Because of you, Jonah’s future is a bit brighter. We’re changing our family tree. For him.

p.s. if you’re absolutely in love with jonah like we are, you can read more about him on kristen’s blog: www.jonahraising.blogspot.com

To be completely honest, I intentionally did not blog for the past several months.  I felt like we had no wins to share, so the wind just got sucked out of our sails. We were expecting a baby, so we were saving money, buying things that we needed, buying things that we didn’t need.  We were comfortable enough financially that we decided to loosen the tight reins for a while.  We went on more dates, went out to eat a little more, bought a TV (mostly with gift cards, get off my back).

So now the baby is here. His name is Jonah Zachary LaValley.

Here’s a picture:

He’s 7 weeks old and things have settled a little bit. So it’s time to jump back in to blogomania.

Yeah, that’s a word.

Last week we dove into the debt snowball (baby emergency fund was done a while ago).  We settled a 1600 dollar hospital bill for 1300 bucks and I skipped the whole way home.  Actually… I drove.  But I felt like skipping.

And today we began the long and arduous journey of paying off our school debt, starting with the smallest one: 3900 dollars.

Wish us luck.  It’s good to be back.

-Zach LaValley

A while back I started a blog called The Business Experiment.  In this blog I was going to share my experience developing a variety of small business schemes.  I think I mentioned it once or twice.  Well… it didn’t really catch on.  With me.  So I haven’t really done anything with it.  However, I’ve decided that it would be smart to add those experiments into the Letters to Dave mix.

This week I’m FINALLY getting my guitar lesson flyers out in the community.  I’ve neglected doing that for about 6 months.  I’m also going to craft a website or blog, because that’s what smart people do.  I’m really bad at getting the ball rolling with extra income.  Just yell at me to get it done.  That’ll help.  If I don’t have the flyers and blog done by next week, I give you permission to punch me in the face with gazelle intensity.  Sounds like a good deal.

Working On It,

Zach LaValley

Well, this is embarrassing.

As excited as we were about our $575 Buick Skylark paid in cash, it is now well on its way to kicking the bucket. The radiator just cracked so Zach took the car to get inspected and well…it’s bad. The entire frame of the car is rusted, rotted and falling apart. There were whole chunks of metal missing. It’s just a tragedy of vehicle. Even though it SUCKS that we’re now having to buy a new car we’re very grateful for our red Hulga. Here’s the math : the entire amount of what we paid for Hugla equals one month of car expenses for our old (new) Chevy Equinox. The car payment, insurance payment and gas added up to about $600 a month. So if we only drove the Buick for ONE month, we’d have come out on top. But we got FOUR months, which means we were able to save just over $3,000. Although we were hoping to save up 5 or 6 thousand for our next car, we’re so grateful to have $2,000 to spend. That’s $1500 more than we had last time we needed a car. We are only slightly frustrated and mostly optimistic.

SO welcome to part 2 of our journey. We’re going to start vlogging (video blogging for all you noobs) some of our financial progresses, setbacks, and steps along the way. It’ll also be a somewhat entertaining way for you to get to know us a little better and see how our financially functioning relationship works. (and some days DOESN’T work) Today we went out to shop for cars. Something I (Kristen) do NOT like doing. Which you can kind of tell in this video. So, enjoy the video.

Kristen

http://www.youtube.com/user/letterstodave?feature=mhum

This is a prime example of why we need a video channel in addition to our blog.  Today we went to Erie, PA (about a 45-minute drive) to register for baby stuff at Target.  While we were getting out of the car I realized that I was super-tired, and that I should probably get something to drink.  So, I reached into our handy-dandy envelope system and pulled out the 4 dollars that was left for the week.  While we walked through the Target parking lot, with the cash in my hand, this is the short conversation that transpired:

ZACH, the nerd: “So, we have 4 dollars that we can spend today.”

KRISTEN, the free spirit, with a mischievous grin on her face: “And the debit card.”

