In our new house is a Man Cave. It’s a retreat, and sanctuary, a hiding spot – at least as much as possible in a house with 5 children.
Here is a tour of the room:
- As you walk in, on the right hand side is a closet. It has organized clothes and extra office “stuff.”
- Along the back wall is a comfy chair for reading, thinking, studying, and praying.
- Next to that is a bookshelf / coffee-table combo. The book shelf is need of some loving. If you have any good books, or book recommendations, send them my way. The bookshelf holds a vanity, cologne, books, firewood candle (the best smelling candle…ever), a small lamp, and a BIG brown Bible.
- As you continue along the wall, you come to the guitar. It is crying out for attention and new strings.
- Two windows occupy the next wall. They receive the early morning sun.
- In the next corner is a desk. It’s facing away from the door, so it does not meet Feng Shui qualifications. At this desk, 100+ papers will be written over the next few years, as I complete my college courses.
- Finally, along the last wall, we end with the unimpressive file cabinets and mail station.
- This ends the tour of the cave.
The things I like best about the room are the chair, candle, and Bible which are good company early in the morning.
Do you have a sanctuary in your house? What do you like best about it.
It was hard to decide which one to post. There’s just too many good choices.
No, you didn’t miss it. There was no Month 15 or 16 post. The past couple months reached a level of business that border-lined insanity. Things are starting to calm down a bit now that we are moved. So, here is our summary of March, April and May.
We continue to get used to all the fun new quirks of living in a older house. As you can guess, moving has its expenses. We managed to avoid paying any actual moving expenses. However, start up fees, cancellation fees, and this and that have more than made up for anything we missed out on. Oh, and don’t forget hospital bills! Peter had another emergency room visit. I guess I never reported the first one, which was because of dehydration from a stomach virus. The 2nd one was for stitches after he decided to dance in his room in the dark. Needless to say, he is back in the crib for a few more months.
What else? We bought a second vehicle in April. We paid $1000 cash for a ‘95 Toyota Camry from some good friends. It has been a great blessing now that we moved a little farther away from my work. Christina loves having the van whenever she needs/wants it.
I also got new glasses finally. My old ones got smushed, and I desperately needed an updated perscription. And there’s also the laptop for Christina. That was not quite a need, but it was close. We paid cash for it, and I got a great discount through school.
Speaking of school, I have finished two classes, and I am one week through the third. I have an “A” average so far. The last class was challenging since we did not have internet for almost three weeks of it. Online classes + no Internet = …no, it doesn’t compute. We found it where we could, at our parents’, work, libraries, and coffee shops.
Amazingly, through this all, we have remained debt free. Our savings has come down a little from the last report, but we did anticipate buying the car with some of that money. Currently, it is holding steady at $8,500. I’m feeling the urge to tighten up our budget and control our expenses better. I heard Dave Ramsey say, in his Town Hall for Hope message, “When we get a little bit prosperous, we get a little bit sloppy.” That has been true for us over the past few months. The pressure of debt was off, and we got just a little sloppy. I had slacked on the budget, and the sense of entitlement was creeping back. It’s time to get that in check, and focus on the goals once more.
This is just a quick post before getting back to my paper writing. Today, we moved from Ashburn to Leesburg. We will be saying our final goodbye to Ashburn Meadows apartments in the next day or two once we turn in keys. This has been our home for the past 7 1/2 years. We moved into a 2 bedroom apartment in October 2001, right before our James was born. In 2005, we moved up to a 3 bedroom apartment after our Clara was born. Now, with 5 children, we were over the maximum occupancy. We were blessed to find an affordable rental in Leesburg. It has 4 bedrooms and is at least 900 square feet roomier. The kids love it. We love it.
We started loading the truck at exactly 7:30 AM, and finished unloading the truck at exactly 11:00 AM. The guys that helped were incredible. We’ve got a long ways to go to situate everything, and plenty of laundry to keep us busy, but we are completely and officially moved in.
I am overwhelmed right now with gratitude for those who have helped us. I am also a little overwhelmed with the this 1400 word draft I have to turn in tonight. I hate to say, I don’t think it will be my best work, but I need some sleep!
Perhaps we will invite you over for some ice cream in a week or two at the new place.
Yes, that is right. Back to school! You may have heard/read that I earned a full scholarship to the University of Phoenix (thanks to my mom-in-law)! I am taking all classes online, and have it made to my second week of my second class. The classes run one at a time for 5 weeks. I found out from my mom-in-law that I can opt for a week break in between classes. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
For my first class, which was a general introduction into UoP, college, learning teams, APA formatting, etc., we turned in a total of three “research” papers. I’m currently taking Research 110, and am finding out that our research is going to consist of a whole lot more! Anyway, I walked away from the first class with a good experience. My team was great. Believe it or not, I was considered a team leader. I earned a 96.5 in the class as well as completing an APA workshop.
