The dreaded word...Finances



Does it seem like I have a different random thought everyday.  Well that is just me.  It could be my worst enemy as I am constantly thinking of ways to do things better in my life and teach my children.  In my first years on my own I was horrible with money.  I have always been a hard worker and can make money but I definitely do not watch where it goes.  This has not been a huge issue until the economy went in the tanker and my Hubby's once fruitful job lost a ton of customers.  I would not of changed it for anything.  It has taught me so much about us and what is important in life.  Don't get me wrong I still love to buy things but I try not to impulse buy because at the end of the day I have 3 kids college and a retirement in our future.  A couple of years ago,  Mike and I did Dave Ramsey and loved it.  Now the message is nothing you do not already know but it is the way he delivers the message and it spoke to us.  Well it is time to start living it again.  Our biggest spending in our family is eating out.   Is that not crazy since we really do not enjoy it and I am trying to lose weight.  I would rather eat out a couple of times with my Hubby for date night and enjoy new places.  The last 2 weeks I have been cooking (yes, I am cooking and I am actually pretty good) and Mike enjoys coming home to a cooked meal and they have been healthy.  The Kid's are still struglling with eating everything we eat but we are making progress, which I will take.  This will save us hugeeee...I am embarrassed to tell you how much but lets just say thousands, thousands of dollars. 

I figure all this is fitting since I am trying to do a overhaul on my Family and I.  I am hoping by us showing our kids how to be good with money, they will learn.  I want them to learn to be hard working but how to manage money.  We are starting the save, spend, give jars this weekend.  This is a Dave Ramsey process if you have kids and our kids love to give to church and they like to spend.  How many pokemon cards can we have, not enough for them?

I will keep you posted on how it is going. 

More pictures because I love seeing my kiddos and this is for their reading later in life....

I love this picture from last summer.  Makes me excited for the pool opening today and it is so my boys.  Zachary all smiles and G-man wondering why I have to take a picture.




I love this because it is so Reese. Sassy, arms on hips and full smiles. She has the best spirit.