas, and we will hopefully be able to scrounge up some extra income in the next few months. Nate and I are so in-sync about this, which is apparently not the case for most married couples in our situation. I am so thankful for that. Our next goals are, in this order, to pay off: our truck, my student loan, our car, and then Nate's student loan. These are based on pay-off amounts (as the interest rates are all very close to the same). Right now it looks like it will take up to two years, but then we will be finished with Baby Step Two, and we can be DEBT FREE.

You can read all about Dave Ramsey and everything he teaches on his website, but just for quick reference, the Seven Baby Steps are: 1 - $1000 emergency fund, 2 - pay off debt using the debt snowball (except the house, if applicable), 3 - build full emergency fund (3-6 months expenses), 4 - invest 15% of income in retirement, 5 - save for kids' college, 6 - pay off house, and 7 - build wealth. Since we don't have a house or kids yet, we will adjust this to fit us as recommended by Dave. Having kids and buying a house will probably fall somewhere between step 2 and step 4, depending on how quickly we can pay things off and save for other things appropriately.

I know personal finances are a very private thing for most people, and since this is the Internet, I will not share tons of details. But, Nate and I are so excited about this. We are embarrassed about the stupidity and ignorance that got us to where we were, but we don't even mind talking about it because we are on the path to get out of it. I will continue to update on our progress, probably after we start the class!

Project 31: Day 7: Melanie

Day 7. Write a blog to encourage another beautiful woman.

I've been praying about who God would have me write to encourage. The same beautiful woman comes to mind each time. I am beginning to understand what it means for God to lay people on your heart and that there is a reason for it. I have no idea why, but I'm pleased to write a little backstory about why and how she has encouraged me followed by a few words I have to say to her.

How We Met:

Melanie and I met and got to know each other summer 2007 at the campground where we both used to work in the housekeeping department. I'm the second on the left, and she's the one on the far right. We were at similar places in our lives at the time, and we had some great discussions. We both got engaged within weeks (it may have been more like days...I can't remember exactly) of each other. Well, the summer ended, but as people do, we added each other on Facebook to stay in touch. We didn't really converse a lot over that next year. She was a senior in college, and I was struggling getting my first "real job". It was fun, however, to watch each other wedding plan as our wedding dates were one week apart! After our weddings, I eventually discovered she had a blog, and though I hadn't started one yet at the time, I remember occasionally reading hers. I probably didn't comment much, but I enjoyed reading about the adventures of her and her husband.

The One with Her Blog That Has Encouraged Me :o)

Then she wrote this blog post about how her husband quit his job in a grad school program and how they were trusting God to provide for them with no real source of income. I remember reading how she wasn't freaking out. I knew that God must have been giving her a peace about it. I knew that was awesome and I definitely respected her for it, but I have to be honest, part of me still thought, Oh my goodness. It's so irresponsible to quit a job without another lined up. God will provide but you have to work hard. You can't just expect Him to drop money in your lap. Not that I was placing judgment on them. Like I said, I knew God would provide, but I guess I was freaking out for them just a little bit. I think knowing God will provide and being faced with having to totally rely on Him to provide are totally different things. I remember reading that to Nate. We commented that we could never do that, but on the other hand, good for them.

Well fast-forward two years. Melanie wrote this post about what had happened in the two years following and how Kevin wanted to be a pastor now, a decision he never would have made had he not originally quit his PhD program. God did a MAJOR work in me in the approximately two years in between these posts. For some reasons that were very important to me, I felt I needed to leave a job I really loved doing about seven months before I actually did leave. I had thought about it a lot. I had prayed about it. I had talked to my husband about it. We had prayed about it. I read what happened with Kevin and Melanie and was so encouraged. I remember sitting at McDonald's with my husband the day I quit my job and looking at Kevin and Mel as an example of trusting God to provide and what that really means practically. I absolutely could not believe we were considering something similar. I wanted God's will first and foremost. I was scared out of my boots, but I did it. God gave me a peace that I can't even describe to you. Nate and I both knew it was the right thing for me to do, but it was one of the scariest things I'd ever done.

Fast-forward another 5 months. In those few months, we experienced much frustration, much tightening on the finances, and many, many, many conversations about our future. In mid-December, God did a huge work in our lives. With very little warning, He basically dropped the perfect job (nanny for my niece AND freelance graphic designer) into my lap and in a matter of a week, we were moving to Texas. It was extremely sudden, but we knew with almost no doubt that it was what God wanted. For more info on this, you should probably read this and if your really bored and interested go ahead and read this too. My husband, Nate, had to quit his job and when our HSA (health savings account...a form of health insurance) runs out, we will have no health insurance. This trumps quitting my job as one of the scariest things I've done. Now suddenly, we were in Kevin and Melanie's shoes. We were doing some of the idiotic things for Christ* that they had done. They have been blessed beyond measure. God has taken their willing hearts and made something beautiful. Their ministry is flourishing. It is absolutely beautiful to watch.

