I Said Yes!

This has been one CRAZY week! We had a photo shoot with Amanda Marie on Monday, and to my complete surprise, Kevin proposed during our session. It was perfect! This is the first picture we have from our special day and I can't WAIT to see the rest. I will share the full story when I have all the pictures to go along with it.

Since the proposal it has been a whirlwind of fun. We are so excited to share this time with our wonderful family and friends!

My thinking is that it will be crazy and somewhat stressful and rushed here at first because we are wanting to have our wedding in early November, so the countdown is on to 1. nail down our budget and 2. find our location. Our goal is to have our final budget numbers by next weekend and in the meantime I've been sending out inquiries for a bunch of locations. 

I'm not too picky on the venue, our only criteria is a) we want a venue that will hold our ceremony AND reception. We don't want anyone to have to go to multiple places and b) our venue has to either be IN a hotel or within walking distance of a hotel.

Do you have any suggestions for me? Weddings you've been to, where you had your own, how to find them, etc? 

Financial Peace - March Update

In a previous post I laid out the foundation for a Total Money Makeover (TMM). Kevin and I are staying motivated and are so excited because we are seeing real results already! I've already received feedback from multiple people who are inspired and already starting your personal journey, and I am so EXCITED for you guys!! I can't wait to hear ya'lls success stories as well.

Like I said, we are already seeing real results and it's only been 2 1/2 months!! Here's where we stand at the end of March...




7 Baby Steps:
Baby Step #1 - $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund (Feb 2011)
Baby Step #2 - Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
Baby Step #3 - 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
Baby Step #4 - Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
Baby Step #5 - College funding for children
Baby Step #6 - Pay off home early
Baby Step #7 - Build wealth and give!


Baby Step #2


OUR DEBT

Name of Card (Beginning Balance) (Current Balance)
Victoria's Secret CC: ($103) PAID OFF in February 2011
New York & Co CC: ($205) PAID OFF in March 2011
Capital One CC: ($466) --- ($134)
Chase CC: ($1,314) --- ($1,285)
Wells Fargo CC: ($1,469) --- ($1,439)
JCPenney CC: ($2,523) --- ($2,427)
Granny: ($3,620) --- ($2,870)
1st Financial CC: ($9,697) --- ($9,682)
Kevin's Truck: ($7,196) --- ($6,869)
Tia's Car: ($14,200) --- ($13,581)
Tia's Student Loan #1: ($1,341) --- ($1,272)
Kevin's Student Loan #1: ($1,448) --- ($1,448)
Kevin's Student Loan #2: ($12,274) --- ($12,274)
Tia's Student Loan #2: ($17,060) --- ($16,763)


TOTAL DEBT:  ($72,916) --- ($70,044) = Total Paid Off: $2,872 (WHAT!!!)

 
So to recap, in only 2 1/2 months we have saved $1,250 AND paid off almost $3,000 of our debt AND we still have money in our account. Let me tell you, I'm a numbers person, and I just don't get these numbers and how it's working out but IT IS!!

For those of you who have started, keep it up!! And those of you who need to, I urge you to consider going through your own Total Money Makeover! It is LIFE-CHANGING!!


Happy Sunday to all of you :)

Financial Peace - February Update

In my last post I laid out the foundation for a Total Money Makeover (TMM). Kevin and I are working hard to achieve full on Financial Freedom! We are so excited with how much has changed since we began this process. Here's what we've accomplished so far:



7 Baby Steps:
Baby Step #1 - $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund (Feb 2011)
Baby Step #2 - Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
Baby Step #3 - 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
Baby Step #4 - Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
Baby Step #5 - College funding for children
Baby Step #6 - Pay off home early
Baby Step #7 - Build wealth and give!


Baby Step #1
We scraped everything we could to get this step accomplished. Your goal is to get this completed ASAP so you can move on to the Debt Snowball and start gaining the Gazelle Intensity...trust me, you'll catch on ;) ...I am not exaggerating one tiny bit when I say we started at ground zero. On January 18th, 2011 we had $0.55 in savings. I repeat, $0.55...Here's how we got our $1,000.


