Debt Update

We started this journey in September 2010. As of July 1st, 2011, we have paid off $13864.01!!!!!

As you may have heard, Tony and I are working super hard to pay off our debt. We have made a few mistakes in the past that we can blame on being young and naive... or most likely we were just being stupid and careless! However, after taking a long 13-week course about money management, we are on the same page. A page that says NO to debt! A page that is sick of giving over $1000/month of our hard earned income away to the collectors! A page that no longer wants to be slave to the lender!

Here is the ugly, nasty truth of how out of hand our debt became:

So almost a year ago, on September 13th, we walked into our first Financial Peace University class. We had heard about it through our marriage prep class and knew that the first class was a freebie. Everyone else in the class already had the kit and workbooks ready to go. Tony and I sat empty-handed. He was embarassed, but I didn't want to "blow" $100 on something we weren't going to stick to. I even forgot to print out the workbook freebie handout, which furthered Tony's embarassment. I had forgotten that sometimes he doesn't like to "go with the flow" and stick out from the others. Needless to say, after one class, we were hooked. We bought the kit from our instructor before walking out the door that night.

I quickly dove in and became the nerd of the Stein team. Tony fell into the roll of the free spirit, but started to grow more into a tight-wad free spirit ;) Fortunately we already had Baby Step 1: $1000 Baby Emergency Fund in place from our wedding. After three weeks of class, I finally calculated our Debt Snowball. Ouch. Our total debt was... get ready for this... take a seat.... $61,943.19. We were 25 years old. How the hell did this happen?! It was time to get angry and get rolling on our debt snowball.

If we can keep up the same pace of about $1500/month, we will be debt free by June 30th, 2014. Although this seems super far away at this point, I have to remember what we started with (see that sickening number above) and how much on interest we will be saving (over $11,000!). Plus, it's seven years earlier than if we just paid minimum payments!

We are finally under the $50,000 mark. Do you know how much debt you have? Most recent grads/mid-20s have never added it up. You can't attack a problem if you don't even know where you stand. I challenge you to the Debt Snowball!!!

Sample Invite Suite

Last night I put together a quick mock up of an invitation suite using the supplies I had on hand. Ideally, it would be best to use a thicker cardstock, real twine, and an actual envelope instead of a cut out. But this gives you an idea. I love designing cards, flyers, programs, etc! The sky is the limit when it comes to what you can do and how you can present it. Enjoy!

What Have I Been Up To?

Crafting/Designing! :0) Working on some invitation ideas for my friend Alaina's wedding...

Add-On to Yesterday's Post

I noticed this beauty when we pulled into the parking lot at Welch last week. I usually don't take special notice of awesome beater cars, but I did a double take at this orange glory! Notice the small message on the back bumper?

"100% Down" and "0 Payments"

My first thought: he must be on the Dave Ramsey plan!!! Cash is king! Debt is Dumb! I have been lucky enough to never have a car payment (a special thank you to my awesome parents) and lucky enough to have gotten declined from a car loan when I was 21 (due to no credit) to prevent myself from the trap of monthly car payments that seem to be a normal part of life for Americans. I want to be weird! I will "suffer" through Grand Ams with 250,000+ miles on them where the doors and windows don't quite work, let alone the A/C. I will keep my smelly Neon that sucks oil like no tomorrow and constantly has a leaking tires. I do not "deserve" a better, fancier car.

I deserve to be debt free.  

Our Financial Journey... It's Only Just Beginning!

According to Dictionary.com, a resolution can be defined as a formal expression of group opinion, determination, or a solution of a problem. Synonyms include: resolve, determination, perseverance, tenacity, strength, and fortitude.

The first of the year brings many hopeful promises. Every year, without fail, someone asks me if I have a New Year’s Resolution. In the past, I have chosen things like working out, getting organized, getting good grades, etc. Although these are great goals to have, they can get a little lofty when there is no purpose or specification. Someone once told me (or perhaps I actually retained something from college) that goals need to be SMART. This stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. I think this is the first time in my 25 years where I have actually applied this theory for a goal of mine! Let me explain…

Way back in March of 2010, Tony and I were about halfway through our Marriage Prep class. By this point, we were realizing the true value of this class (not just the discount on our marriage license). Some of the topics were easy for us, and others were big eye openers. Our class leaders were a little quirky and almost too “lovey” but in the end, they ended up being a great fit to lead this class. While they were teaching our class, they were also students themselves… in Financial Peace University (FPU). During the marriage prep class, we briefly covered the importance of joint finances and being on the same page with your spouse, but our instructors were raving about the even more valuable and in depth lessons they were learning each week in FPU. Tony and I knew that FPU would probably be a good idea for us. Although we had good intentions, neither of us were great at managing money and we had a lot to learn about debt, investing, and retirement.

Our marriage class ended in April and the rest of the summer was swamped with wedding planning, vacations, and the big weekend of fun! Needless to say, managing our finances was not really on the top of the list. But for some reason, one of my first days back at work, I wondered over the Dave Ramsey’s website. Next thing you know, we were signed up for an FPU course just blocks from our home starting the very next Monday night!

A Case of the Mondays? Not Me!

“Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don’t waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.”
- Og Mandino

I knew this morning was going to be a good one. As I was driving home last night, the fog was rolling in. As night settled in, the fog gently came to rest on every branch of every tree. Slowly the sun came up, fighting through the leftover clouds. And nature left us a wonderful surprise: hoarfrost! …also known as a frosty coating of white on tree branches. I love it! It makes the ugly, brown, bare trees beautiful and glittery!

Some days...

You wake up late. And end up with shitty hair.

Some days...

Fishies

Goldfish. You know, those little yellow cheesy crackers shaped like fishies? Have you had them since elementary school? If not… give them a whirl again! But buyer beware! They are super yummy but addicting.

