New Year's Decisions

Hello friends.  I have decided to make some changes in my life for 2014.  Tim and I made the decision that he will take over paying the bills and handling the money for the most part, with me helping here and there.  I am glad to hand the reigns over to him.  I have been working on getting a list of the bills together with due dates and amounts due so it will be a bit easier on him.

I have been watching Jamie over on You Tube for a while now and she has some really great ideas about budgeting and saving.  She also does financial vids, cooking, crafting, and more.  She's very entertaining to watch.  

Last year she did a vid on using the Dave Ramsey money envelope system.  I had read his book, but it seemed like a bit of trouble to use this system. Jamie showed the way she does her household budget using the same system with some tweaks and it seemed much easier.  I decided to try it for 2014 and see how it goes.  

You can buy the wallet and envelopes from Dave's site, but I decided to make my own.  I just took some ivory 8 1/2 x 11 card stock, but it 8 1/2 x 8 and used my Martha Steward Score Board, some sticky tape and  a black Sharpie.  It works just as well.  I also sat down and separated our bills into three sections, as Jamie explained....Fixed Expenses, which are things that remain the same every month...Variable Expenses, the bills that fluxuate... and Other Expenses, which are things that you want to save for, money you want to set aside for things like Christmas, Vacation, etc.  Once you have those written down, you can label your envelopes.  The purpose of the envelopes is to go to the bank, take your money out every pay day and put the cash in the envelopes.  Once that cash is gone, that's it.  No more money til next payday.  No using the debit card or credit cards.  The goal is to have a $0 budget.  That means all your money is allocated somewhere for the entire month with none left over.

So, that's my goal for getting out of debt this year. I am pretty excited to try it and have given myself the challenge of seeing how much money I can save this year.  We need a new car, so we are saving for that.  When I get everything typed out and ready to use, I will take some pics of the envelopes I made and the form I used to write out our bills.  I won't show dollar amounts, but you will be able to see what I'm doing.

My second goal of the year is to use up my craft stash.  I have set myself on a spending freeze with the exception of ATG Gun tape, glue and pop dots. I already told Tim that I do need some Valentine's paper and Easter paper because I don't have any. Those are the only things I am allowed to buy.  I have a wish list a mile long, but it's going to have to wait.  I want to use up what I have.  Since I learned to make my own roses and really like them, I can do that.  I also have made my own alcohol inks and glimmer sprays.  Now, I may find something as I go through the year that I really need, but for the most part, no buying.  

The third goal is to follow along with the Christmas Card Challenge so that I have enough Christmas cards come November so that I'm not scrambling at the last minute to get my cards done.  Each week there will be a new sketch on the blog to follow and you have one week to get your card done.

And my final goal of the year is to read my Bible everyday and pray more than I did last year.  I got the word DISCIPLINE as my word for this year along with the Scripture Proverbs 3:5-6, which is posted at the top of my blog.  

So, these are my four goals for this year.  I don't believe in making resolutions because they are too easy to break and when you break them, you feel bad.  I'm not all about feeling bad about myself because of resolutions.  Goals are a much better way of changing your life for the better.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you liked my goals for this year and feel free to join me in any of them if you so desire.  Have a wonderful day and God bless y'all.