Tis the Season to hopefully save some money. Fa la la la la. La la la la.

The Christmas season is upon us and many of you, like me, have always spent this time of year scrambling around looking for gifts, spending huge amounts of money and hoping and praying that we can keep the debt beast at bay.

I have a lot of weaknesses.  A lot.  But one that has zapped me almost my entire adult life has been how to handle money.  I was raised in a loving home with my parents both responsible hardworking individuals.  Money was not overflowing growing up, but we had everything we needed and a lot of what we wanted.  My parents are retired today and living quite comfortably off the retirement savings they invested wisely over their working years.

So why is it that their youngest child did not capture any of their wisdom when it comes to spending wisely and saving? In high school I worked at a popular clothing store and learned all about putting stuff on layaway.(it’s a scientific fact that I am physically, mentally, and spiritually incapable of resisting a 40% discount).  In college, I applied for my first credit card and got approved for a $500 limit–It was maxed out in a matter a months. (I had easy target written all over me–plus the credit card came with a free box of chocolates.  I mean.  Come on!) And thus began the downward spiral to my very poor spending habits.  When I met my husband, I had a pretty sizeable debt, but he didn’t seem too alarmed by it.  I always feel like I somehow corrupted him into my vortex of irresponsibility. He didn’t even have a checking account when we met–just cashed his paycheck, paid his bills, and then spent the cash til it was gone.  We both had a lot to learn about saving, but at least he was in the habit of only spending what he had.

It didn’t take long for us to rack up huge amounts of debt–car payments, a new house and lots and lots of stuff.  Oh sure, we would go through times of “being good.” But, it wouldn’t take long for us to slip back into our old habits.  Then came kids. I am still so grateful that I get to be a stay at home Mom. It was always my dream to do so.  But, every year we go into about the same amount of debt and every year our tax refund will just about cover it. Year after year we hope that maybe this time will be different–we will try to be good, live within our means, not splurge on anything big and get to claim that nice size tax refund and use it however we want.  It just has never happened.

But, a few key events happened this past couple of years that have caused us to not only pause, but to start to panic a little.  First of all, we all of the sudden realized that our working years are going to draw to a close quicker than we were ready–we haven’t even BEGUN to save for retirement.  PLUS, our older son reached a milestone age.  He has passed the midway point of how much longer he will be at home with us and the clock for when he (and soon after his brother) will start college is all of the sudden ticking very fast.  And then, Super Rockstar’s workplace laid people off for the first time in 20 years.  Thankfully, his job was spared but, it left us feeling a bit unsettled.  We have known for a long time that we were but one paycheck away from disaster.  Then, he had a bit of a health scare this past year.  All is OK for now, but we were shaken to a bit of reality that times are not always going to be so good.

In Genesis 41:1-36 there is a story of how the Pharaoh in Egypt had a really weird dream.  A man named Joseph is called in to interpret it and basically tells him that God has revealed to him what’s coming in the near future–there will be 7 years of plenty and then 7 years of famine.  Joseph comes up with a brilliant plan to store up the abundance in 7 years of plenty so that there will be enough during the 7 years of famine. What a concept–to be prepared for the future.

Now, God has not given me any sort of future telling dreams, but, I realize that I am sick and tired of only being able react when “surprise” financial things hit and not at all being prepared. Several months ago, I was scrolling through face book and stumbled across an ad for a Dave Ramsey book “The Total Money Makeover”. I, of course, had heard of his dramatic debt pay down system– but it always seemed a little far fetched for us.  If you’re familiar with his books and online course you will remember it’s all about taking “baby steps”. After I finished reading it though, I KNEW I this was something that we needed to do.

We are only 4 weeks into this, but have already completed Baby Step #1 and are hard at work at Baby Step #2.  I know it’s a long shot–tis the season for overspending.  It’s been hard to pull back on how much we usually spoil our boys and we are having to learn to be a lot more selective about how we entertain ourselves (when that cash envelope is empty–it’s time to get creative).  My favorite quote in his book is “Live like no one else, so that you can live like no one else.”  Yes, it’s difficult BUT–I feel hopeful.  For the first time ever we have a direction, we have goals, and we are making headway. Instead of our usual piling on of bamboozles, trinkets, and snork snorklers we are trying to give ourselves–and our children the gift of being financially free.