There is a lot to be thankful for as I reflect upon our life this season. Even as news from the doctor is not ideal and waiting periods seem longer, I can't help but thank the Lord for the innumerable blessings.
I was reading recently on a couple of different blogs about people complaining about their jobs and how they hate being on "someone else's" schedule and how they would rather be home etc etc. Then I got phone calls from two people who are leaving the US as they are unable to find jobs becasue of the failing economy. Listening to both aspects, I just want to take this time to express gratitude for my job. It is not the most exciting job in the world (I am not uncovering diamonds here), but it is a great job. It provides very good health insurance, which is crucial to me. Stress levels are low to moderate most of them being self induced. I learn a lot and it is fulfilling. I will be honest here, I love the fact that it enables us to do things like buy fruit irrespective of season, go on vacations and save for the future. It enables us to give to family, friends, sponsor kids and give to child care ministries.
Yes, I am very thankful to be a working woman and that the Lord provided me with this job. And I am very happy to be here until that time He reveals otherwise.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Quick notes from the weekend
1. I got a haircut. I think it looks cute. Does that make me an egotist? A friend told me I look like a 1960s housewife with my haircut and dress. Wonder if that is a good thing.
2. We went to see the Apostles of Comedy on Friday. They were good. Jeff Allen was my favorite.Good, clean fun without se*ual innuendos and foul language. That was such a blessing.
3. We got a new living room floor. It is purty, if I may say so myself. Goodbye, dirty old carpet. You will not be missed.
4. We had some friends over on Saturday and we watched Wizard of Oz and ate popcorn and Chinese food. No cooking, no cleaning, just gorging on unhealthy food. Good times.
5. We bought a new futon for the den and replaced the sofa there. I have some organizing to do, after hubby assembles it. I do like organizing as opposed to cooking and cleaning. This dislike of cooking? I come by it honestly. I don't think Mama likes cooking very much either.
6. Hubby bought a new laptop which uses fingerprints for logging in. How fun is that? Even if it gets stolen, no one other than hubby or me can get in. I think. But I just love swiping my finger and logging in just for the fun of it.
7. It has been COLD here in Florida for the past few days and I do not like it. A relative called yesterday and invited us to visit them in Milwaukee for the New Year. Are you kidding me??? I am not stirring from here until June, thankyouverymuch.
8. Ater getting lost just about everywhere we go, we finally bought a GPS this Saturday.
9. We are replacing all the bathroom countertops with granite. It has been a painful process. I am not going to do any home improvement (capital projects that is) for another 10 years. It started with a small paint job in the bathroom and it has snowballed into this huge project involving wood floors, new bedroom carpet, granite and what not. Hopefully it will all be done by the middle of December. I will show pictures then.
10. We have guests coming this Thursday. 5 people. It is going to be an interesting time cooking. All of them are vegetarians (no egg even) and one guest will not even eat garlic and onion for religious reasons. I am flabbergasted. I might have to cook two of every dish. With and without oninos. I am not even sure Indian food tastes normal without onions and garlic. My MIL suggested that I let her cook for herself. I am thinking it might not be polite.
What are the notes from your weekend?
2. We went to see the Apostles of Comedy on Friday. They were good. Jeff Allen was my favorite.Good, clean fun without se*ual innuendos and foul language. That was such a blessing.
3. We got a new living room floor. It is purty, if I may say so myself. Goodbye, dirty old carpet. You will not be missed.
4. We had some friends over on Saturday and we watched Wizard of Oz and ate popcorn and Chinese food. No cooking, no cleaning, just gorging on unhealthy food. Good times.
5. We bought a new futon for the den and replaced the sofa there. I have some organizing to do, after hubby assembles it. I do like organizing as opposed to cooking and cleaning. This dislike of cooking? I come by it honestly. I don't think Mama likes cooking very much either.
6. Hubby bought a new laptop which uses fingerprints for logging in. How fun is that? Even if it gets stolen, no one other than hubby or me can get in. I think. But I just love swiping my finger and logging in just for the fun of it.
7. It has been COLD here in Florida for the past few days and I do not like it. A relative called yesterday and invited us to visit them in Milwaukee for the New Year. Are you kidding me??? I am not stirring from here until June, thankyouverymuch.
8. Ater getting lost just about everywhere we go, we finally bought a GPS this Saturday.
9. We are replacing all the bathroom countertops with granite. It has been a painful process. I am not going to do any home improvement (capital projects that is) for another 10 years. It started with a small paint job in the bathroom and it has snowballed into this huge project involving wood floors, new bedroom carpet, granite and what not. Hopefully it will all be done by the middle of December. I will show pictures then.
10. We have guests coming this Thursday. 5 people. It is going to be an interesting time cooking. All of them are vegetarians (no egg even) and one guest will not even eat garlic and onion for religious reasons. I am flabbergasted. I might have to cook two of every dish. With and without oninos. I am not even sure Indian food tastes normal without onions and garlic. My MIL suggested that I let her cook for herself. I am thinking it might not be polite.
What are the notes from your weekend?