$277 - My Bday money received from generous family!
$60 - Returned two shirts to Dillard's that I bought for New Year's and never wore
$173 - Expense report check I received from work
$75 - Sold my textbook for the class I just finished, Fraud Auditing
$261 - Items sold on eBay (a digital camera, unopened NutriSystem food, some collectible figurines I had, and some of Kevin's sports cards)
$53 - Leftover money from my tax return
$123 - "Extra" money from our paychecks that I under-budgeted for
$227 - Debt Snowball 


I know this equals more than $1,000 (give me a little credit here), it actually equals $1,250. Kevin booked me a photography session with Amanda Marie Portraits for my birthday and we decided to save extra to cover that expense instead of giving it up.


When we started Baby Step #1, we thought there was no way this would happen soon, maybe 2-3 months, but people LISTEN UP! Completing this step took us only 1 month (38 days to be exact). YOU can do this too!!


Baby Step #2


Pay off all debt (except the house). Ha! Not even possible. Well, I was wrong. This step is probably the hardest, and it's longer term (Dave Ramsey says the average household should complete this step in 18-20 months). Basically, you list your debts in order from smallest to largest...SMALLEST to LARGEST and you pay only the minimum payments on each so you have the rest to "Snowball" to your smallest balance. You will see results along the way which will help keep you motivated.


OUR DEBT


Name of Card (Beginning Balance) (Current Balance)
Victoria's Secret CC: ($103) PAID OFF in February 2011
New York & Co CC: ($205) --- ($190)
Capital One CC: ($466) --- ($444)
Chase CC: ($1,314) --- ($1,301)
Wells Fargo CC: ($1,469) --- ($1,475)
JCPenney CC: ($2,523) --- ($2,499)
Granny: ($3,620) --- ($3,470)
1st Financial CC: ($9,697) --- ($9,710)
Kevin's Truck: ($7,196) --- ($7,033)
Tia's Car: ($14,200) --- ($13,894)
Tia's Student Loan #1: ($1,341) --- ($1,307)
Kevin's Student Loan #1: ($1,448) --- ($1,448)
Kevin's Student Loan #2: ($12,274) --- ($12,274)
Tia's Student Loan #2: ($17,060) --- ($16,911)


TOTAL DEBT:  ($72,916) --- ($71,956) = Total Paid Off: $960


**We decided to order ours from smallest to largest in 3 categories: Credit Cards, Vehicles, then Student Loans. The ONLY reason we've done this is because our goal is to be in a position to build a house next fall and we need to be credit card debt free first and foremost.


So to recap, in only 1 1/2 months we have saved $1,250 AND paid off almost $1,000 of our debt AND we still have money somehow :) I will be keeping you guys updated monthly and I hope to hear your success stories as well!


THIS WORKS, AND YOU CAN DO IT TOO!! Are you up for the challenge??

Financial Peace - Introduction

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you all have had a fabulous week...only one more day! I know some of you are able to be off work and school all next week for Spring Break...well BOO to you because I don't get that luxury. I'm kidding...about the BOO to you part...but serious that I don't get to have that. As an auditor, we are in busy season until mid-April and are all but forbidden to take any PTO during this time. Oh well, such is life :)

Kevin and I are in process of a Total Money Makeover (TMM)! If you don't know much about Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University, you can check out his website here. He has a lot of information and tools to help you get started. There are multiple ways to go about it; I actually won the book, The Total Money Makeover, from a giveaway on Rachel's blog, and it has literally transformed our money thought process (as if there was one originally). With me being in busy season, our schedule is pretty tight so we were, unfortunately, not able to start a class series of Financial Peace University. I have, however, been told that this class is a MUST for all the "Baby-Steppers" and I believe it :)

You can find much more information on Dave's website, but in a nutshell, Dave walks you through the "7 Baby Steps" to complete your journey to financial peace and freedom! 

7 Baby Steps:

Baby Step #1 - $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
Baby Step #2 - Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
Baby Step #3 - 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
Baby Step #4 - Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
Baby Step #5 - College funding for children
Baby Step #6 - Pay off home early
Baby Step #7 - Build wealth and give!