The Part Where I Encourage Her

Melanie, dear, I want to thank you for writing from your heart. I want to thank you for using your God-given talents, your human quirky uniqueness, and your real life experiences for His glory. I love that you have a blog for your youth group. I love your transparency to your teens in your blog and in life. I can tell that you are a huge encouragement to them and a wonderful role model for them to look up to. Thank you for sharing your struggles and triumphs in your marriage. I smile when I think of you two working together, hand in hand, as a team. A healthy (not to be confused with perfect) marriage is so, so beautiful. Don't hate me when you read my initial reaction to Kevin's quitting his PhD program. I wanted to relate it because of the irony of how God has used my reaction to teach me more about Himself and to prepare me for others to react to me that way. I know he is preparing something for Nate and me that is the absolute best thing for us, and seeing your flourishing ministry encourages me whenever I start to doubt. I love how you share your struggles and triumphs with eating well and exercising. I love that you wear many hats and that you thrive in doing many different jobs when many people struggle juggling just one. I have no idea how the next two years will unfold for the Eccles or the Piatts, but I know God has some exciting things in store. I want to encourage you to keep doing what you're doing. Everyone has days they wonder if what they are doing really matters, and I just pray that this can be an encouragement to you in some small way. You're beautiful!

*Watch the sermon "Idiots for Christ" by Craig Groeschel via that link. Trust me, if God has ever asked you to do something crazy, you will be able to relate and will love this sermon. You can listen to the podcast instead if you prefer. :o)

Pre-Moving Emotions

Nate's really been taking the emotions as they come and handling them really well. As I mentioned, if I were in his shoes, I'd be a complete and utter mess. He is leaving the state and area he has known his WHOLE LIFE. I can't imagine how hard that is. Personally, I have been postponing dealing with this move emotionally. I have been too busy organizing and planning and cleaning and being practical about it that I haven't really allowed myself to really process it. Sure, I've had my semi-daily visits to Valerie and Andrew's Facebook pages to see pictures of my new charge and adorable now 8-week-old niece. Nate and I have also been immersing ourselves in everything Gateway Church, not in a cult-ish type way but just because it helps us to get excited about the awesome things we have to look forward to. Thus far, I've allowed myself to experience the exciting bits. The scary and sad bits? Not so much. I know I am going to miss people like crazy and will go through a lonely stage, but I know that the reality of the move and all of the emotions that come with it will hit me when we get to Texas. I will likely experience every emotion imaginable upon our arrival, so I guess for now I will just let myself focus on the excited bits and postpone the sob-sessions.

Not my first barbeque

This is not my first barbecue. I've moved a lot. I know what it is like to get attached to people and places and the memories of events that occurred when living in a place. I know how to say goodbye and how important it is to keep in touch or else lose the friends you had (pre-Facebook, of course) but how you and the friends with which you do stay in touch can reunite and feel like no time has been lost at all. I have felt the pain of being, in essence, ripped away from your seemingly amazing life, being transplanted, and having to start all over again building new friendships, moving into a new house, new school, and new town. I've done all that. Not to say that it's always been easy. At times it really was easy, but other times it has been so, so hard. This move is falling somewhere in the middle, but it's so different than all of the past moves.

How many times have you moved, Laura?

Well I'm glad you asked.

1. 6 months. From IA to IN. I don't remember that at all, obviously.

2. 4 years. From IN to MN. Barely remember it.

3. 13 years. From MN to IN. I was so excited about this move.

4. 17 years. From IN to MI. I HATED this move in every imaginable way.

5. 24 years. From Jackson, MI to Coldwater, MI. I was very excited about this move.

6. 27 years. From Coldwater, MI to Dallas, TX. Oh boy.

In case you weren't counting, this will be my sixth move. Not that you should feel sorry for me and not that I'm bragging (because neither is the case). You should just know that my dad is/was a pastor and that should explain a few things. If not, it's a topic for another post anyway.

As for Nate, this is his first move. He's never been gone from Coldwater for longer than a semester or a summer, pretty much since he was born. I'm not suggesting that moving a lot is better than never moving. It's just different. Very different. I think it sometimes makes it impossible very difficult for us to understand each other. But, as with most topics and things about our personalities, I think it's just another way we complement each other.

As we were driving down the main drag in Coldwater today, I said to Nate, "I really cannot imagine what it must be like to have lived in a place ALL your life." I honestly can't even fathom it. I mean to see a parking space where you first practiced parallel parking and the spot where you used to sit to watch parades as a child in the same town. To have attended the same church all your life. To have gone to the same dentist since you had baby teeth and drive by the hospital where your mom has worked for as long as you can remember. It blows my mind. If I were Nate, I'd be so emotionally wrapped up in the town that I'm not sure I would ever want to move.

Conversely, Nate has a horrible time figuring out and remembering where I lived when. I learned to parallel park in southern Indiana and watched parades in Minnesota. As for churches I've called "home", I lost count at 14. (Yeah, I'm not really sure if I am proud or embarrassed about that). I've been to five different dentists (not including orthodontists) and my mom has had more totally different teaching jobs in totally different towns and cities than I can even describe to you right now. It must be so odd for Nate to try to wrap his mind around the various stages and locations of my life, but somehow, he does. I love that he tries. That means so much to me.

But I am so glad that this is our first move together. I mean we moved into this house in Michigan separately, him about six months before our wedding and me when we got married. Now that we are moving to Texas, I love that I can draw on him for strength and stability but that he has my experience from living in a wide variety of places already. Gag if you want to, but we're a great match.