Friday, November 21, 2008
TMM Review -Part 3
I have written about credit cards, saving money in review of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, but there was one thing which made me pause a lot. I am still wondering about it and I would like to know what you think.
In the book he says rhetorically, "Is it ok to buy a $30,000 watch?" "Million dollar home?""$100,000 car?"Absolutely!" When I first read that I was thinking, that is such a waste of money and I was honestly a little disgusted. I wondered if that was the end of all this wealth building. Then I thought some more about it. It is easy for me to say that these things are a waste becasue I don't care about watches or cars or houses beyond ordinary. But what about travel? I love traveling. We spend good money on it. Granted, we mostly stay at the Holiday Inn, but then there is airfare and all other expenses. So we end up spending a bit at the end of a good vacation. To someone else, that would be a waste of money. I realized, Hypocrisy, thy name is Annie.
Isn't it the same, the bit about the plank in my eye. What do you think?
In the book he says rhetorically, "Is it ok to buy a $30,000 watch?" "Million dollar home?""$100,000 car?"Absolutely!" When I first read that I was thinking, that is such a waste of money and I was honestly a little disgusted. I wondered if that was the end of all this wealth building. Then I thought some more about it. It is easy for me to say that these things are a waste becasue I don't care about watches or cars or houses beyond ordinary. But what about travel? I love traveling. We spend good money on it. Granted, we mostly stay at the Holiday Inn, but then there is airfare and all other expenses. So we end up spending a bit at the end of a good vacation. To someone else, that would be a waste of money. I realized, Hypocrisy, thy name is Annie.
Isn't it the same, the bit about the plank in my eye. What do you think?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Review Part 2
To continue on the review of TMM, I will touch on another aspect of his book. The fixation on credit cards.
That is where he and I part ways. According to him, we should not have credit cards, even if we are fully capable of paying off the card before they charge you anything. I got my first credit card when I was in college. I learned about and used it very well. With some help from him. I managed to make some $200 from the company before I graduated. Plus I had no debts. Although I disagree with Dave on that point, I understand where he is coming from. Most people do not know how to manage credit cards. But to those who have purposed to live way under their means and know what a credit card means, it can be a great tool.
If we don't have the money, we don't buy it. I didn't buy a car for the first two years I was here. I walked or took the bus. I didn't buy any new clothes until I graduated. In those two years, with an average income of $500, I graduated with $1000 in savings. That being said, now we ALWAYS take advantage of 0% interest. We bought our bed, sofa, and appliances that way. Not becasue we didn't have the money to pay upfront. We just earmark the money and put it in a cd with a particular bank. 1 month before we have to pay up, the cd matures and we pay it off. And we get to keep the interest from the cd. If there is an unexpected difficult situation, like a job loss or something, we are not scrambling to get the money to pay off the cards. It is already there, and it is not part of our savings.
We must have gotten at least $300 back in gift cards. (I know that means we spent a lot, but majority of those were home related and medical expenses which we had to do). I got $60 each when I moved (3 times) and many other incentives. I have never so far paid interest on a credit card loan. Credit card is not the evil he portrays in the book. Most of the time, the problem is greed. Buying things we cannot afford. Sometimes it is just unwise choices. But we can do something about that. And the book gives good encouragement to work hard and pay it off. And that is sound advice.
I would reccommend the book mainly becasue it is sound, sensible advice. Even if you are not wallowing in debt, it can help you to shape up financially. The couple issues I have with it, I already addressed. Above everything, live simply, give liberally. Becasue that is true religion.
That is where he and I part ways. According to him, we should not have credit cards, even if we are fully capable of paying off the card before they charge you anything. I got my first credit card when I was in college. I learned about and used it very well. With some help from him. I managed to make some $200 from the company before I graduated. Plus I had no debts. Although I disagree with Dave on that point, I understand where he is coming from. Most people do not know how to manage credit cards. But to those who have purposed to live way under their means and know what a credit card means, it can be a great tool.
If we don't have the money, we don't buy it. I didn't buy a car for the first two years I was here. I walked or took the bus. I didn't buy any new clothes until I graduated. In those two years, with an average income of $500, I graduated with $1000 in savings. That being said, now we ALWAYS take advantage of 0% interest. We bought our bed, sofa, and appliances that way. Not becasue we didn't have the money to pay upfront. We just earmark the money and put it in a cd with a particular bank. 1 month before we have to pay up, the cd matures and we pay it off. And we get to keep the interest from the cd. If there is an unexpected difficult situation, like a job loss or something, we are not scrambling to get the money to pay off the cards. It is already there, and it is not part of our savings.
We must have gotten at least $300 back in gift cards. (I know that means we spent a lot, but majority of those were home related and medical expenses which we had to do). I got $60 each when I moved (3 times) and many other incentives. I have never so far paid interest on a credit card loan. Credit card is not the evil he portrays in the book. Most of the time, the problem is greed. Buying things we cannot afford. Sometimes it is just unwise choices. But we can do something about that. And the book gives good encouragement to work hard and pay it off. And that is sound advice.
