The 7 Baby Steps

One of Drew's favorite things to do is to listen to AM radio, and one of his favorite shows is the Dave Ramsey show. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Ramsey, he educates listeners on how to manage their money, or lack their of, and shares his get out of debt tricks. Today, Drew was listening to him while driving home from Costco and heard the 7 Baby Step tips on how to get our of debt, and came home to share them with me. Here are the 7 steps that Ramsey suggests:

1) Take $1,000 to start an emergency fund- for all the things that come up where you'll need instant cash to pay off (loss of a job, medical issues, faulty car transmission).

2) Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball- listing your debt from smallest to greatest (excluding your house) and paying off the smallest first. then, put that money towards the next smallest until it is paid off, et. etc.

3) Turn your emergency fund into 3-6 months of expenses- never hurts to have a few months of money set aside to help out in case of job loss or something else large.

4) Invest 15% of household income into ROTH IRAs and pre-tax retirement- enough said

5) College funding for children- with having your debts paid off and a decent size emergency fund, saving for your childrens' college experience will be easy(ier).

6) Pay off your home early- they say that if you can make one extra mortgage payment a year, you can take 15 years worth of interest off your total.

7) Builkd wealth and give- investing in property or stocks and blessing others with your excess (which at this point will be HUGE).

So Drew started doing the math the instant he got home, and has since figured out how long it will take us to save the $1,000, pay off our car, increase the emergency fund, increase our retirement, and pay off our mortgage. At first it sounded crazy, but as soon as he started showing me the numbers, I realized how "easy" it will be to actually accomplish this list. I'm super excited and am so proud of my honey for figuring this out. He's always looking out for us- he's so good to me!!!

Want to know more on the 7 Baby Steps? Visit www.daveramsey.com And stay tuned, maybe we'll be sharing our excess before you know it :)

16 Days to Go....

This week has certainly had its ups and downs as we find ourselves ever nearer to our wee one's expected arrival date. Up until now, I had been joking that as long as the carseat had arrived, I didn't care when the baby did. Well, the carseat HAS arrived and on Tuesday night I had to remind myself to exhale, nervous with anticipation that he really COULD (and might) come anytime.

Last night, Thursday, Drew and I installed the carseat before I head off today to my 37/38 week appointment. Last week the doctor told me that I was 2cm dialated and 50% effaced. Now, I do realize that I could sit at those numbers for the next three weeks, but the doctor was optimistic that I might progress more quickly. So, with the carseat base in place, Drew asked me to go into the house and grab the actual carseat so we could make sure it all "clicked" into place. From the time I walked into the house and back out again, I could actually feel our little man "drop" inside me... "Lightening" I think they call it... It was so strange. I almost felt paralized with excitement, fear, anxiousness, fear, elation, fear...It was crazy. When I changed my clothes before bed, I could actually see a physical difference when looking at my stomach in the mirror. The shape had changed and my belly button was in a whole new place (Drew thought that was funny).

Within the next few hours, I felt a huge surge of energy. We made cookies, I did a load of laundry, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, cleared the table and kitchen table and took out the trash. I don't know if this was actual "Nesting" or me just feeling like I could actually get somthing accomplished. But I also woke up at 3pm feeling compelled to wash baby clothes and write thank you notes. I convinced myself to stay in bed and enjoyed getting a good night's sleep.

I'm just glad I have an appointment today so that I can get some real news about what I felt last night. Will certainly post any new developments as I learn them....

Happy Friday to All!!!!

Maternity Pictures

Two weekends ago I met up with a local photographer to get some maternity shots taken. We had a great time around town and in her personal studio and we got some amazing pictures. While i'm not sharing all of them, I thought a select few would be ok. Perhaps I'llpost a few more in the next few weeks, but I hope you enjoy...

Photographer Becky (Boyer) Gaviola can be reached via her Blog at www.sebssmile.blogspot.com