Breathe! I have to keep reminding myself. I seriously forget now adays. There are about 1,000 things to think about and 1,000 more things to do.
We are moving in 8 days!!! The bunk beds are disassembled and Peter’s room is piling up with boxes. Our house is in that sense of chaos that I just love (ahem). We are in the “oh, that’s where that has been” stage of moving.
A coworker/team-mate was let go at work and I took over most of his responsibilities. I really enjoy the new aspects of the job, such as project management and process development. We are still in the transition phase and trying to turn the ship around. I work very closely with the program developer, but also have a lot of interaction with the president and other business heads. In addition, I’m creating a series of training videos for our program and traveling out to the West Virginia office once a week to have more fae-to-face interaction with the team out there. (Oh, by the way, I really like using the word “team” when it comes to people I work with.)
We finally bought a second car! It is a ‘95 Toyota Camry with 162k miles. Our friends sold it to us for 1k. It runs great. And we are still DEBT FREE!
Expenses have seemed like they’ve been through the roof lately, but that is just with all the transition happening. Hospital bills, security deposits, car, etc. We are down to 7,300 in our savings currently (from its high point of 11k). I think we are very close to being able to throw money back in there.
By the way, our desktop computer pooped out on us. We are trying to revive it with some memory. A friend is coming to work some magic on it. Thankfully we have the laptop (once again – a blessing for the in-laws).
We are praying things will start to normalize… kinda sorta… once we are done with the move. We’ll need to start planning the vacation to Colorado this summer. It’s going to be great to get back there after 10 years.
Ok, so I could probably continue, but I’m afraid I’ve already lost you. Sorry for the rambling, but I’m trying to fit a bunch in knowing that it is not likely that I’ll be blogging very frequently. Hopefully it will not go out of style before I can actually get back into the groove.
Ok, maybe not 900! But 9 would be nice.
My family is getting ready to move from Ashburn to Leesburg.
The move is happening on Saturday, May 2nd.
We have someone who volunteered to watch the kids.
It also looks like we have a big truck. With some strategic packing, we could probably fit it all in on one trip.
If you can help, just get me a message any old way you like (comment here, email, twitter, facebook, letter, text, smoke signal).
Muchos gracias
Wait… I’ve got to twitter this.
If there’s one post I’ll try to keep up on, it will be the “Our Progress” reports.
Below, listed in bullet point fashion are the highlights of February. Begin.
- James was a lion and I was the lion tamer in a monthly production called KIDstuff at MBC Loudoun.
- We joined an MBC Loudoun Small Group with 4 other awesome families. They all have kids, so we fit right in.
- We had dinner with the Robinsons – a family we love but do not get to see very often.
- Lincoln had a birthday, and we receive 3k in tax returns which went straight to savings.
- We celebrated my mom’s and Clara’s birthday. My mom turned 29. She’ll have some explaining to do in a few years as I myself approach 30. Clara turned 4 and got a lovely handmade doll.
- To make it complete, we celebrated Clara’s birthday with the Cromps at Chuck E. Cheese’s.
- We did a family night themed to celebrate and learn about our child sponsorship through World Vision. We cooked up three tasty foods of Zimbabwe (sadza, dovi, roasted butternut squash). Then we watched some of the sponsorship DVD from World Vision. The kids wrote letters to Bright that we will be mailing out… any day now!
- We stayed within budget and ended with $10,366 in savings. That’s good, because in March…
World Vision Night: Destination Zimbabwe
Remember the countdown? Oh what fun!
Well, I’ve finally compiled the list so I can keep track of it a little easier.
Here is my (Almost) 100 things to do when I’m debt free. I’ll cross them out as we go.
- 100 – Jump up and down while smiling like an idiot
- 99 – Praise God for all his goodness to us (this will be continual)
- 98 – Call Dave Ramsey (we tried, but didn’t get through)
- 97 – Fund the emergencies
- 96 – Save up and take a paid for vacation
- 95 – Go out to eat and celebrate with thanksgiving
- 94 – Throw a “Credit Card Destruction” party
- 93 – Take 3 months to serve the Lord internationally
- 92 – Make a video of the moment we pay off our last debt
- 91 – Pay it Forward – Help others to become debt free
- 90 – Volunteer somewhere during the day on a weekday, every week
- 89 – Make a new vow to remain debt free and write out a new budget
- 88 – Choice to cut back on extra hours
- 87 – Having options
- 86 – Back to School (wow, this happened a lot sooner than we thought!)
- 85 – Exploring my passions (Pastor Nate?)
