In Case of Emergency

We have an emergency fund.  It serves exactly that purpose.  We turn to our emergency fund whenever we have a financial burden we have not planned.  Sometimes there isn't enough in the car maintenance budget for a big repair. We turn to our emergency fund. Our rental may need more work than we have expected.  We turn to our emergency fund. Unplanned medical bills may creep in to our lives. The emergency fund is there for us.

It doesn't just provide cash if needed.  It provides peace.  It provides security.  We always know that we have that extra little bit to fall back on.  When we do, our number one priority changes to building it back up. Since creating the emergency fund we have never needed to borrow more money.  We have never regretted cutting up those credit cards.  We have never had to ask for financial help.  Now that we have paid off much of our debt, many emergencies can even be cash flowed. 

An emergency can feel like a mountain that was thrown in your path. You don't have to turn to mom and dad.  You don't need to use a credit card. Going into more debt causes an emergency within an emergency. Create your emergency fund as quickly as possible so that your next emergency is merely a bump in the road.

Grow Your Giving

The desire to give can be a blessing.  The desire to give can also be a challenge.  Many people purchase gifts using a credit card.  Many people do random acts of kindness on someone else's dollar.  Some people are even going into debt when giving their weekly contribution.  I would never want to tell someone to put a reign on giving!  There are many ways to give.  Why is monetary giving the main way we give?  Most have struggled with money at one time or another.  We know how valuable it is in many situations.  We know it will be appreciated.   

Giving keeps us grounded.  It keeps our heart open.  Albert and I keep giving at the top of our budget.  Before we pay for anything else we allot a certain amount to give.  It is so important to include giving in your budget.  We need to plan for giving.  That does not mean we need to plan who and where we are giving.  We need to plan how much we are giving.    When we began our budgeting process we kept this number very small.  We had to.  We didn't have the money to pay our bills and make a dent in our debt.  We have rewarded ourselves with each debt payoff by increasing the amount that we give.  It has been an amazing incentive.  If you have the heart of a giver, use this tactic for motivation!

As you reign in your monetary giving, dream.  Dream bigger than you ever have.  Dream about the day you have no debt.  Dream about the day you have no mortgage payment.  Dream about what you can do when you don't have those extra bills.  Dream about the lives you can change.  Dream about the $1,000 tip you can give to a waitress.  Dream about the new tires you can purchase for the single mom at church.  Dream about the groceries you can have delivered to your elderly neighbor.

If you don't have giving in your budget, start now.  Start small.

I Heart Budgeting

I love to budget.  That makes me weird.  I like being weird. Weird means not pretending to be like everyone else. Weird means no debt.  I partly love it because the nerd in me loves a good puzzle. Budgets are basically huge puzzles. I mostly love it because after I pay the bills I pay down the debt. Excess money from each paycheck goes straight to debt.  As the debt decreases, our peace increases. 

Is budgeting always easy?  Of course not!  It takes a few months to work out the kinks. When we began our budget we forgot a few small things that felt big!  We forgot to budget for the yearly truck registration. We forgot to budget for our contribution on the sneaky fifth Sunday. Before long, we stopped forgetting things. After a full year of budgeting our budget chugged along like a well oiled machine. We now do very little before each month begins to fine tune our budget. 

I always look forward to payday!  I know, everyone loves payday.  But I love payday because that means I get to pay bills. Yes, get to. Everything has a cost and I am certainly not entitled to live for free. Getting to pay bills means I get to see my plan in action!  I get to watch my machine work through all those numbers.  

Many people are afraid of the word budget. They see it as restrictive.  They feel it will eliminate spontainaity.  I suppose that could be true if someone else budgeted your life.  But you are creating a budget to fit you.  A budget is more freeing than confining. It frees you from worrying about your splurge at Target dipping into your mortgage payment. If you enjoy splurging at Target, have a Target budget each month. If you always go out to eat on Tuesdays for lunch, have a specific amount allottted. for Tuesday lunches. If you are trying to pay off debt, you may want reconsider some of these budgeted items, but that is your choice. Know where your money goes. 

Your Family has a Mission Statement?

Being on the same page with your spouse and your family is a must!  This is true for any goal in life.  Agree on everything?  Certainly not!  Agree on the important, life changing aspects?  Absolutely!  

