Lovin and Livin
This is a place for me to just be me… (All content Copyrighted Yeve Eeffoc 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)Archive for December, 2011
MIA
I have been missing in action.
I have had so many posts running through my head.
I haven’t had a lot of time though to write. I am hoping that all of these thoughts don’t leave my head by the time I actually get to write!
Today is December 30th. There is one more day left in this year.
I have big changes planned for me, this family and for our financial future. I guess these are not just my plans they are the plans that Jack in the Box and I are making together.
For the first time in a very long time I am feeling very good about who we are and what we are doing.
I sat down yesterday and worked on our budget for next year. Twelve months of bills. Two months of credit cards, three months paying off the van, and six months paying off one of our loans. By the end of next year if everything stays on track we will have a mortgage, a car payment and student loans to pay other than our monthly bills. We will have an emergency fund. We will have a savings account. We will have the kitchen painted and with a new window. Our living room will be done. Our two bathrooms will be done. Our hallway and dining room will be done (other than the floor).
This year that is coming up is going to be a good year. God has blessed this family. I have made my requests. I have continued to pray for help and for healing.
He has blessed us this past year and for that I am forever grateful!
This new year is about to start and for the first time in a long time I am actually excited about it becoming a new year!
It Is Almost That Time
It is almost Christmas time and I have been attempting to post for a while now.
I seem to start posts and then something happens and they never get finished. At least I have some drafts going for when the world slows down.
Life has been crazy for a time. When we get to this time of the year things are crazy. We are dealing with (okay so I get to deal with) the Ex and the Oldest Monkey who really doesn’t have a clue.
I try to be flexible with people. I try to understand. And all it ever does is just turn around and bite me in the buns in the end.
I have been doing a lot of thinking and praying. I have been realizing I have a lot I need to change. It is all good and it will all be good in the end! God is good all the time – it is me who isn’t good all the time!
Taking it to Him is the only way to go in these times! The time of frustration for me!
Big Picture
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. When I think it isn’t always a good thing but this time it is pretty good.
I am getting to this new place where I am seeing the bigger picture.
I have always looked at light like it is this big puzzle. It is a big puzzle that I don’t have the picture for. I can’t look at the box top and see what the final product looks like. I am putting this puzzle together piece by piece just trying to guess what the final product looks like.
It isn’t easy but there are moments in this life when I am putting the puzzle together that I get a glimpse of the big picture and I can say wow this is going to be beautiful when it is finally finished!
The goal here on earth isn’t about having the biggest and best things. It isn’t about collecting the most important things to impress others. It isn’t about anything other than doing what is right by Him!
When you are doing things that are right by Him you don’t always go with the flow. You don’t always have the biggest and best things. You work hard for what you have. You have to make sacrifices.
I have heard that if you don’t feel it when you give – you are not giving enough. If you don’t have to arraign your life to be based around Him then you are not giving enough.
I am not sure if I totally agree with that but I do think there is some basis around it. He does provide us with our jobs, our finances, and I do think that when He provides you with much you should give much back!
I don’t think it means you have to stop doing everything you want. I don’t think it means you never go on vacations. I don’t think it means you put yourself in a predicament financially. I do think though that if you are not tithing and you are spending more on fun things, coffee, eating out and things like that you are not doing enough.
We as a family are not doing enough. We are finally going to get to the point where we are tithing the 10% and I am excited about it. It is going to hurt because it means we are not going to be saving like I would like to. But it also means that we are depending upon Him to provide what we need fully. That is a great feeling!
I am excited about getting our credit cards paid off (I know I keep on talking about it). It has been so a relief to even think we are going to be so close to getting them paid off!
He is amazing when you stop and think about it! He provides you with what you need when you need it. Even though we have a lot of things we need or should or want to get done around the house – I WANT TO GET THESE PAID OFF! Then we can take that money and set it aside to pay for what we want to get done with CASH!
It might take us longer but in the long run if we are paying for it with cash – there is no interest on any project! So if we spend $5.00 or $5000.00 – that is exactly what it cost us!
Also we might not have been tithing fully but we have been donating things to a local church who has a program to help those with addictions! It has been a great feeling to be giving to those who really need it! I could be selling them stuff and making money with it but instead I have been giving to those who really need help.
I have been making a lot of small changes. I am hoping them lead to much bigger and better changes in the big picture that I don’t see. I am hoping that when the last puzzle piece has been put in to finish my puzzle – that the big picture I have been working on my whole life is a portrait of Him!
A New Direction
For a while I have been saying how much I would love to be debt free. Honestly though even though we were moving in that direction we were such a far way off. We still are a far way off but we have a plan that is more concrete now than it ever has been.
In Bible Study I am reading The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel. The last two chapters we have read have been about believing in God but pursuing happiness at any cost and about believing in God but trusting in money more than Him.
No one wants to be in debt. I think it happens because so many people are in pursuit of the next bigger and better thing. They better cell phone, the bigger TV, the new car, the better camper, the bigger ring, and the bigger house. It drives you to spend and do things that you never thought you would do. And when you have that newer things the happiness it brings is only fleeting. Then you are already seeking out the next best thing.
I was like that for a long time. I always wanted whatever was bigger, better, newer and it led to a huge downfall. We never had the bigger and better thing because by the time we got the current bigger or better thing another one was out!
I have been praying for a while about this type of thing and then these chapters came up. He was talking to me.
I want to truly be free and out of debt. I want our credit cards paid off. I want money to be in savings. I want an emergency fund. I want our student loans paid off. I want the cars paid off. I want the house paid off.
It isn’t going to happen over night but it is going to happen. We just need to keep our eyes on the prize. The prize of living within our means. The prize of giving to those who are less fortunate. The prize of feeling it when I give. The prize of tithing and feeling good about it. The prize of knowing what I am doing is the right thing.
Most people can’t pay for things with cash because they are not living within their means and they are unable to save. I want to be paying for things with cash. I want money in savings.
We are heading into a new direction and for the first time in a really long time I actually feel good about it.
Getting Excited
I know it is only December but I have been dreaming about how much we will get back in a tax return! I know crazy right?!
The thing is we really realized how insane it is with what we are paying out each month on credit cards! If we had all that money that we were putting aside each month – it would take us no time at all to save up to get the things we would like.
So my (our) goal has been to get these paid off. It will be money we can do so much with.
We could save it.
We could apply it to other loans we have out there (student or car maybe).
We could ignore it and act like it was never there.
I mean seriously we would have about between $300 and $500 extra each month! No more late fees because they change their closing date and I end up paying the bill on the closing date and so I am then behind a month!
I would be in heaven to know that there was no more interest being paid to credit card companies!
So anyway the whole point is turbo tax was supposed to be online in December and so I thought I would check today. Now of course I don’t have exact numbers and I am estimating on some of the other ones.
But after inputting things tonight – it looks like we will have enough to get all of the credit cards paid off. If we don’t we are only going to be about $500 short.
So tonight I am getting super excited about next year! I am so ready to be out of debt! I am so ready to enjoy my life and not to be living above and beyond our means!
We used them when Jack in the Box was out of work. We needed food. We needed gas for him to look for jobs. We had to do what we needed to do. I was kicking myself when we ran out of savings but what do you do?! We did it and now I am ready to have it be undone!
Does anyone else know what they will be doing with their income tax yet? Even though we haven’t hit the new year yet!