- 84 – Leave a legacy
- 83 – Gain Weight
- 82 – Buy a House
- 81 – Set up a Monument
- 80 – Buy a Christmas Tree
- 79 – No more debt free countdown posts
- 78 – Act my wage
- 77 – Pay cash for a second car
- 76 – Get someone to help clean the house
- 75 – Catch up on our favorite TV shows
- 74 – Play my guitar more
- 73 – Write up our will
- 72 – More family time
- 71 – Get Identity Theft Insurance
- 70 – Climb a mountain
- 69 – Come up with a new blog title
- 68 – Facilitate a Financial Peace University class
- 67 – Sponsor a Child
- 66 – Tip more generously (i took Chad Wright’s philosophy. Tip Big, or stay home)
- 65 – Get a new Bible
- 64 – Follow through
- 63 – Freeze the credit cards
- 62 – Give someone a Christmas
- 61 – Make Scott Team Jerseys
- 60 – Save for a house – with a house shaped piggy bank
- 59 – Go for a morning swim
- 58 – Randomly and anonymously pay for someone’s meal
- 57 – Run a marathon or just run
- 56 – Pay with cash for everything
- 55 – Open a Health Savings Account
- 54 – Buy some Tom’s shoes
- 53 – Start saving towards retirement
- 52 – Host my own blog (been there, done that. I actually went back to wordpress.com for now)
- 51 – Make it to Sunday meetings at church (stop working at Wegmans on Sunday)
- 50 – Live like no one else
- 49 – Loan money through kiva.org
- 48 – Wait for it
- 47 – Subscribe to some good magazines
- 46 – Get new glasses
- 45 – Build a house through Habitat for Humanity
- 44 – Take a friend to lunch
- 43 – Plant a garden
- 42 – Get a massage
- 41 – More kids?!?!
- 40 – Go green(er)
- 39 – Buy board games
- 38 – Get a new family portrait
- 37 – Learn how to dance (the snoopy dance)
- 36 – Get a hairstyle (this too is overrated!)
- 35 – Take the kids on daddy dates (we started, but life got crazy with the addition of Lily)
- 34 – Get wisdom
- 33 – Remember the fallen (9/11)
- 32 – Get the kids in some activities
- 31 – ????
- 30 – ????
- 29 – Invest
- 28 – Write a “How to”
- 27 – Invent Something
- 26 – Get away for a night
- 25 – Rent a Mommy Helper
- 24 – Quit Wegmans
- 23 – Dream big
- 22 – Start a business
- 21 – Pick a team
- 20 – Make a silly music video
- 19 – Operation Christmas Child
- 18 – Sleep soundly (I do, though sometimes I wonder why)
- 17 – Lead worship
- 16 – Drop the heavy burdens
- 15 – Create the “Attention to Details” disease
- 14 – Go to the dentist
- 13 – Mail you some cash
- 12 – Keep the change
I’ve had someone ask about our budget. After writing an email to them, I figured I would go ahead and post part of the email on the blog for any other inquiring minds.
This is our current, post-debt budget.
Our monthly income (after taxes and health insurance) is about $4126
We pay about $266 for health insurance each month while our employer pays the other part.
For the budget, I’ll give the expense, and in parentheses I’ll put the remaining income:
- Monthly rent = $1215 ($2911)
- Water, Gas, Electric = $220 ($2691)
- Internet = $38 ($2653)
- Home Phone = $32 ($2621)
- Cell Phone = $100 ($2521)
- Tithe = $500 ($2021)
- Child Sponsorship = $35 ($1986)
- Groceries = $600 ($1386)
- Gas = $100 ($1286)
- Auto Insurance = $60 ($1226)
- Maintenance = $100 ($1126)
- Life Insurance = $43 ($1083)
- Doctor visits = $30 ($1053)
- Prescriptions = $10 ($1043)
- Misc. Memberships and Subscriptions = $30 ($1013)
- Baby Sitters/ Activities = $25 ($988)
- Clothing = $70 ($918)
Savings = $918
Some notes and observations:
- Still no TV and therefore no cable bill
- Our cell phone bill just recently went up. During the debt pay-off it was $35
- The grocery budget includes everything (food and toiletries). Any eating out comes out of this budget. Usually just something like a pizza at Costco
- We have one vehicle and a short commute.
- I’m a cheap date. We usually do something simple like an in-home movie, or maybe coffee brought to you by free-babysitting.
- The adults buy their clothes with Christmas and birthday money.
- Certain categories do not always meet their max, so whatever we don’t spend gets added to savings.
- I try to put the $ in savings as soon as possible. I’m less likely to think it’s available if it’s in savings.
- We budget about a month ahead for large purchases, like home-school curriculum.
- We wait at least a day before any out of the ordinary (non-budget specific) purchases.
- We go to the grocery store armed with a list. Mrs. Scott estimates the item cost and she comes pretty darn close each time. We know exactly what we are spending.
- If it’s not on the list and it’s not absolutely necessary, it will wait till next time.
- We have 2 in diapers, but we cloth diaper which saves a lot of money. My wife has written about on her blog
- I can’t leave out the fact that we are blessed with family close by who help out with random gifts, babysitting and clothing for the ever-growing kids.
Have you ever had that nagging feeling that there was something more to do with your life? I don’t remember exactly when it started for me...
