How's It Going

So we have a lot of followers...many family and friends who keep up with our Project Money trip. Some wonder if we feel like it has made a difference or are we just focused on the end prize. The questions that people ask and reading Cassie and Willies "We want to be the biggest losers" blog have really got us thinking about how it is going for us. When the check-ins aren't required and there is no carrot dangling will we keep this up...will we REALLY maintain all the lessons we have learned and will it all have been worth it even if we don't get the "big" payoff? The answer is a resounding yes. We were already starting this process when Project Money presented itself to us. We were at our local branch on Junction Road...which we have to give a shout out to all the awesome and super nice folks that work over there. Keep up the great work!

We went to the credit union to put a chunk of our tax refund in a Money Market...you know...a rainy day account. We had already sent our credit cards through the shredder and quickly realized that without our emergency plastic we were going to have some issues if we had something big come up without money in the bank to fall back on. While in there we were talking about our new found wisdom when someone mentioned the Project Money sign-up. We took home the paperwork and looked it over. This was tough. We are very particular about having our children on display. We don't put their pictures up on forums of any kind so to have them be plastered all over Madison and the surrounding area was a big sticking point for us. Realizing that we won't be able to protect them from all bad things...because in this world there are people. We decided to go for it, if we win we have the money to put on a new roof with our new found motto of "no new debt". So the thought of that new roof propelled us forward. We got an interview! How great we were one step closer. 

In the interview they asked why we thought our situation was unique...and our answer..."we don't consider ourselves unique, so many people are in our situation". That in reality we are a good example of so many people's situations that we felt there would be a lot of people who could relate. It is so true many of our friends and family can relate and we are the face of their new relationship with money. That is a great feeling. There was one more question from the interview that sticks with us. It was...what makes us think we can make these changes...or something to that effect. Kari's response to this surprised both of us and really was heart felt and the truth. She said "I am so sick and tired of feeling broke and never getting ahead...I am mad that we are in this place with our money and frustrated that it seems to be so easy to get here". Blogging this doesn't do justice to the feelings that are quite vivid in real life. It is a real anger...you know the kind that gets the pitch of your voice higher and more intense, the kind of anger that turns parts of your body red, the kind of anger that makes you want to talk through your teeth...as if, if you actually open them you may start spewing forth profanities.   

It is this that drives us to not just "play" the competition but to commit to memory the things we are learning. The process that is going to not only get us free from the debt that burdens our marriage and lives but to get ahead to retire the way we want and to help our children attend college. It isn't always easy to make the obvious choice, we get tired and happy and stressed and emotional over things. We wonder why it has to be so hard and why this isn't natural. In the end it's like Cassie said "it doesn’t happen overnight and we’ll really have to work hard to get where we want to be." So kudo's to all our fellow Project Money-er's and especially those working at home with out the check-ins and the "prize" at the end. Keep going -- the real prize is the less stress and a plentiful future!

This week we are celebrating our friends and family that are supporting us in PM....Thank You!!!

Let's Take A Trip...

So a trip down memory lane reminds us of the first year we were married and standing in the mall on the 21st of December trying to buy gifts for his family, including parents, 4 siblings and 2 nephews for Darek and 2 sets of parents and 5 siblings and 3 nieces for Kari. We were trying to buy with the little bit of cash we had scrounged up and the little bit of credit we had left on our card. It was our first year of marriage and Kari was the only one with a full time job as Darek was a taking yet another year of college trying to find himself. It was an awful feeling just trying to get things for the sake of everyone having something to open and running around with the crowds and crowds of people. It left us feeling tired, empty and disheartened for the upcoming holiday events. It was a pivotal moment in our marriage and our lives. We made a pact then that any holiday shopping would be done with cash and that we would no longer be purchasing for the sake of purchasing and that gifts would come because we had seen something or made something that we felt really reflected the other persons personality. We told everyone that year that being together was more than enough of a gift for us and that in the future we would only be buying for the nieces and nephews. There were some people upset with our choice but we didn't care. We would rather have nothing than several gifts that won’t get used.

We like to get nice things for our parents during the holidays as it is our way to pay them back for all the wonderful things they have done for us over the past year and of course all the free babysitting they do for us. We plan for it and make sure there is money stashed for that. Speaking of parents....they have trouble stopping when it comes to buying for our children. This makes the holidays inexpensive for us when it comes to buying for our children. We just don't! The onslaught of toys that envelop our house is more than enough for them to not even realize mom and dad didn't have their name on a package. 

Instead of more of the same we save up to take a family trip in March. In the past we have gone to Minneapolis for a trip to the Lego store, water parks and this year Chicago is slotted for a fun time of the newish Lego Theme Park and possibly a trip to Medieval Times. This year though we won't be charging the hotel cost so there is a little extra that will need to get saved and if that trip gets expensive well put it off for next year and do something a little less expensive this time around. This is the best gift we can give them -- family fun. We are pretty sure they will cherish the memories of the trips much longer than any toy we could have purchased.

As this is getting typed Cree is looking over our shoulder and is enjoying his reading of this blog...so we will sum this up simply with that Saint Nicholas (aka Santa) knows that we have quite a crowd at our house over the holidays and wants the boys to have some time to enjoy the gift and stocking from him on their own so he stops by our house on the 6th of December....St Nicks Day. This is such a wonderful tradition and gives us time to just do our own little family thing with a small gift and a few stocking joys to get the holiday off to a simple but wonderful start.

We are celebrating that we were doing something right by paying for our holidays in cash for many years already.

Ah-Ha Moment...

