Budgeting Fun

Irv and I have really struggled financially during our 37 year marriage. With medical bills, raising 3 active kids, being unemployed and underemployed…we dug ourselves deep into debt. We got out a couple of times by refinancing our house but then crawled right back in again. We don’t want to refinance again at this stage of our lives and in this economy, so what option do we have? Only one…it’s time to tighten our belts and bite the bullet.

Let me say that Irv and I don’t live a luxurious life. We have a tiny house, don’t wear fancy clothes, don’t drive fancy cars, but we do live beyond our means at times, and that is a problem.

We have always had the mindset that if we need or want it and don’t have the money for it, we’ll just charge it and pay for it when the bill comes in. Well, we follow through on the first part and charge it, and then we never follow through on the second part of paying it off when the bill comes.

Doing that over the course of many years digs you into a great big debt hole and that is where we always seem to be. It isn’t that we can’t pay our bills, it’s tight, but we can pay them, it’s just that we seem to have more and more bills every year. We really haven’t charged much in this past year except for car repairs, tires and our new dryer, but it will take a long time to pay that off.

I’ve been working for a while on a budget…one where we truly set limits for our spending. We would take cash out for weekly expenses like food and gas on payday and leave the debit cards at home. Then if we need or want something and don’t have the cash for it…we will have to think about whether or not it’s something we have to have right now or not.

Debit cards are a great way to see where your money is going, but it’s also very easy to overspend…oh, it’s just a cup of coffee, or it’s just a pair of shoes, or it’s just some carryout….when you add that all up over the course of a month, you may have spent hundreds of dollars you didn’t really have.

The first thing I would like to do is to set a food/household budget. Irv and I tend to buy whatever we need/want. We have no idea what we’ve spent at the grocery store until we get to the checkout. It could be $120 or it could be $170. Then on top of that…every Friday and Saturday night we get carry out. Nothing expensive, but it’s still $25-$30 a week. Do we really need to spend that much on food and household supplies a week? I don’t think so. It's just the two of us for Pete's sake!

I think we should be able to keep it under $150 total. So, my thought is that we take $150 with us to the store, pay attention to what we are spending….then if there is anything left of the $150…that is what we have for our weekend carry out.

I love my carry out so you can be sure I will be paying close attention to what goes in that cart. I also read once that if people looked in their cabinets and freezer they could probably eat for a week or two without buying anything but perishables. Think you could do that? I think we could. What a great way to save some money. Plan your menu around what you already have on hand!

The other thing we need to look at is our personal spending…all of the little junk we spend our hard earned money on….but my head is spinning and my vision is blurred by little dollar signs right now so I think that is enough for today.

How do you keep your spending under control?

Pondering and Planning

I sat in bed last night, clipboard in hand pondering and planning my business strategy for 2010. I am so excited right now. My sales have increased this holiday season, and after 18 months in business....I think I am finally starting to understand what I need to do and NOT do to make my business the success I want it to be. Okay....so I'm a little slow...what can I say?

I have some things I am going to do immediately...like opening a separate checking account with a debit card and a savings account for the business. It's so awful at the end of the year trying to separate personal and business expenses. I also think I spend money for the business when I shouldn't be, because there is money in our checking, and I also leave money I make in our personal account where it quickly gets spent.

Besides the fact that I love creating things, and FourDogDay has filled a tremendous creative void for me...there was another reason I started my business. Irv and I don't have a nice pension sitting there waiting for us when we retire...in fact, at times we wonder if we will ever be able to retire.

My thought was that if between now and retirement, I could build a successful craft business that would eventually bring in a nice little profit....that we could one day use that profit to supplement our social security. I now see that as a very real possibility.

In order to do that though, we need to know where our money is coming from and where it is going. We need to know what works and what doesn't work when creating and marketing my products. So, like I said....I sat with the clipboard in hand and started to map out my strategy...and let me tell you...I am excited!

We will start at the bank this weekend by opening those accounts. I will close up MyOtherShop as soon as I can, so that all of my attention and energy can be devoted to FourDogDay. I will clear out things I don't plan to make anymore to make room for the new things that I can't wait to start on....and we will carefully select some craft shows for spring and fall.

We are taking control of our business rather than allowing our business to take control of us!

How about you? Do you have business or personal plan in place for 2010? Have you ever done a personal or business financial makeover? If you own your own business, did it take you a while to really figure things out? Please share.....

The Cost of Crafting

Those of you that own arts and crafts businesses know the costs involved in running your business and it usually isn't cheap. If you do craft shows, you know that getting started in that arena isn't cheap either.

Irv and I are preparing for our first indoor craft show. We did two outdoor shows this summer where we made enough to pay our entry fees and paid off part of the nice 10 X 10 tent we purchased for the shows. We didn't do great, but we did okay. The tent and some white sheets to throw over the tables was really all we spent money on for those shows, but that was enough. $$$$$

Indoor shows are completely different. We won't be using our nice new tent of course, but we do need some type of booth. If Irv and I are going to do something, we have to do it right. So far, we have purchased wood....lots of wood....and white stain and lots of screws and other hardware. $$$$$

Irv working on the 10 foot back wall this morning

Once it's built and we know the structure is sturdy enough to support the shelving and product, then we have to buy boards to make all of the shelves. $$$$$ Then I want to make these cute wood "face" cut outs to use to hang my aprons on so we will need that wood too and paint for those. $$$$$

The back of one one the 8 foot wall sections Not completely painted yet.

