Hired!

I am now officially employed by Home Depot Canada. What I'll be doing, I don't really know. I was hired to work in paint but the store manager then asked where else I would be interested in working in case they decide to move me around the store.

I'm all excited to learn about paint though so I hope I at least get to be there for a while! I have 2 upstairs rooms and the entire downstairs needing painted. My deck need stained and I'm really wanting to know how to do it myself! Since the whole waiting for dh to help me figure it out has lasted three years already. :D I'm gonna do it myself!

Tonight I get to go shopping and spend money, on steel toe shoes (Oh joy! Note the sarcasm. lol) . The cash is already in my purse, in the envelope designated "clothing" there's also cash in the tithe and groceries envelope! :D Yep, it's true. We are finally getting to actually do a cash budget with cash. The bills are paid thanks to God's provision and we have what we need to cover the next two weeks. :D

I'm loving how cool God is. How well he knows me. I'm ashamed of my response to not getting the hotel job and how I didn't react in a godly manner. I was mad and I let it show. I knew God was in control but I still thought the hiring manager there made a mistake. (blushing) In truth God knew what I need, what our family needs and knew what would fill that need over and above what I wanted-cash, and gave us the possibility of added health coverage as well in a matter of months.

Now given, that's not a given! I need to work 20 hours a week for 3 months to qualify. Guess what my next prayer request is? :D

In other positive news we also actually have an Emergency Fund started! ***YAY!*** Can you hear me cheering over there? This is the first time in my life I have done this and I love how it feels.

So it's been a good week. This morning the girls and I gave back a bit by working with the other home schooling families and collecting food for the food bank. Then we came home and passed out more fliers about the food drive the girls are participating in at church. Tomorrow we'll drive around and collect the donations then take them to the church.

God is good, all the time.

That's Just The Way It Goes

It's been a month since Tim and I decided to get active about paying off our debt. It amazes me how slowly things move even when you really want them to hurry. The important things I mean. Like appointments at the bank. It takes days, weeks even to get in, get things processed and then receive the information you need. Then there are days and weeks of praying, thinking and just plain old waiting. Have you noticed I'm not a patient person by nature? This is torture. I want to get going already! Get that emergency fund funded.

Instead I am sitting here feeling frustrated a bit because we're really no further ahead than we were a month ago. Ahhhh, but then, we're not further behind either. And that my friend, is progress in and of itself. :) So I continue to tell myself that stepping forward, choosing each day to not spend or spend wisely is making the debt free life that much closer.

Christmas is coming, it's swooping in with little regard to the bank balance. Panic is hovering over my head when I think about what needs to be purchased, wrapped and under the tree. . . .Whoa. . .did I just say NEEDS?! Well, let's reason this out. . . .what I desperately want to be under the tree. I love giving gifts to my children and Christmas is my favorite time of year. I'm fighting hard to reconcile want with need.

My children need nothing. I want to give them things. Like a soft fuzzy blanket for G's bed. She's still sleeping under just a hand knit afghan. She is perfectly content, but mommy is concerned that it's not warm enough when she's wearing a nightgown instead of blanket sleeper.

Or a Bible for B. Truth told, she's very happy with the ones she has. We even just found a KJV in large print, kids version for her at Goodwill for fifty cents. That makes her Bible work so much easier since Mommy didn't know the Bible curriculum was in KJV. As of yesterday she was begging to do more Bible so she could be in her Bible more. Isn't that awesome! :D

Then there's S. She had so much fun, along with B. at their friends home playing with K'Nex. I want very much to get a box for them to play with, or two. They spent a couple hours building things. She's even asking if today we can sort out toys to sell. . . I need to figure out why she wants to sell other than that Mommy keeps saying they have too many.

See, that's the truth. We have too much stuff. So our house feels crowded. Yet I hold tight to the stuff out of fear and pride. Stupid pride. I'm going to get a couple of big boxes and start filling away!!! :D That thought makes me grin.

