Frugal Friday- Planning to Fail

It's my first Frugal Friday! I thought it would be fun to share ideas and tips. Also I thought it would encourage me to stay on plan if I had some accountability.

I read once, If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, it's really stuck with me. Maybe because I'm such a planner. I love planning things and making lists and setting goals. When I first started homeschooling every year I would sit down and make out a detailed plan for each kids curriculum. I would spend hours looking through homeschool magazines and catalogs until I had the perfect plan in place. I've made school goals, parenting goals, and goals for my marriage. But I really don't ever remember sitting down and making any financial goals. No goals for retirement. Not anything beyond pay the bills the best we can and maybe some short range stuff like repair the roof or save money for a vacation. Wow! No wonder my finances are a wreck! Well, no more we now have our goals firmly in place:

1. First get out of debt! Pay off as many bills as we can. 
2. Get our credit in better shape.It's not horrible but it could be better.
3. Cash on the barrel. (don't buy on credit).
4. Start saving money.
5. Live below our means, we would like to eventually get where we live on 70% of our income. The other 30% would be for giving and saving.

We are trying to not only change our spending habits but also change our view of money and teach the kids to be more responsible with money than what we have been. I don't think we are frivolous with our money, we hardly ever eat out, we almost always buy second-hand clothes and furniture. We own one t.v. and one gaming system. We aren't frivolous. But we do have cell phones, and Internet. The van is a BIG expense not only the payments but also the gas! I think our biggest problem is that we don't have the patience to save for the things we want or need. So we are trying to learn patience. Oh, and I'm a collector, I'm always starting a new collection of stuff I really don't need. I love shopping at places like Goodwill or garage sells. I love finding old things, repainting them and fixing them up. But I am trying to learn that if I don't NEED it, it's not a good deal no matter what the price tag says. It feels good to have a plan in place. To set little goals and begin to reach them. I'm fully confident in our ability to do this because I know I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me.

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