ZACH: “We have FOUR dollars that we can spend.”

KRISTEN, delaying, but still persistent: “…and… the debit card.”

ZACH, fanning the 4 dirty bills in front of her: “4 dollars.”

KRISTEN, in a last ditch effort: “debit card?”

ZACH, realizing that his wife is pregnant, hungry, and has been talking all morning about the new Chipotle restaurant that just opened up: “OK. We can dip into the cash I set aside for an oil change.”

KRISTEN: *smiles big and skips her way through the rest of the parking lot*

This is our life.

Zach.

P.S. We got our ultrasound the other day.  Our unborn SON (woohoo) is healthy and kicking.  It’s good to know that his future is a little more secure because his parents happened upon some bald guys ideas about money.

I’m not going to lie.  I’ve been putting off this whole blog thing.  To be REAL honest, I’ve been annoyed by it.  Because when I transfer 10 dollars from savings to checking to buy the old school Super Mario 3 for the Wii, I think, “Wow.  Live like no one else?  Yeah, right.  What a lame Dave Ramsey disciple.”  I keep tricking myself into thinking that we have this FPU stuff together.  We don’t.

Yes, we are definitely moving forward.  Super forward. I mean, when we deposit our allotted money into savings this coming week, we are going to have over 3000 dollars saved.  I’ve never had that much money ever.  That’s over two months of expenses.  So yes, we are moving forward.

But I feel guilty all the time for the extra stuff we could be doing.  It’s small stuff.  I feel bad when I buy a 10 dollar “new dad” book at the book store.  Or don’t feel like driving home for lunch so I buy a 5 dollar sandwich.  I feel like I should be this intense ascetic in order to be successful at this stuff.

I think part of the problem is the fact that, because of your teachings and Baby Steps and stuff, we’ve become a little more comfortable.  For example, right now, because of where the “Dave” journey has brought us, I could run out to Wal-Mart, pick up a nice flat screen, bring it home, hook it up, and surprise my wife when she wakes up tomorrow.  Or I could take my ratty couch out to the curb and go buy another one tomorrow at the discount furniture store.  Or Friday and Saturday (our days off) I could get on a plane with Kristen and go to Disney World (I’ve never been).

Obviously, at this point, I wouldn’t do any of these things.  But I make smaller, more subtle purchases.  And I don’t know if that means I’m failing at being “intense”, or if I’m just being smart about the mental part of the journey.

I don’t know.  Dave, and those that are peering in on our journey, I need permission to continue writing letters in my own very imperfect way.  I love the journey we’re on.  But I need permission to be fully human.  If I’m expected to be anything more, I’ll become overwhelmed, and simply continue this journey distant from the blogosphere.

Thanks Dave.

Zach L.

P.S. We’re having a boy.  More to come.