But back to the money stuff. I interviewed two weeks ago for a position at a hotel. It would've been ideal. Good pay, nice benefits, not much hard labor at all. But I didn't want it, so I didn't do a great job at the interview, even after praying before going in. Then I didn't get it and boy was I upset. (Insert blushing smiley here.) What an ungrateful brat I can be. And I wonder where G gets it?!? It's all me, baby! So I pouted for a bit but still put my resume in several places, including Walmart which I sincerely have no desire to ever work at. . .but um, money is money. So I will do it if need be.

Walmart never even called me back. LOL This past Saturday and Sunday I worked at Home Depot for a Christmas Light Exchange program. It was FUN! The people at HD were fun. I had already checked and they weren't hiring. I'd heard rumors that they are a good company to work for so I was a bit disappointed. Then over the intercom came an announcement that they were hiring for part and full time positions.

So I scurried over and filled out an application while on break from the job. . .yep, filled out the application while working a different job. But the job was a 2 day thing, so no worries. I turned in my application with a resume only to find out they had filled 4 positions the weekend before. The store manager took my app & resume anyway. What can you do? Nothin' so I just smiled and moved on.

Wednesday I got a phone call from Ray from Home Depot, could I come in for an interview Thurs? Um, yeah! :D So I did the interview and he asked if I could stay for a second interview. I did. She said she'll be checking my references and getting back to me to book a third and final interview for Mon. or Tues. of next week. :D YAY! I know this doesn't mean I've got the job but can I tell you why I'm so excited? Excited about working with paint and stain and hardware?

Because, if I work 20 hours a week for 3 months our entire family qualifies for Health Care benefits! Including dental. OH my stars. That rocks my world.

So enter in a whole separate bundle of worries. How will we manage when Tim's at the boat show in Jan for the weekend? What about when summer comes and he's not home regularly at 5??? ACKKK!

This is me once again turning these troubles over to God. Why do I worry before there's even a problem?? LOL That's just the way it goes.

Working

I've applied for a job at a local hotel. Did I mention that already? Well, I did. And I thought they weren't going to call me because they didn't the morning after. :p Well, they called this morning. I have an interview tomorrow at 5:30. They know I'm not available days. We'll see how it goes.

I know that there really is no other option other than a miracle. And as I've stated otherwise, sitting on my bum waiting for a miracle isn't helping things. The faster I take action the faster things will improve.

I calculated it out and if they really do hire me and really do give 25 hours a week. I would be making just over $1000 a month. Part of me cringes because I know with Pampered Chef that was a possibility with less hours away from home, but then I don't want to do PC again and I would have to spend a lot of time on the phone which while, home, is still unavailable. Kwim?

My goal is for us to be out of debt by the end of 2009. That's a BIG goal. It's a scary goal, because in there is b'day's, Christmas, and a promised trip to Disney when B is 10. Thankfully she turns 11 in March, so we may be able to squeeze the trip in before her b'day and still be good. We want to pay cash for the holiday. It will be our first ever holiday as a family. :) Something really positive to look forward to!

The nitty gritty is H-A-R-D!! It's incredibly hard. I'm so excellent at spending our money $15-40 at a time. At the grocery store, at Walmart, on gifts, just because, etc. I scare me. Christmas scares me. At this moment I don't know how on earth we'll do it. If I get the job at least I can breathe knowing that we can pay the bills and buy gifts!

I have to be honest with you. I'd really like a miracle. God has provided for us time and time again. I'd really like him to do that in a big way and get us out of this mess. But as much as I want that I know it's not what is really best for us. What's best for me. I need to learn this. I need to sweat and cry to pay off the money I've already spent. I need to know this to the depths of my soul, debt is wrong. Borrowing is not biblical. Giving is. I can not give because I have borrowed that equals sin. I am ashamed. But I have hope.

God has brought the Dave Ramsey ministry to us. We are agreed about doing this and I am willing to work, despite my hearts desire to stay home. Despite my fears. That's all.

