FPU Helpful Household Hints: Part 1

How We Make it Work on 1 Income x 4 Children (and counting) 

(This may seem a little technical, for what I normally post on my blog, but my hubby,Justin, is leading another Financial Peace University Class at our church.  Since I am not much of a public speaker, I thought I'd post how I'm learning to be frugal, my own grocery shopping strategies, and the specific ways we've learned to make FPU work, here on my blog.  Sometimes it's helpful to hear the "nuts and bolts"/practical side of living out FPU!  We have learned so much from what Dave Ramsey teaches.  Our finances are much better off, after going through his course. And, amazingly, FPU has tremendously helped our marriage!  Setting goals, making changes, planning, communicating and being on the "home team" together, has been extremely beneficial for us as a couple!  If you've never taken an FPU class, get signed up!!  They're offered all around the USA...check out your local churches for future FPU courses!  Yes, it's THAT good!)

We’ve been doing the Dave Ramsey Financial Plan for almost 6 years now.  We’re still learning, but we’ve amazed ourselves, even, with the progress we’ve made.   It has been 2 steps forward, and 1 step backward, at times.  But, it’s been worth it!  I’m sharing this to be helpful, not to “toot my/our own horn” 

In a short list, here’s a few ways we’ve been successful in achieving our goals and working through Dave’s “Baby Steps”:

1.       Delay gratification-  there has been seasons (like when we were paying off the debts that we owed), where we only spent money on the basics.  “Horrors!!!”  This was a HUGE lesson for me to learn.  Us girls, we like our shopping, eh?!!  For some months on end there just wasn’t enough money for “extra” stuff: clothes, makeup, hair, etc.  And, WE SURVIVED!   We chose to do that.  I wasn't "deprived"  It was just for a season!  I actually stayed out of stores, besides the grocery store, because there just wasn’t extra room in the budget for those “wants”.  It actually helped me be content!  We did this, because our goal was to use all of our extra money to do the “Debt Snowball”   That was “gazelle intensity” (from a girl’s perspective) J

2.       “Buy used and save the difference!”  (that’s a quote from the Dugger Familiy!)  It works.   We’ve done this: everything from vehicles to baby gear.  It’s easy to spend extra thousands, by buying brand new.  It pays to shop around.  Thankfully, there’s more and more resale shops around selling maternity, kid and baby gear!  Babies and children CAN cost a lot, but with the opportunity to shop at resale shops or garage sales, it’s VERY affordable.  I know people who sell all their baby strollers, furniture, and clothing and then go out and buy all new stuff for the next one.  Then, they’re amazed that we purchased our surburban with cash or fully stock our Emergency Fun.  It’s just a matter of priority.  I KNOW we were able to save a large chunk of money during what could’ve been a very expensive time in our lives by hardly spending any money on baby gear and kids clothes.   [And, just to clarify, it’s not “wrong” to get all new stuff between kids, that’s just the example that popped into my head.  It’s those peoples' garage sales that I like to attend!!! J]

3.       Learn to shop differently: coupons, add matching(Walmart does this), discount stores(Aldi, Save-A-Lot, The Country Salvage), price checking online, Ebay and Amazon (buy used!!), and have a plan for grocery shopping!  Yes, at first, you may feel "lower class" by going to Aldi or Save-A-Lot, but who cares!  You will save a TON on your grocery bill!  Taking the extra time to pre-shop online to find the best deals, is like paying yourself the extra money you saved!

4.       Learn from everyone you can.  Glean ideas, tips, hints, and recipes!  It may just save you $$$ and time!

I will be sharing my specific ways I've changed how I cook and shop to better fit the needs of our growing family AND save money, in future blog posts.