The Kitchen Table: My Ramsey Experiment…

On January 25th of this year we had a drawing for a free copy of “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey. This book came highly recommend by Sharon Daniels our “Women and Finances” blogger. Though Marcia was not the winner of our free copy, she managed to get her own. So, when I read her blog last week, I had to ask her if we could publish it on our blog and thank God she said, “YES!” Ladies enjoy.

Last you heard (well, between two batches of Banana Muffins) I was pretty excited about my Dave Ramsey book. I had big plans. I was going to knock that Emergency fund into shape and start paying down those credit cards. On paper I had it all figured out. And then life and pain stepped in.

I'm sort of okay, although I had a crying fit in the washroom at the hospital emergency room when the toilet paper roll wouldn't co-operate. That doesn't usually drive me to tears, but last week it did. It's my daughter who is in so much pain that she can't work and on so many drugs that she can't think straight. And all of it has been driving me loopy.

John Dunne was right when he said that no man is an island - and when people in your life hurt, you hurt too. The closer you are to them (like living in the same house) the more their pain ricochets into your life and finances too.

So here's where it's at: The Emergency Fund is sitting at $850 plus the $25 that ING gave me for opening an account with them. I'll probably put $20 in this week - but I need to see how a few other things play out first. I have to say that I like having the Emergency fund. It's nice to know in the back of my head that the money is there. It's not been squandered away in the emotional chaos that has been my summer.

THE CREDIT CARDS: I have three - one I use and pay off, and the others I don't use, and pay down. I also have a "low cost borrowing account" which I am paying down as well. My trick is to pay the "minimum" amount - every time I get paid. So far, I've knocked just over $300 off those debts.

$100 PER WEEK: I guesstimated that I could get by with $100 cash every week. The first few weeks that was workable. But it hasn't been so far. I've had to help out with the co-pay for the drugs that have been prescribed, hot water bottles, comfort food, hospital parking, "woe is me and my lot is miserable" stuff and lots and lots of ginger ale, which has been the drink of choice (It stays down the best). Fortunately we've been able to buy on sale, and that helps! Unfortunately the costs have been well over $100 a week. I do pray that life will return to normal soon!

EMOTIONAL SPENDING: I've lost or misplaced my GPS unit, vital for geo-caching. Just as I'm putting the finishing touches on a lovely knitted case for it, I lose the contents - how crazy is that. Today I went; ready to just drop whatever it took to replace the GPS. Fortunately the price tag +$300 made me see reason. It would be cheaper for me to get a Blackberry and the geo-caching application. We need to think on that a bit.

So that's where that's at. I haven't given up and I haven't given in. I've just slowed the pace.

Ladies, have a great week!

I met Marcia (Mar-cee-a) Stehouwer, almost 10 years ago at a yahoo group for “Single Parents Who Homeschool.” Marcia and her daughter Emma live in Calgary, Alberta Canada and I was located in Philadelphia, PA, USA, so who would have ever thought we would meet some day? But we did. Tovah and I took a trip to Montréal and Marcia and Emma met us there for a 24 hr stay. We had a wonderful time. After all these years through different address and phone numbers, Marcia and I have never lost contact with one another. I keep threatening to come and live with her for 1 year when Tovah is off to college, but I’m afraid it might be too cold for me…LOL!!

Marcia homeschooled Emma (who is now a grown lady) for her entire elementary education, and they have a great story. Some of which will be featured in my upcoming e-Book, “Single Parents Can Homeschool Too”.

Thank you so much Marcia for sharing with us.

Picture: Marcia and daughter Emma