Chocolate, ebay and Christmas

The truth is chocolate is my cryptonite. Put it in front of me and I cave. I'll hand over hard earned money that I was determined would not be spent with just a whiff of german milk chocolate. So $18. . .*gasp* !$18! dollars later I have a bag, not a huge bag even, but the "large" bag of german chocolate poured thick over toffee then covered in cashews and almonds. YUM. . .but *groan* How could I? It was the heat of the moment, the desire to share and still have lots for me. That means it was greed, pure greed with a dab of buying fever on top. I would not in any other normal circumstances spent $18 on any container of chocolate. Chalk that up for another lesson down TMM Road. (Total Money Makeover)

Then there's today. I thought I'd get a head start on Christmas gifts and found a deal on e-bay. I bid up to $20 for a 5mp HP camera. The bid is at .99 shipping is $12 (Canada post sucks), I'm winning. I leave for a couple of hours, come back and re-read the description since I haven't been out bid and there's 6 hours left. Odd.

Yeah, there's a reason. The camera doesn't work!!! It doesn't turn on. That is not in the headline, it's in the product description at the bottom. *sigh* So it looks like I may be spending $13 on a camera that doesn't work. Peachy. It can sit right next to my other HP camera that doesn't work. Yet another lesson. PAY ATTENTION!!! If it smells like too sweet, it probably is.

And that ties in my Christmas dilemma's. I want to get the girls digital camera's. I still think e-bay is a good way to go. Oh, and Becca wants a telescope. We can do that. Gabi, she'd be happy with markers and paper and something Diego.

I'm frustrated at the moment because we're already into overdraft and Tim got paid officially yesterday. I HATE that. There's more money coming in at the end of the week, but I hate it in the red. Hating it is good from what I read. But how do I do this, is my big question.

Okay, we need to live within our means. That's great. Okay, gonna work on it. . . but working on it isn't working!!! Three weeks in and we still need more money. Just to keep up. FYI I have cut all the frills. We don't have extra phone services, our cell phone is pay as you go, we don't pay for satellite or cable, there's just not a lot there.

It's looking more and more like I'm going to need to get a part time job. I so don't want to do that. I am not good at working and taking care of our home and family. I cherish our family weekends. But it wouldn't be forever, it would just feel like it. I like the short term jobs I've had so far. I wish I could find those once a month! I guess I have so far. But still it's bringing in a little when we kind of need a lot. Especially this month and next leading into Christmas.

Why did I quit Pampered Chef? ?? Oh yeah, because I was tired of doing it. And truly, I'm not sorry I'm done with that, exactly. Just that it would be a more pleasant way to make money than what I'm looking at. "Two double doubles and a cafe mocha coming up." :(

Sara

Living now like no one else, so later we can live like no one else.

It was the first day of the rest of their lives. . .

Sounds like a cheesy start to a story but it describes us just about two weeks ago. A friend turned me on to Dave Ramsey and I started looking at his website. Then I requested two of his books from the library. While waiting for those to arrive we drove to Barrie and picked up the workbook for his Total Money Makeover.

I decided to try to live on a cash budget, but we didn't get cash out and implement it right away. So as you may have guessed, in the last two weeks I've blown it big time. But something's different. Instead of just weeping and giving up I'm pushing on.

Wednesday I worked the Provincial election and actually got paid while reading Dave's Financial Peace Revisited. I took notes, even. I studied like a student with an exam coming. Today I printed off the Quickie Budget and Cash Flow Plan to work on with Tim tonight. Yep, he's on board too. We're reading and discussing Total Money Makeover together.

That job with the election? I got it on purpose to put it towards building our $1,000 emergency fund. I'm working Nov. 3 & 4th for the same thing, the Efund and Christmas.

What I don't know can kill me. That hit me hard. Ignorance does not equal innocence! My children are innocent and I am ready to change our family tree so that they learn what I did not, what Tim did not. . .how money works and how to make it work for me.

Solomon wrote in Proverbs "Get wisdom, get understanding". In several verses he says to sell everything and get wisdom or get understanding. It's serious stuff. But above all things guard your heart.

So this is us, starting the journey to living like no one else so we can eventually live like no one else. At this point I hardly dare think about life without car payments, credit card payments or debt, but the mere concept gives me goosebumps!

I don't know if I can do it. I love to shop, love to spend! But I hate the feelings of disgust, desperation, and embarrassment that come with making plenty of money but not having any. I can not do this alone. I need God. Every step of the way. Every time I go into Walmart or the grocery store or go on line to look at Amazon even. I'm scared but I have hope! I'll let you know how it goes.