I would reccommend the book mainly becasue it is sound, sensible advice. Even if you are not wallowing in debt, it can help you to shape up financially. The couple issues I have with it, I already addressed. Above everything, live simply, give liberally. Becasue that is true religion.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Total Money Makeover - Review Part 1
One of the books that I read this year was Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Generally, I don't read a lot of self help books. But I had heard a lot about this one and decided to give it a try. Our financial strategy is very much like how Amy describes in her How we did it series. If you are not currently reading it, I would strongly encourage you to read it.
I should start reviewing books with a disclaimer. I am not very good at remembering stuff, so if the review is not immediately after, I pretty much forget key points. But I will try and list a couple of things that stood out to me. One is the aspect of paying off debts and saving and the other is Credit cards.
This book approaches finances from an agressive get out of debt, help yourself before you help others perspective. I have mixed feelings about it. I believe that Bible teaches the New Testament believers to give, not tithe. It is not a 10% for God, 90% for you deal. We are asked to give cheerfully. Anyway, it all belongs to God and he can give and take as he pleases. So if we believe that we should not give until we have financial stability, when do we decide that we have achieved that stability? When we have food, shelter, and clothing? When we have that million dollar house paid for? And then there is the undeniable fact that the more we have, the harder it is to give. We can save and save until it comes out of our nose, but we will still be looking for savings.
On the other hand, there are people who use giving as a crutch, not to be financially responsible and making unwise choices. I know people like that in real life. I know pragmatism seems a whole less spiritual than saying "The Lord will provide for our needs." Yes, the Lord will provide, but he also gave us a brain to make wise choices.
I cannot say what should the best scenario for every family should be. That is between you and the Lord. For a practical example, let us say, I am in debt and am already supporting a ministry. What I would do is honor the commitment, but cut back in personal areas. Maybe I won't take additional commitments until the high interest debts are paid off. Becasue loans on which you have to pay interest (other than house) do not make sense. For example, if you buy a car for 20,000 and pay $400 monthly for 8 years, then you pay enough to buy 2 cars. It does not make sense. It is math. If we are unable to support with finances, we can support ministries and the local church with our time and effort, prayer etc. Giving should be joyfully from the heart, not a bill to be struck off from the list.
Next: Credit Cards and Dave
I should start reviewing books with a disclaimer. I am not very good at remembering stuff, so if the review is not immediately after, I pretty much forget key points. But I will try and list a couple of things that stood out to me. One is the aspect of paying off debts and saving and the other is Credit cards.
This book approaches finances from an agressive get out of debt, help yourself before you help others perspective. I have mixed feelings about it. I believe that Bible teaches the New Testament believers to give, not tithe. It is not a 10% for God, 90% for you deal. We are asked to give cheerfully. Anyway, it all belongs to God and he can give and take as he pleases. So if we believe that we should not give until we have financial stability, when do we decide that we have achieved that stability? When we have food, shelter, and clothing? When we have that million dollar house paid for? And then there is the undeniable fact that the more we have, the harder it is to give. We can save and save until it comes out of our nose, but we will still be looking for savings.
On the other hand, there are people who use giving as a crutch, not to be financially responsible and making unwise choices. I know people like that in real life. I know pragmatism seems a whole less spiritual than saying "The Lord will provide for our needs." Yes, the Lord will provide, but he also gave us a brain to make wise choices.
I cannot say what should the best scenario for every family should be. That is between you and the Lord. For a practical example, let us say, I am in debt and am already supporting a ministry. What I would do is honor the commitment, but cut back in personal areas. Maybe I won't take additional commitments until the high interest debts are paid off. Becasue loans on which you have to pay interest (other than house) do not make sense. For example, if you buy a car for 20,000 and pay $400 monthly for 8 years, then you pay enough to buy 2 cars. It does not make sense. It is math. If we are unable to support with finances, we can support ministries and the local church with our time and effort, prayer etc. Giving should be joyfully from the heart, not a bill to be struck off from the list.
Next: Credit Cards and Dave
Friday, November 07, 2008
Vacation Memories
I realize that I fail to write anything about the vacations that we take. I mostly mention here on the blog that we are going here or there and then not write anything about it. I have identified the reasons behind it.
- Whenever I come back from vacation, my work load is very heavy becasue of the time I took off. And by the time work slows done enough for me to write a few words, I am no longer in the mood to write it.
- Half of the time, I cannot even remember all the details of the vacation. It comes back in spurts over time, but when I sit down to write about it, nothing comes.
- There is always a let down that I feel after coming back from vacation. An out of sorts that doesn't get better until about a week later. Then... see second point. It is a vicious cycle.
All this to say that I still haven't written about the cruise. I don't think anyone is waiting expectantly for a description, but I know that I want to write because there is only so much I can commit to my faulty memory. I really enjoyed writing the Greek travelogue and every time I read it, I remember all the little things that happened to make the trip a very memorable one.
So, for posterity, I am thinking I will write about all the trips soon starting with the most recent one which was the cruise.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
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