Now...Kevin and I officially started TMM on January 18th, 2011. I was hesitant at first to put all of our "business" on the blog like this, and to be honest, I'm still hesitant. After talking about it with Kevin, we decided that we should lay it out, the truth, and just pray that it will inspire someone else like we were by Rachel and Jared's journey. It's kind of scary putting this all out there, but I am not exaggerating in any way when I say that the last month and a half has changed our LIFE for the better. 

As you are starting your journey to FREEDOM, first things first...you have to budget like crazy! I mean for real crazy!! Here are some of the ways we cut our budget.

Cable - We cut our monthly bill from $70 down to $40 just by lowering our plan.      
(Savings: $30/mo)
Student Loans - Since Kevin has been a substitute teacher vs. having a full time teaching position, he was able to qualify for loan deferment for a year. (Savings: $210/mo)
Hair Salon - I used to go to my hair guru every 6 weeks, alternating between a trim one time and a cut/color the next. I decided to cut out the mid 6 weeks appointment (told you it was crazy!) because it doesn't make that huge of a difference. (Savings: $25/mo) 


In addition to straight up cutting the budget, we've also gotten much more price conscious with everything...looking up ads to price match for our Walmart shopping, printing coupons, etc. There are blogs out there that help you out by outlining how to mix and match the deals/coupons to get some insane price reductions. Thanks to Rachel, these are the savings blogs I'm currently following: Bargain Briana, Discount Queens, Hip2Save, Deal Seeking Mom, and Money Saving Mom. You can save HUGE if you take the little amount of time to pull it together. For example, I got all of the items in the following picture from Target for only $7.14 !!!

Dave Ramsey also has what is called the Envelope System. Basically, anything you can pay in cash, DO IT! When you are setting up your budget, you do it so that you have every penny assigned to a certain bill, envelope, etc. (called the Zero based budget). Having the envelopes has really helped us stay in budget on the variable items. Currently, we have the following envelopes:

Groceries

Hair Salon

Pet Grooming/Supplies

Car Maintenance

Medical

Gifts

Granny (our wonderful landlord)

Personal Shopping/Misc.

FUN!

You guys, I kid you not....in only the first month and a half, this process has made us pull a complete 180 on how we view and feel about money. I understand you think there's no way you could do this, or that it's too much work, but think about the feeling you could have when you are 100% DEBT FREE!! Kevin and I literally FEEL a difference in only this short amount of time. We still talk about money every day, but our conversations have changed. Our talks about money now have a tone of hope, not of constant struggle. 

Where are you in your financial life right now? Are you willing to take this giant leap in the right direction and work hard to make a difference in your life? I hope that even one piece of information, guidance or sharing of our personal experiences will make a difference for you!!

 

...And So It Begins

Well hello there! 

I wanted to start my very own blog, so we'll see where this leads. I am SO glad you are joining me on this adventure, and I ask that you please bear with me as I adjust to the site, how to write and post blogs, etc. I hope you enjoy reading!! Here goes nothing...

A little bit about me: My name is Tia, I'm a daughter to amazing parents, a sister to a pretty cool little brother, a girlfriend to a wonderful man, and a "mommy" to my two little fur babies. I am very blessed to have the best friends money can buy (only kidding), and love spending quality time with them all! 

I was born to be an accountant (I planned ahead to be this organized!). I am an Auditor, and I can truly say I love my job, which is a blessing in itself because I know most people can't say that. 

Kevin and I have been dating since May 2004 and living together since the Summer of 2006. He's my best friend, my rock, my everything <3 

Currently, my life is little crazy (which I planned for, of course). Personally, I am working towards getting my CPA License. Together, Kevin and I are changing our lives in more ways than one: for overall health and wellness we are doing Atkins, and for our future, Financial Peace University. I have always considered myself to be an open book, and have always felt that sharing your story with others can help in ways you may never know. I want to use this forum to share my thoughts, experiences and ideas to hopefully provide some inspiration to others.

With all that being said, I hope you continue to read in the weeks, months, and years ahead and I thank you in advance! 

((My Parents))

((My "little" brother with his puppy, Dallas))

((My Main Man))

((My Sweet Baylor)) 

(after a certain school that yours truly attended)

((Our Gentle Giant, Turco))

(named after a NHL hockey player)