What a poor blogger am I!

Lots to update between now and the end of April, but I'll keep it as brief as possible.  A good portion of it will probably end up as rambling because I had a bad headache today and am really tired. 

I had surgery for my cerclage on May 21st, and it went very well. Recovery was awesome--about as good as my recovery with my first cerclage.  I'm 15 weeks pregnant as of today, and I really need to start scaling back.  It's so hard to do!  My gender sonogram is in 3 short weeks!  Can't believe it!  Still hoping to find that little Leo is on his way.  Mitch is already working himself to death and I'm still doing almost all the cooking and cleaning: 40+ hours of work, weekly laundry, lawn care, and his summer classes have just started. He goes for 3 hours three days a week and 4 hours one day a week.  He's also been busy digging the garden bed (which is thriving!), and I need another one dug soon for my fall pumpkin patch garden.  If that wasn't enough, he's also in the middle of replacing our deck. Things are always busy.  So glad he's got the work ethic of a dozen men!!

We had a momma duck sitting on 5 eggs at my parents house.  They live by a lake, and on  Memorial Day we killed four snakes who tried to eat the eggs.  That night we put crystallized moth balls around the nest and all was well for a few days... long story short one by one they were eaten while my parents were at work or the store.  The kids saw first hand what had almost happened, so they weren't too surprised with nature taking its course.. but my poor dad was pretty upset about it.  He was really looking forward to having baby ducklings hatch out for the kids.

This last story I need to add just so I can look back and laugh one day. After Grandma Kathy helped with baths this evening Addy said she needed to potty, so of course Rafe said "potty, too."  Addy pottied, and Rafe sat.  Rafe took it upon himself to empty Addy's potty--over a closed toilet, which made a big mess.  I shooed them out of the bathroom, and then went to grab a diaper for Rafe.  He told me he pottied, but his potty was empty.  I asked where he had peed, and just as I sat in the pee he told me, "Right there, momma."  I walked into the kitchen to find Gizmo had also just peed on the floor.  At least they're all in bed now...

Since I will probably have a lot of blogging time the next few months with summer school, I thought I'd do some Dave Ramsey related posts.  I just bought 5 of his Total Money Makeover books at a really great price --$4ea including shipping! His website often offers them for $10 plus $5 shipping so $4 is dirt cheap--anyway I bought 5 to give away to people who will read/use them.  Dave Ramsey is all about getting and staying out of debt.  He advocates paying cash for school, cars, and even houses (although he isn't against taking out a 15yr mortgage that is less than 25% of your take home pay), and never using debt.  I obviously am a DR koolaid drinker, and I strongly believe in the method.  I think the most effective and most intimidating part of his plan is writing (and sticking to!) a budget.  Hopefully I'll be able to make budgets less daunting, and show how we put into practice a "zero-based budget"--where each dollar is allocated every two weeks with Mitch's paycheck.

*If you are interested and want to borrow or have a TMMO book I still have 3 left.  I only ask that you return it if you don't use it or no longer need it, so I can give it to someone else!  If you need any help I LOVE writing budgets and planning, so consider it!! There's more than enough success for everyone who is motivated to TAKE IT. 

Enough preaching.  These are the 7 Baby Steps including smaller "to dos" that go along with them:

0.1 - Commit to NEVER borrowing money or using credit cards ever again (with the exception of a house)
0.2 - Write a Budget (I'll cover this in the next post! As well as how to lower fixed and variable expenses)
0.3 - Temporarily stop retirement contributions (This is so you can be laser focused on each step--retirement is Step 4)
0.4 - Get current on all your basic necessity bills (house, utilities, food, basic clothing)
0.5 - Sell toys (boats, ATVs, extra vehicles) if you owe on them and will prevent you from being debt free within the next 12mos.  Many people sell these even if they are paid for to get the snowball rolling.
0.6 - Cut lifestyle (get rid of cable, get cheaper internet, lower cellphone bill--some drastic ppl do prepaid Walmart phones, stop eating out, the more GAZELLE INTESNE you are, the better!)
BABY STEP 1 - Save $1000 for the Baby Emergency Fund.  $500 if you make less than $20,000/year
1.1 - Cut up credit cards
1.2 - Get health insurance
1.3 - Get life insurance
1.4 - Sell any car you can't pay off within 24 months and get a cheap one off Craigslist that you can pay for with CASH! My first "Dave Car" was a 2000 Ford Explorer.  I think we paid 3500 for it.  Now I'm driving a $14k Yukon Denali--the car upgrades will come! You aren't less of a person because your car isn't 5yrs old or newer!
1.5 - See if it makes sense to raise insurance rates on the paid for in cash car from $500 to $1000, and also consider getting liability only.
BABY STEP 2 - Debt Snowball like Crazy!  Pay off all debts (lowest balance to highest--not by interest rate..yes I do know math, folks.  This is based on psychology.)  Pay minimums on all payments and throw all extra money at the lowest debt.  Once it is gone, add that minimum payment to the next lowest debt, along with all extra money, and before long you'll be DEBT FREE BABY!
2.1 - Take a CA$H vacation if desired!
BABY STEP 3 - Finish the Emergency Fund!  3-6 months expenses for emergencies ONLY.  This amount varies based on your budget--it will probably be at least $10,000, but it could be as much as $30,000.
3.1 - Start car replacement fund if desired
3.2 - If you don't own a home yet and want to buy, save up that 20% to avoid PMI
3.3 - Start furniture replacement fund if desired
BABY STEP 4 - Start contributing at least 15% of gross income to retirement funds.  If your place of employment matches partially, all the better.  Dave and I disagree here.  I don't trust the stock market and don't have more in it than I'm willing to lose overnight.  I like tangible assets--land, precious metals, real estate, etc.  Dave is so against gold it isn't even funny, but Gerald Celente (a trends forecaster whom I greatly admire) has been forecasting "GOLD $2000" for years... long before it rose to where it is now.  I say you'll want to do a LOT of research when you get to this point.  Dave likes mutual funds, mutual funds, mutual funds, oh and real estate. : )
BABY STEP 5 - Save for Kids' College -- daunting if you're planning on having as many children I've got!
BABY STEP 6 - Pay off the house!!! BEST ONE OF ALL! Same as Debt Snowball, but now you only have one payment.  Everything extra after retirement and kids' college goes to the mortgage.
BABY STEP 7 - Live and GIVE like no one else!  Have a monthly "vacation" line in your budget.  Give away 100s spontaneously at Christmas.  Sponsor children in third world countries.  Have fun with it! 

I really hope that was intriguing not overwhelming.  Next post I'll go right into budgeting.  It's a living, breathing document that changes month to month.  Gas/elec/water bills will vary.  Gasoline will vary.  It needs to have flexibility. Okay I'm stopping myself. ENJOY!