Envelope System: March Review...

Month three of our Dave Ramsey plan to financial freedom has come and gone.  In the past two months, I have posted ideas and suggestions on ways that we save money in our house... but to be honest, this month has been kinda difficult with this whole plan, and I just need to work out some of the feelings I have been having with it.  Because seriously... this plan is not always easy to follow.

Sometimes it is hard.  There are times when I just want to go out to eat for lunch.  Or I really want to join some girlfriends for a day out of town or a dinner and a movie.  There are times when Popeye is out of lunch money by the end of the month and he is completely desperate for some fast food and a respite from PB&J and Famous Amos cookies day in and day out.  But I have to keep the end in sight.  I have to concentrate not on the the fun or things that I am missing out on now, but on the freedom we will have in a few years once we are free of this debt.  But I can't lie.  It. is. hard.

Sometimes I cheat.  Toward the end of this past month, we were just simply out of grocery money.  Even with my Vons gift cards from prescription transfers, we had spent too much.  I blame this mostly on my increasing hunger, and the fact that we make every single meal homemade.  No more eating out, no more just eating cereal for dinner.  We are really trying to be healthier and eat more well-rounded meals in this house.  That means more veggies, more whole grains, and much, much more fruit.  When it came to the last few days of the month, and I had already started putting some money aside for next month's envelopes, I had to cheat and "borrow" some money from April's grocery fund.  I don't suggest this.  That just means that April will be short money... which means I will most likely borrow from May... and will then have to borrow from June... and so on and so forth.  I try never to do this in any other category... but with food, you can't just say, "Sorry hubby and child... no food for you this week!"  Even though we couldn't stick within our budget for groceries this month and I had to cheat and take from the next month, I make a point to not just pretend like that money didn't come from no where.  I still mark down that we spent allocated grocery money from a grocery envelope.  Every dollar is still accounted for.  

Sometimes it is humbling.  We can't just go out of town on a whim anymore.  We can't participate in all family activities that we'd like to.  We can't just run to Target when something new and cool comes out or is on sale.  We have to admit to people that we just don't have certain things in our budget, and we have to sometimes bear the guilt of not being able to participate or the frustration of watching others participate when we can't.  It is hard to admit that we can't afford things sometimes... or that no, we can't work certain things into our budgets... or that yes, a lot of things that we do are a sacrifice that are planned out and saved for, often many months in advance.  Every dollar is accounted for.  Every penny saved.

Sometimes it is revealing.  After our anniversary dinner this past month, Popeye and I went to Target to check out some workout stuff we are interested in and browse through the summer patio furniture.  We found a little couch and table set we are interested in for the back patio.  We have wanted a set like this for three years, and just never have found one that is comfy, not hideous, and within our price range.  Of course, in the midst of Dave Ramsey, we find a set we love.  As we sat in the squishy chairs relaxing after our ginormous delicious BBQ dinner, Popeye sighed and said, "If this was last year, we would have just bought this even if we didn't have money, wouldn't we?"  I just sighed and said, "Yup."  We had no problem whipping out the credit card before to justify purchases, knowing that it would "only" take us a few months to pay it off.  It was kind of shocking to realize how much we depended on our credit card before, and how easy it used to be for us to just buy stuff on a whim if we really liked it.  

Sometimes it hurts.  It hurts to not be able to join our family and friends on outings.  It hurts to write that extra big check for our debt snowball every month.  It hurts to have to say "no" to so many things that we want to say "yes" to.  It hurts to know that we still have so many more things we need to cut back on, especially as the summer comes and the cost of electricity and water and such begins to rise.  It hurts to know that only a few months have passed since we started this whole thing, and we still have more than two years to go before our debt snowball is done.  Yeah... it kinda hurts.  

Sometimes it down right stinks.  This past month was hard, I'm not going to lie.  We were excited when Popeye graduated from academy back in January and officially became a Deputy Sheriff.  But with his graduation came the duty of paying much of his paycheck into retirement.  I know that this is going to be awesome in 30 years when Popeye retires and we have no income coming in other than retirement... but right now, it just plain stinks.  In fact, I'll say it.  It sucks.  I am so thankful that Popeye and I both even have jobs with this insane economy.  And I'm so thankful that we are being diligent about putting away generous amounts of money into his retirement.  But between this debt-free plan and our focus on being faithful with tithing (even when it hurts!) the past few months have been frustrating.  We have cut from every place we can think of... and the hardest part is that the true cuts have realistically not begun.  We still have a home.  We still eat good food.  We still use two-ply toilet paper.  And quite frankly, all those things seem like luxuries when I realize how many people are going without right now.

Okay.  So there it is.  We are still chugging along... and trying to be positive... and working our way along with our little envelopes-o-cash.  For those out there who are working on this system, I want to encourage you to hang in there!  For those who are thinking about it, I want to encourage you to try it, even if you just work on reducing a specific debt or cutting out your costs in one area.  It is tough... but I know that in the end it will be so very worth it!