I’m 23 (soon to be 24) and pregnant. So my patience level is at about zero most of the time. I wasn’t like this pre-pregnancy, I don’t think. Ok maybe I was but STILL. These crazy baby hormones get me from slightly perturbed to FRIGGIN ANGRY in a matter of seconds. Why am I telling you all of this? Because I’m so stinkin annoyed at having to defend our financial decisions to every Tom, Dick and Jane. Some people just think we’re cute with our big dreams of being out of debt in two years. Some think we’re crazy for selling our luxurious and wonderful Equinox and let me tell you–I MISS IT. Right now especially because I don’t think our $575 paid for car is gonna make it to Georgia this year to visit my family for Christmas. But of course, we brought this on ourselves, I know. But seriously. Why do we have to defend ourselves?
It’s almost like people on the outside think we’re more stupid now then we were before we found you. That doesn’t even make sense. Yeah. We were REAL smart then. Buying a new car in the middle of winter when we were both unemployed simply because our older car (and by older I mean 2002) got stuck in a snow bank. And it was real smart to  sometimes not buy groceries because we spent all of other money on.. wait. What did we spend it on? Where did it go this week? Why is our account negative $113? Why do we have 2 overdraft fees? And it was really awesome and intelligent when we’d lose money, not realize it, and then find it 6 months to a year later in some random pocket of a random jacket. And I’m not talking $10. We once found $164 in a coat pocket. Which was cool when we found it but really bad that we couldn’t even remember losing it. How do you lose that much money and not realize it? Oh right. Because we were so smart.
I could go on with the many wise decisions we made before you came along and screwed everything up, but I won’t. I’ll just say that I’m so glad you came into our lives and encouraged us to start making horrible decisions that bring much criticism into our lives. All sarcasm aside, I’m really tired of having defend every decision we make. We’re not stupid. Not anymore, anyway. And making tough decisions for our family and to change the future of our little goober that’s on his or her way. We’re changing our family tree. I know we have so much farther to go, but I’m so excited to get there. The journey has been tough and we’re just getting started.
I have to say though, we are so fortunate to have such an awesome church family. Although they might think we’re a little crazy sometimes, they support us 100% and keep us accountable to our plan. A few of our best friends have gone through your program as well and we’re always asking each other, “Would Dave approve?” or “What would Dave do?” It works, don’t laugh.  You’re like the little angel on our shoulder. (or devil-depending on the situation). Unwelcome criticism is annoying and sometimes makes me want to stuff your book in their mouths…or throw it at them. But I’ll take it, if it means getting out of debt, making a better life for ourselves and being able to give, give and GIVE. Thanks, Dave. Can’t wait to thank you in person some day.

Annoyed,

Kristen

Sorry I haven’t written in a while.  I think I’ve been discouraged/embarrased that things haven’t been going as great as I’d like.  This blog reflects real life I guess.  So things aren’t always going to be amazing or dramatic.  Sometimes it’s just going to be… life.  I think knowing that we actually have a couple of followers puts even more pressure on.  Not to mention the shout out that your team gave us on your FPU newsletter.  And we’ve been deeply encouraged by your team and the people that read the blog.  So despite the pressure I feel, I’ll type on.

I’m really trying to amp up some business ideas.  I should be starting guitar lessons in the next few weeks (My ad concept, above), and I’ve decided to do a little web design for some of the local businesses around Jamestown.   We’ve been gazelle intense about our budget and savings, but we could definitely be a little more intense about increasing income.  More on that later on.  Hopefully soon.

Also, there’s some news about our savings.  But right now I gotta go do life.

Grateful,

Zach LaValley.

How does a couple on the journey to financial peace celebrate their 2nd anniversary (and also their last anniversary without children)? They save up some dough, and head to Pittsburgh. Yes, we did it on a budget and probably you could’ve told us some much cooler things to do while we were there, but we had an absolute blast! We stayed in hotel 20 minutes from the city because it was cheaper AND had a pool. We only spent money on food and just toured the city. It was in the triple digits which probably happens a lot in Nashville, but not here. We were miserable a lot of the day especially since our paid in full car has no AC, but we survived. It was a wonderful mini vacation and I’m so stinkin grateful that we were able to do it without breaking our bank, without feeling guilty and without worrying. Here’s a few photos.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!

Sorry.  I needed to vent.

I got pulled over today. Speeding. 77 in a 55 work zone.  When I saw the cop car on the side of the road up ahead and then saw my speed, I felt my adam’s apple sink into my legs.  Yeah.

It sucks because Kristen and I were JUST talking about how we got our emergency fund back up to 900 pretty quickly.  Another week and it’ll be 1000.

And now, stupid tax.

Luckily the officer gave me a break because I didn’t jerk his chain or anything.  So he didn’t report it as a work zone violation. Work zone violations, for those of you reading, rack up outrageous extra fines and seriously screw up your insurance.  Don’t do what I do.

Anyway Dave, that’s the story.  Maybe I should rename this blog, FINANCIAL FAIL BLOG or something.  Maybe not.

Thanks for listening.

Zach.