The last few weeks have been overwhelming. We host Christmas at our house every year. Both sides of the family come to our house Christmas Eve through Christmas Day dinner. It is an extravaganza of food, drinks, gifts and fun. We always have a great time and since we have the young children it is easier for the rest of our family to come to our house rather than us hauling them and their stuff around. This time of the year brings on the added stress of planning on where those people will be sleeping. Since we have family all over the U.S. with some of my siblings in Texas and Darek's in D.C. and Florida we never know until October who will all be making the trip back to WI. This year we will be blessed with four additional family members (2 couples), which of course will be fun...but where will they sleep? That means rooms that are in the midst of new trim and paint and door fixes need to get done ASAP and that curtain on the 1/2 bath downstairs...maybe should be a real door. Our kitchen is still too small for all the cooks and with no dishwasher it will be another year at the kitchen sink cleaning up after 3 meals for 14 people. 

Just for good measure we have decided to move our storage space and clean up the garage...after all why make things too easy. The biggest issue with this planning and prepping process is that Darek has been cutting back hours at work to get more done at home...that...makes for a smaller paycheck. Pretty sure we used the word "puny" to describe it to our coach Don. So now is the time to pull up the boot straps...and find the silver lining...the ah-ha moment.

Several things have created that ah-ha moment for us this time. First Darek needs to make sure he keeps his hours up or we can barley keep above water...sort of. Second the house projects will get done and if someone has to sleep in a half painted room...well so be it at least they have a bed. Last but not least...the sort of (from above)...we realized that even though the last paycheck was smaller than we were used to we did get everything paid. The bank account dipped into the teens for balance left but there is a savings account...a real live savings account...this is HUGE people! If we needed to…we could use it. What a moment for us! We realized that we were no longer just holding the account open with the $5 minimum. We had money in our savings and if an emergency showed up and the checking was too emaciated to handle it we could cover it with our savings. That ah-ha moment is priceless, with that there is a feeling of freedom and peace that feeds our soul.

This week we are celebrating our family and all their complexities.

Reality Check...

Sometimes among the mountains of papers from school, laundry, dishes, walls that need to be painted, doors to be stripped, roof that needs replacing and bills to get paid...we just have to start laughing. There are days that Kari feels they may have to carry her away in a straightjacket. The children have peanut butter and jelly stuck on their faces as we go into the store...we now know why the thumb lick was started...mom's in all the craziness just don't get the faces washed. In our dream world the house projects would only take half the time we planned instead of twice or three times longer or the laundry would wash itself. Sometimes we lay down to bed at night and hope maybe the shoe maker can loan out his elves to do our dishes while we sleep. The boys always seem to want to wrestle in the kitchen when dinner is being made and what is it they do to get that crud stuck on them? In the hustle and bustle of a family of 5 (oh wait, and the dog) we think..."wow this is quite a task!" What were we thinking taking on our finances amidst this chaos?!  

Then the reality sets in...if we had stopped and looked around...really thought about this 10 years ago we wouldn't have to be learning new money habits now. This is a kicker...one of those that if you could kick your own behind...you would! We know we have to learn our lessons so we can prosper; and, that failure is really the road to success. But hindsight being 20/20, this one is tough to swallow. Living within one's means is a simple but annoying concept. Sometimes living within your means is hard work, its difficult and just plain old boring. There are so many fun things to do, to buy, to see, and to eat. With credit just a swipe away why not? Ummm...sure...how about NOT because our Europe trip in 1998 just got paid off or because we are paying credit card payments on who-knows-what that is who-knows-how-old!

We have learned that the #1 reason why we have had to work twice as hard to dig ourselves out of this hole is because we spent a long time with our heads in the sand while the hole was getting bigger. The change in our economy is a wake up call that the status quo isn't going to work anymore. We still have a ways to go to get the rest of our debt cleaned up and start making up for lost time to save for retirement and college. But that's just how it is. We can sit here, play the victim or have a pity-party. Instead we have pulled up our boot straps and stepped into the slop...with a lot of time and effort and a whole lot of laughs over the last several months it finally feels like we can see level ground.  

This week we are celebrating having what it takes.

See Ya...

That is what we said as we walked out of the bank and paid off our first of four credit cards. We feel lighter today...it seems pieces of plastic with all those numbers attached to them really makes them heavy. And now with one less "anchor card", we feel just a little bit lighter with each step. Paying off debt is an amazing feeling and it makes you want to pay off even more. And more importantly, never get into it again. We are more determined than ever to pay down the next one even if the issuer doesn't really want us to.  

One thing about our family is that we try to buy local and keep our money local when we can. What we have discovered is that something that seems local might not be. The first credit card we paid off is one that Darek has had since his freshman year in college. He got it from his local bank close to his home town. Now this bank is all over the nation and when we walked into a local branch to get our payoff amount on the credit card, we discovered just how much this bank was not "local". We walked up to the teller and said "we would like our payoff amount on our credit card please," and she was unable to do that for us and no one in the bank could either. So we called the customer service number on the bill. Guess what? They couldn't tell us either...not until the current payment was made. Then they could apply the interest and then tell us what was left. Very frustrated, we simply over paid the credit card and they will have to issue us a check for the few dollars or cents we go over! What a pain for all involved! But we do think it will be nice for them to send US a check for once!

You would think that the bank you have the credit card through would be able to tell you what you owe and would be willing to help you pay it down. Well that's what we thought at least. Then we thought is this the norm for all banks...nope...it is not the case. A quick call to Summit to get our payoff amount takes no time at all and (put on your shocked face) they can actually tell you what your balance is! You can talk to someone who knows what is going on. As we have discovered in our 11+ years as Summit members is that if the person you are talking to doesn't know...they will find someone who does! Wow!  Imagine that, real people helping you solve real problems for everyone's benefit. What an amazing concept. We sure do hope it becomes the new norm.

This week we are celebrating...well...of course paying off a credit card!