Eating Starburst

So how many pieces are in a pack of Starburst? If they're old, enough to make your jaw hurt before you finish them. LOL Did you know you can buy a big bag of Starburst at Walmart in the US for $1.97 but in Canada you get about 1/3 the same bag for $1.37??? What gives? If I'd realized that I'd have stocked up.

So here I am, school's done for the day. Gabs is still napping. The big girls are watching tv waiting for Gabs to wake up so we can go to the park, which needs to happen soon. There's laundry waiting in the dryer and the washer, but there's no empty clothes basket!!! So I shut the dryer door and flicked the light off. :p

I'm sorting out the Pampered Chef supplies in my office. They're getting boxed up so I can ship them out to my Director in Alberta. That's gonna make some space. I'll also need to list on E-bay or something the bags and carrying containers I've accumulated. Who needs all these Pampered Chef totes??? Me apparently. :p

One couch and chair are gone from my living room. My favorite couch is still here. It needs a new home but part of me doesn't want it to go. The reality is there is no place to store it so it's foolish to keep it. We have two new-to-us couches coming today and tomorrow. Tim's bringing them home after work.

That means the toy room needs cleaned out so the futon can move to the office. Hence the reason I'm cleaning in the office. No way a futon will fit at the moment. :P We're gonna have a busy week. If we actually get it all done! The girls computer may be moving back to the open room. I'm considering moving our home schooling things downstairs as well.

What I really want is to move. LOL Maybe we'll drive by that house two towns over sometime this week. 2500 sq ft of living space. Whooooooaaaaaa! :) And a fireplace. *swoon* I'm still working on that "being content whatever my circumstances." :)

Hope you're having a candy sweet day~

Sara

What if?

It's that time of life. Our youngest, is turning three. She's passing milestones so fast I can't keep track of them. There's very little of the baby she was left in the child she is now. So Baby Fever is at a peak. We love our girls. We've been so blessed with sweet, fun, beautiful girls. So watching Gabs gain independence and grow into an amazing girl has my heart panging for another baby to hold and cuddle. My baby won't hardly sit still!

My mind is drifting to the what if's. What if we were expecting another one. Hypothetically what would happen now? Let's say it's a go and the due date is around June 10th. What now?

Well, first. . . .we have about six weeks before I feel sick and can't cook anything. So I should stock up on cereal for Tim and the girls now. Then we have some serious decluttering to do because if you've seen our house you know there just isn't room for a baby at this moment. Let alone all the paraphernalia that goes with caring for a baby. Where are we going to put the girls? We either need to move or make another room in the basement somehow.

Let's say we're going to move. . .before the baby. That means the flooring downstairs needs replaced, possibly the front windows and sometime between now and June we need a couple thousand dollars banked for lawyers and moving fees. Plus packing. So again, we're back to decluttering.

And remember that paraphernalia for babies? Well, we don't have it anymore. No crib, change table, carseat, etc. Oh wait! Gabs car seat may switch to a infant seat and she'll be able to bump into a booster seat in another 4lbs. . .buy sugary cereal to boost her weight quickly. Kidding.

Then there's doctors visits, diclectin prescriptions, blood work, the holding a swimming pool worth of water test. I have no maternity clothes and my fat clothes are already tight. Not to mention an aching body, exhaustion, and home schooling. Remember that? My girls still need to be learning all the while. :)

If the baby would be here by June 10th that's just lovely. . .it's smack dab in the middle of crazy season for Tim at work. So I'm going to need some help. But there isn't going to be any! Thankfully it would be summer time so the girls could play outside, hopefully at a new house with a fenced yard so I wouldn't have to worry about Gabs going adventuring. She takes after her father and is fearless about being on her own.

Here's where I'm landing. I'm thankful this is a hypothetical because while the idea of another baby is romantic the reality sounds like a lot of hard work. Would I be thrilled if it were not hypothetical? Yes. Am I relieved it is? Yes. :D It think it's awesome that God is in charge and not me. No matter what happens He's in control and I'm never out of His hands. :)