Jan 27, 2011

Startin' Off with a BANG...AND CLICK ON MY ADS!

...okay more like a CRRUNCH, but neither are sounds I wanted to hear on our first date night in one gazillion years.

We're so not good at actually going on date nights. We think it's a great idea. We really want to. We know we love it. We talk about it all the time. But we never actually do it.

So...We FINALLY put our plan of action into action in this new year. Date night. Regularly. Once a month. Lined up a super babysitter, budgeted it in. Game on.

Last friday night we suited up for a fun filled nightime sledding fest just the two of us and then planned to hit a new coffee house for a hot treat to warm us up. Fun, active, cheap. Perfect. We were all bundled, giddy like teenagers as Jason backed the van up to head out and that's when we heard it....CRUNCH.

"Oh please let that have been a snow bank, Oh please let that have been a snowbank," I trited to beg myself out of reality as I sat frozen, face crinkled in a cring.

Jason moved first...got out of the van and uttered his famous, "CRAP!"

Yup. It was the babysitters car. Her drivers side door got quite closely aquainted with the corner of our left bumper.

T'was hard to move forward after that. I'm not gonna lie. We did trudge on with our date night but it just wasn't the same. And now facing our LARGE insurance deductable (on top of already having 3 other unplanned for big ticket items) transitioned us nicely in to a large argument over finances. Sweet.

But on the bright side. I really think it was God giving us a big wake up call to really examine our finances, and what we save and budget for. Becuase Sunday morning landed us in our church listening to a message about....you guessed it....finances. Particualarly getting out of debt.

Don't get me wrong. We've pared down our budget to what we thought was the bare minimum. We've been working with "laser beam focus" to get out of debt. But apparently we had not yet hit the bare minimum and our laser beam needed a little refocusing.

Monday morning the opportunity to work 6 10 hour days presented itself to Jason (coincidence? I think NOT!). And so here we are. Jason's working 6 10 hour days. We are spending NO MONEY except on tithe, utilities, debt, groceries and gas. I MEAN NOTHING. So if there's a birthday or holiday coming up and you get nothing from us...don't take it personally.

And I'm selling things online and I've added an ad to this blog. I rack up a little money each time someone clicks on it. So even if you don't really read my blog....please do stop by and click on my ad multiple times a day!

Thanks!

4 comments:

Cheryl said...

I clicked on your ad! It's a great website where you can lend micro-loans to people doing their own small businesses in far away countries. Awesome! Now you need to get some more ads. I don't think one is enough, do you? Oh, and sorry about the crash!

Cheryl said...

Never mind! I see now that it is a new ad every time you come back to your blog. Now I've visited two micro loan sites and a solar energy site. Cool. :-)

Maggie said...

Oh gosh, I know how you feel! We are down to the bare minimum too and it's tough. God has been providing, but I feel like we're always on the brink...I know it could be worse...God has always managed to care for us so that we can pay all our bills and we eat and have clothes, etc. But the savings isn't growing at all and Ray's school loans are just growing! *sigh*...we don't even have money for date nights. :( I'm sorry about the car, I hope everything works out for you!

Sarah said...

Thanks Maggie, date nights are gonzo for us now too...but with our new revised plan we SHALL get out of debt. We're following Dave Ramsey's road to financial freedom. Check it out if you haven't alrleady. We too have always been provided for by God...even in the biggest circumstances. I have no doubt we will have our basic needs always met...it's just this dang desire to get out of debt and get ahead that seems to be the elusive!