For Book Worm Wednesday I'm going to mention a book and podcast that is helping us fund this not-so-inexpensive adoption. It's "The Total Money Makeover" and the Dave Ramsey show.
Dave Ramsey has some pretty radical ideas of how to deal with money. Some people are really turned off by him. He doesn't sugar coat things and Brian and I don't follow his program 100% (we find credit cards useful as long as you pay them off every month). We're actually not paying off debt right now (though it would be great if those student loans were gone) but we're piling up cash to pay for our adoption and we find his advice helpful. His ideas on budgeting and really cutting expenses are motivating. A lot of it is common sense when you stop and think about it, but sometimes it helps to have someone mention it.
I also listened to a podcast on a book called "Miserly Moms". I don't remember the author off hand but she had a lot of great tips about cutting your budget and figuring out ways to spend less and save more. Just what I needed to hear! I even used a few of her tips and managed to cut down my commissary cost this week by about $40 from the norm which is fantastic if I can keep that up! I want to read her book now.
OK, now the personal stuff. I say no a lot! Anyone who has kids, but specifically a 3 year old will tell you that they probably do the same. Now I think it's good for kids to hear no, especially when they're young and to learn to live with that answer, but I also think that sometimes Iget so used to saying it that I forget how to say yes. So today when my daughter asked for the umpteenth time to wear her Cinderella dress (it was her Halloween costume) and no was on the tip of my tongue, I stopped. I looked at her happy anticipatory face and thought "Why not?". We're not saving it for anything, who cares if it gets messy. We're going to W@lmart and Jimmy J*hns - who cares?!? Then I did something she hasn't heard in the many many times (over the course of weeks) that she has asked and I said "YES!" She was thrilled and she just ate up the attention she got wearing the dress too. I felt silly at times but I need to get over it. It's not about me, it's about my happy little girl who will only be 3 once!
It is fun to just say yes, every once in a while. I said it today too when Isaac insisted that he needed to wear his Elmo socks with his brown winter shoes in this 90 degree heat.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the book suggestion. We've gotten accustomed to our current spending habits which are pretty easy-going since it's just the two of us. We are having a hard time retraining ourselves so this book/show sounds great!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! I recently let Jack buy a pair of the ugliest light up shoes you will ever see. But he LOVES them. So it was totally worth it. :) lol
ReplyDeleteWe do Dave Ramsey. (well my hubby loves him and i grumbly comply with the budget!) But he is a smart man and we have paid off 50k in debt the first year we did it. We are now on year two, and almost debt free. (whew) Of course renting our current house means we now have no mortgage, but we are saving up to buy this house we rent.