Before our first child turned one, we sat down TOGETHER and made a plan. A plan for who we wanted to be as individuals and as a family. Our financial position certainly isn't our only aim, nor is it our main one!  We gave our family direction. A parent guide. A child guide.

We encourage you to do the same.  Where is your family headed?

The Krabbe Family Mission Statement

Papa’s promise:

I will always put God first and allow him to lead me as a man, as a husband and as a father.  I will be the spiritual leader of this family and take full responsibility for myself, my wife and my children.  I will be faithful to Mama, loving and honoring her and I will never leave her.  I will teach my children to love God, be faithful to His Word and live responsibly.  I will walk with integrity and teach my children to do the same.  I will protect my family and will diligently work to provide for their needs.

Mama’s promise:

I will always put God first.  I will always trust and respect Papa, and I promise to never leave him.  I will always love and serve my husband and my children, and I promise to keep our home a place of comfort and peace.  I will always be productive, and I will be joyful in my work.  I will keep my body and mind strong.  I will lead by example in teaching my children to care for those in need.  I will keep my family nourished and clothes, and I will do my part to provide for my family.  I will give my children an excellent education.  I will pray daily for my husband and my children, in thankfulness and supplication.  I will be praiseworthy of my husband and my children.

As a family, we promise:

We will always put God first, and will only use His name with honor.  Our home will always be filled with laughter, music, and hospitality.  We will pray together and for one another, and treat each other with respect.  We will honor and love our parents.  We will love our enemies; we will be kind to them, pray for them and see them as Jesus would see them.  We will be wise stewards with what God blesses us with, and will be thankful and content.  We will take time to enjoy and be in awe of God’s nature.

          Together, we will strive for heaven

Becoming Weird

I grew up listening to talk radio and perfecting the art of tuning it out.  Some days I would actually try to follow along to Rush or Hugh in an attempt to have an "intellectual" conversation with my dad in the car.  Other days I would entertain myself with my own thoughts, only tuning in to the radio when they played bumper music.  This trend followed me into adulthood and one day I asked Albert what we were listening to. Dave Ramsey.   My life was forever changed. From that moment on I have listened intently to talk Radio.  Let's face it, I am addicted to Dave. 

We are passionate people.  When we believe in something we don't just dip our big toe in the water, we jump in.  So, we started working Dave's plan full force.  We took the class, we taught the class.  We always find a way to bring up "Uncle Dave" in conversation.  We obtained several copies of his books to give away as gifts when anyone shows the slightest bit of interest.  You have to be careful when asking us about Dave.  It's like when you ask your dad how to change the oil and he teaches you how to rebuild the engine.  We eat, sleep and breathe Dave.

Starting the baby steps was easy for us.  We already had more than the emergency fund in our bank account, so we set that aside and got to work.  Our first credit card had a balance of $0 so we were able to feel accomplished immediately from closing that account.  We had very little to go towards our debt snowball, but several of our debts were small and we were able to close 12 of them in the first 5 months.  Freeing up those minimum payments gave us a large enough snowball to start hurling at our other debts. 

Today we have only two debts.  We have zero credit cards.  We have two paid for cars.  We budget every penny, every month, together.  We love being weird!

We Used To Be Normal

For me, it started with a cell phone.  You have to build credit to have a cell phone or anything else of value, right?  So I got a dell credit card because they will give anyone a credit card.  I needed a lap top anyway!  Bank of America also generously gave me a nice little student credit card so I could buy my school books until my refund check came in.  A refund check seemed like such a glorious thing!! It was extra money to live off of while going to college.  Of course I knew I had to pay all of this back.  I was not ignorant... or was I?

You can't go to college without student loans and you certainly can't buy a car without a car loan. But I could afford the payments, I never worked less than three jobs while being a full time college student. Grad school was also a must.  I had to get my masters degree so that I could earn a higher paycheck. So, here I am age 24.  I have a wonderful job and I am temporarily living with my parents while my sister and I hunt for a house.  I think I'm doing great.  In the background I have three massive student loans, a truck loan and 4 credit cards (which I don't carry a balance on).  This is normal.  

Then I meet Albert and six months later we are married and now we have a total of 26 debts, not including our mortgage. This is normal. This is why I have to work.  We don't want to be NORMAL anymore!