The booth space is small...only 8 x 10, so we are trying not to use tables. We are going to display things on shelves instead, but then where do you shove all of your empty boxes and bins? Oh, you run to the fabric store and buy 12 yards of fabric to make skirting for the bottom shelves so you can hide your junk under those. $$$$$

I bought a paisley print to skirt all of the bottom shelves in the booth. If I have time, I might make a very small "ruffle" to attach to the fronts of the other shelves. The solid color fabric will be used to skirt the little white desk I use to check people out. They don't match exactly, but they won't be next to each other either, so I thought it would still work. The shelves will all be white. I thought it was a fun print.

The fabric I bought yesterday for the skirting

Meanwhile, I am still working on new items for the show. $$$$$ I am currently experimenting with some tote bags. So far, one is great and one is not so great. The not so great one won't be going to the show. :(

Yep, it does cost a lot of $$$$$ to get started in an arts and crafts business and in craft shows, but the way I look at it is this.....this is an expense of being in business. Sure I could have thrown a couple of tables in my booth and layed out my wares like a lot of people do and not had any expense but my entry fee....but that isn't me. I need awesome...really cool....wow....Chee Hoo when I do something, and that costs money.

The other thing is, once we have the booth done, we will be able to use it for as long as we do shows, and Irv has built it in a way that it can be assembled for different size areas. We can even use it with our tent for our outdoor shows. It's really a one-time expense.

I can't wait until we have it all done so I can show you how my "vision" turned out. Hopefully the booth will be a big hit and will attract lots of lookers who become buyers so we can pay it all off!!

Chee Hoo!!

Venting

I was going to write about underwear today, but right now I'm mad and I need to vent, so underwear might have to wait until tomorrow!!

Okay, so I get home today and I'm standing at the kitchen table opening the mail and I open an envelope that says on the outside, "Important Information Regarding Your Account". It's from Capital One, which is one of our credit cards. I'm thinking, so what can be so important? I know, I know, you want me to charge some more because you aren't making enough money off of me with interest rates so low.....

I pulled the paper out of the envelope and the front says, "Important notice of a change in terms regarding your account ending in: XXXX. Now they have my attention!

You guessed it....they are raising my interest rate from the sweet 5.99% that it is today to 15.9%. OUCH! Of course, we can choose to close the account and keep our 5.99% until we pay it off or we can keep our card with our wonderful new rate. Uh, I don't think so.

Naturally, we will be closing the account today, but man does that ever tick me off! We only have 2 credit cards. One is a Discover that is just in my name that I've had for years, and then the Capital One is in Irv's name.

I hate credit cards, but on the other hand they have been there when we needed them and for that I am grateful....however, after today, Irv won't have a credit card and I'm not sure I am comfortable with that. I worry about there being an emergency where a large amount of money might be needed that we don't have. Then what would we do? There are still places that don't even take Discover. We need a VISA or a Mastercard....but I don't want a new credit card. I am trying to pay them off and get out of debt! UGH!

This has to be a sign from somewhere. It has to mean something, but what is it? Kathy, you need another credit card. Kathy, you don't need any more credit cards. Kathy, you are one weird woman.....probably the last one!

I am working right now to calm myself and look at the big picture. We have jobs, we have insurance, we have our home and the fact that Irv won't have a credit card is really no big deal. If we need money....we'll just ask our kids! Okay, I feel all better now.

Money, Money, Money

Okay, so let's be honest....how many of you have ever thought about what you would do if you had a money tree growing in your back yard, or if some long lost relative you didn't know existed left you a boatload of money in their will, or you won the lottery? Sorry about the money tree line...I am on a week of reminiscing for some reason and I remember when I was a kid and I would ask my parents for money, they would ask me if I thought we had a money tree growing in the back yard!

I am one of those people that feels "rich", but not in the money sense. Money is something I have never had much of, but I have never felt "poor". I have way too much in my life to ever feel "poor". In fact, I am rich in many, many ways, but this post is about the money kind of "rich".

Anyway, I will confess....I have thought about this many, many times. Mine is always related to winning the lottery because I don't have that money tree and even if I did have a long lost relative, most likely they wouldn't be rich and most likely they wouldn't be leaving anything to me. So, the lottery it is.

We do buy lottery tickets. I'm not even sure what my husband spends per week on them, but I know it is only a few bucks. I do wish we had never ever started buying tickets though.....I know, you are probably saying...well, quit buying them then! It isn't quite that easy. You see, when we started buying them way back when, we picked our own numbers. I picked 3-12-19-22 27 and 35 and my husband picked 4-10-11-15-16 and 30.

Well, let me just say....that once you pick your own personal numbers, you are locked in for life!! How can you NOT play them when every week they broadcast those numbers on the radio and tv and the newspaper prints them. How might I feel if I quit playing and there before me one week were my numbers? My precious personal lotto numbers.....and I didn't have a ticket???

Nope, can't do it. Like I said we are locked in for life. Every week we will continue to donate to the Illinois State Lottery. The only good thing is...we are helping to make other people's wishes come true, and that is what this is about.

If I won the lottery or had unlimited funds, I would........

of course I would do the normal things like pay off my debt, quit my job, and dance for joy, but then it gets more personal.

For me, I would immediately send some money to a couple of people that helped us out many, many years ago when we were struggling financially and I would pay off all three of my kid's student loans (and they all have whoppers). Then if I decided to move rather than fix up my little house, I would find a wonderful hardworking family that can't afford to own a home...and give them mine. Man, that would feel so amazingly good to do that. From there I would have to find a new house for me....a very small log home out in Loveland, Colorado would do nicely....and then I would start researching different charities to figure out where I would like to help out. In my new found spare time, I would love to volunteer in a school like I did for so many years when my kids were young. That was so much fun!

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you "struck it rich"?