Finding harmony in family, finance & military life

Brent and I reflected for a minute last night on our path and purpose. We can look back on the past ten years and see clearly the path we went down blindly then. Every step along the way made us stronger and more capable. We could not do the job God has laid out for us today without first having gone down that path. We made huge mistakes! Now those mistakes are the lessons learned we can share with others to keep them from walking down that same path and paying the price we had to pay. We treasure each couple we have sat down and talked to about money. It is not just money, it is life. All laid out it is a map of the past. Every debt, every bill, every want and every need tells the story of that family. We can look in their eyes and tell if they are truly ready to make the sacrifices and the changes to make the rest of their life better. Not easy and smooth sailing but better. They want to be ready for the storm when it hits, they want to be able to breath when the sun is shining. ...

Do you budget those drive thru runs?  After we paid off our last debt and had wiggle room in our budget we would mark $100 every month for eating out (Restaurant on our budget form). For a family of 7 $100 really does not go far and we meaning Brent and I thought it would curb our fast food runs to a minimum. Well it really didn't. We wanted to eat less junk yet I somehow found myself justifying a happy meal or a coffee because we still had money in the Restaurant budget to buy it.  So we made a change.  We cut back our Restaurant budget to $50 and agreed it was to be spent on a meal out for the entire family. With coupons we can hit one sit down restaurant as a family for $50 including tip or we break it into two pizza nights per month. If we wanted fast food it was coming out of our personal money. Brent and I each get personal blow money to spend on whatever we want. Since making that change our eating fast food has cut way back.  I love it! Maybe o...

Communication.  Man, I can not stress just how important communication is when trying to win in life and in finances. As a married couple trying to get your financial house in order communication is the key to success. I am not talking about the communication you have with your girl friend, male pal, bank teller, parents or even your financial adviser although that one is important. I am talking about you t alking to your spouse.  Encourage each other, hold each other accountable, share your dreams for the future you will share together. The more you communicate the easier it will become to accomplish your goals. Work together as a team, create your budget as a team, set goals as a team, dream together as a team and your team will WIN!!  Take 30 minutes tonight to talk to your spouse about where the money you will make in December is going. Write your budget together putting it on paper on purpose that's your game plan, your goals, your strategy to win! You c...

Yesterday we kissed nearly $1000 good bye getting our heat pump fixed, I spent $5 at the commissary getting fresh fruit and veggies after my WIC voucher was used up and at some point I will need to fill the gas tank this month. Today I sat down balanced the check book and redid the May budget. Some days it feels like my life revolves around the money it takes to run this family. It has to be controlled and told where to go or it all disappears without a trace. Having a budget is a family affair so even when Brent was gone I would send him a copy of our monthly budget and keep him informed of changes made and money spent. Our children know that is takes money to do karate, buy gas and groceries and keep a roof over their heads. If keeping a budget is a foreign concept or something that you are struggling with then this is going to be a must read post for you because I am going to go over each part of our budget in detail. You start a budget the same way you start any worthwhile projec...

The coupon class at Seymour Johnson AFB last night was a wonderful success! I admit  I was a nervous wreck up until the moment it started. I had a lot of encouragement though which really helped and I know there were a lot of prayers going up for this class as well. Twenty-one women showed up to learn about couponing. These women were from all walks of life not just military spouses and they were all focused on how to provide for their families better by using coupons.I must say they were a loud bunch, but that is to be expected when you have a large group of women together in one room. I know they all left knowing a little bit more about how to save money with coupons then when they came. Topics covered were Hoarding vs. Stock piling, Giving and Donating which is really needed right now, Catalinas, Stacking, Doubling, Sorting and Binders, Menu Planning, Budgeting and sticking to it, Store Coupon Policies, Ms  Melissa's Extreme couponing trip and where to find your resourc...

Hooray our pay on the 15 of April will not be changed! I am so glad our government was at least able to come to a temporary agreement and keep our military families out of a financial mess. The threat however still lingers as our country gets deeper into debt with no real fix for the budget in sight. Did the idea of not getting your full pay scare you? While we knew it posed no immediate danger for us it sure got us thinking. Brent and I took a look at our budget and our savings and decided it was time to double our emergency fund. We already have about 6 months worth of expenses saved up and ready to use in case of an emergency. We started saving our emergency fund the minute we paid off our last debt other then the mortgage back in December 2009 and we have already had to dip into it once to replace our leaking and rotted out roof. For our family the magic number was $12,000 we knew that would cover our four walls for about 6 months easily. We were also sure it would cover any insu...

It was only a couple of hours after my first post about military pay that I got the real answer. A friend texted me that her husband's LES was up and they were getting half pay. I had Kadynce in the tub so I sent a quick email by phone to my husband so he could check his LES and sure enough we are getting paid on the 15th just at half our usual pay. Again let me say I am so thankful we have been able to live off of half our income since my husband deployed! Are you ready to live the last two weeks of April with only half of your pay? If not do not panic! Sit down right now and write out a new budget. Prioritize prioritize prioritize I can not stress that enough! The very first thing on your budget should be food for your family. You might need to take a peek in your pantry, fridge and freezer to see just what you have and if there are any items that you will have to replenish to get you through the month. Keep your menu simple and remember beans and rice goes a long way. Next on ...

Well will we or won't we? That seems to be the circulating question with about a hundred different answers! One source says we will get paid just not on the 15th of April it will be posted on May 1st as back pay. Another source says we will receive half of our pay on the 15th of April and the rest will come after the budget is hashed out. Yet another source states only those in a combat zone will get any kind of pay on the 15th of April and someone else believes there will be no change to our pay at all.Some are also saying nothing will be affected until May. I do not claim to know which answer is right, frankly I don't think anyone knows which answer it is going to be at the moment. Right now I am just so thankful that we are able to live off of the pay we received on April 1st. We wrote up our budget so that our mortgage and all of our utilities along with our food budget and blow money were covered by what we get paid on the first. The give portion of our budget is also c...