Giving Ourselves a Raise...

Our new series at church is called "Give Yourself a Raise". I feel like this series can impact a lot of homes, especially during the tough economic times we are facing. One thing Shawn said is that we are only responsible for what God gives us. Over the course of the last year, we have attended Rethink Money and had some tough, honest conversations. Here are some things we have done & still do to give ourselves a raise. Some of them may seem crazy to most people, but are allowing us to be responsible with the small amount we have been given.

• We have paid off about $8000 in debt over the last nine months
• We bought a refrigerator and washer & dryer
  
• We have a monthly spending plan that balances out to zero (most of the time)
• We tithe 10% of our income and give away about another 5%--we want to be out of debt so we can raise that percentage
  
• We sold one of our cars--and we only have about nine months of payments left on the Saturn we have. 1 car is okay about 88% of the time
• We make all of Peyton's food and it costs about $3-$4 a week
  
• We don't have cable television. We still get CBS & PBS!
• We have enough money in savings to cover our highest deductible
• We have started saving for Peyton's college with UPROMISE
  
• We bought our first home
  
• We use coupons for everything: we join e-clubs for restaurants, we use lots of baby coupons, we find as many food coupons as we can
• We use REDBOX for our movie rentals and get a free rental every Monday
  

Thanks to all of our friends & family who have supported us and encouraged us in the journey of becoming financially free! We suggest that everyone take control of your finances. A great first step is attending Rethink Money. We are pulling for you in these tough times.