How did I get back into Goldfish? I had originally wanted to include two real goldfish per centerpiece at our wedding. Logistically, it did not work out. Plus I did not want people to be grossed out if the fish went belly up halfway through dinner. To keep with the up north “fish” type theme, we decided to have Goldfish as a snack during our cocktail hour.

Lakes Area Photography

Quick side note: I loved everything about our wedding. Nothing was really missed, majorly screwed up, or overly dramatic. It was more than I thought it would turn out to be (as you maybe could have seen from my constant happy tears during the ceremony that continued well into the next day opening gifts). I am soooo grateful for all of the fabulous people that helped pull everything together.

(Note the ugly cry face... it stayed there pretty much the whole ceremony!) Photo by Tom Hall

One thing that I personally kind of screwed up on was communication. I slightly blame my parents… they are not the greatest communicators and I learn from my elders, right? I had all these awesome visions and I did my part to make these things come to fruition. However… I forgot about telling key people what I envisioned. I don’t know if I assumed they knew, if I thought I already told them, or if I simply was so busy I forgot. Either way… it happened with a few things over the course of the weekend.

Back to the Goldfish. I calculated enough to fill the vases at least once and then possibly a refill or two. Yes, I asked people to fill them up for me during set up, but I forgot to communicate the role of refilling. I also forgot to communicate the fact that “a full bar” during the reception means to me: beer, wine, hard liquor the entire time (7pm-midnight)… but more on that another time.

So because I did not communicate the need to refill the vases and I also probably overestimated how much people would eat... we are left with quite the abundance of Goldfish! I put one of the large bags in my desk at work. My thinking was "better this than something from the vending machine." But maybe I was off track... these things are addicting! Especially when you have a never-ending super huge bag of them :) Oh well. Either I will get my fill and won't buy them again until I have kiddos or I will buy a much, much smaller bag once this one runs out. I'll be sure to let you know if they become a staple in my lunch bag.

Time's A-Tickin!

BREATHE. DON'T WORRY. I'M IN LOVE AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS!

(Fall 2005)

So much to do, so little time! I just have to learn to let the little things go. Everyone will have a wonderful time no matter what centerpieces I have or how cramped the tables are. Or how long or short the ceremony is. Speaking of ceremony... I have a rough draft of the order! Just need our pastor's input and we should be set. Happy to check something off the list in a time when it feels like nothing is getting checked off, things keep being added, and time is running out.

P.S. The ceremony will make you cry! It is very sweet :0)

Centerpieces

So... we were planning on having round tables... but now found out that we will actually need long tables. I was going to do a fun arrangement using these flowers, water, river rocks, candles, and these cylinders:

... but now I'm worried they are going to be too big & tall. And too many to rent to make an impact, which could get expensive.

Back to the drawing board I guess! Any suggestions would be wonderful :)

Color Inspirations

As you may have heard, Tony and I are moving! We are renting a giant uhaul tomorrow night and luckily we have some super strong men to help us. Thank you so much Chuck, Nic, Josh, Gerry, and anyone else who helps out! We are going to be having pizza, beer, and mt dew once everything is moved over to St. Paul.

Since this is our first real place that we picked out together, we are redecorating everything and painting to make it feel more like a home. I am SOOO excited! Here are the wall colors we are thinking of:

Poundage

I have been slowly losing weight since this winter. By the end of 2009, I was teetering around 155 :( As everyone does with the new year, I made some resolutions... and I am still working on them! Crazy to think that sometimes people actually can stick to them.

I started with working out with Abby. Then we added a personal trainer, Karl. He was fantastic, but even with a group discount, it was expensive. So we tried Team Fitness at Lifetime. I really enjoy the class but started slacking in the last week or two here... 5am can come way to early when you are running around all night after work doing wedding errands and helping parents move. I usually try to squeeze in some of my own exercising... P90X with Tony, running with Jax, or even just going for a nice long walk with Tanya. However - what has been the extra boost I needed in the last two months is MyFitnessPal.com. It is a super easy website that helps me track my calories and exercise. Yes, logging on and entering stuff takes a few minutes... but what's a few minutes a day on there instead of FB??? Easy!!!

So I am VERY proud to say that I have lost about 15 pounds since last winter!!! And Tony is right there too :) even though he just started with the weight loss thing about a month or two ago lol. We really want to keep it up and start our marriage in a healthy, youthful way. We love to be outside and doing active things. But we also love to eat. So we are working on that balance and learning how to be healthier together. (Notice I did not say "healthy" together - we still love some "naughty" foods and couch time).

Christmas 2009

June 2010

Right Around the Corner

Less Than 75 Days until Wedding Day! So exciting but so much to do!

Found this cute article the other day on MSN, reminded me of some of the things Tony and I learned in our marriage prep course at Hosanna: Five Things Super-Happy Couples Do Every Day. Although a wedding is a wonderfully memorable day, what's even more important is that we are starting a life together!

Hair Flower

Now that I have my dress, I need to start searching for accessories! I am thinking I will either wear my hair in a side ponytail loosely curled or a side knotted type bun. Which hair flower do you like best?




You should be able to click on the image to enlarge it! If that doesn't work, let me know because there might be something wrong with my blog settings.

Colors!

The bridesmaids dresses are going to be blue. Horizon Blue from David's Bridal to be exact. You can see what they will look like here. In person they are much brighter than they appear online :)

We went with dark gray suits from JCPenny, which can be seen here.

Flowers will be mostly white with a little bit of green. Maybe something like this, or this, or even this.

So... do we throw in another accent color? Like purple or green? It would not really be a part of the attire or flowers, but more for decor, invites, programs, etc. What do you guys think? I need some recommendations!