Mattie Time

Houston and Mattie meet for the first time!

Mattie kept lifting up her shirt for the puppies to tickle her tummy!

Mattie holding Maggie, Gramps holding Houston and Mattie


Mattie kept saying "Hold you"

You might be a Country Bumpkin...

If you use a feed trough as a slide...

and enjoy it!!

This was also the weekend that Mattie and the Matheson's attended church with us. Addison and Brittney Schubert (Brian and Tammy Schubert's baby) were also at the church. Mattie kept wanting to hold the babies and hug the babies. We did let Mattie sit in a pew and hold Addison and I will post that picture, but it is on my mom's camera. We had lots and lots of fun with Mattie and can't wait until she comes down and sees us again...

No more credit cards

Last night I called and cancelled all of my credit cards. Well, all except one. We decided that we are going to keep one for EMERGENCIES ONLY!! I am going to call and have the credit limit reduced though.

Here's an example of one of the conversations:

AMEX lady: May I ask why you are cancelling your credit card?

Me: I am calling and cancelling all my credit cards tonight.

AMEX lady: So you are going to only be a cash customer?

Me: Yes.

AMEX lady: Wow I'm impressed!

Me: Thanks!

I guess AMEX doesn't really get many calls like that!

This is what FPU was about last night. The lesson was called "Dumping debt." It was about all the myths and truths that there are about credit. It was pretty interesting. He popped a balloon every time he said a myth and the last balloon was HUGE and it was full of money. It was kinda neat to see what people believe (myths) and what is the truth.

I Love Lutheran Boys!!

This past weekend Matt and Walon both became members of our church! My parents were very proud! Mr. and Mrs. Matheson and Mattie were there to witness the event also. My dad has jokes, he told both Matt and Walon that they looked very nice that day. Then he went on to say that they almost looked as good as him and that's hard to do. He thought that he was very clever. I found a shirt on the Internet that said "I love Lutheran Boys" and it wasn't very appropriate at the time, but now I can get it. I just have to check with Dave and see if it fits in the budget!

I also need to do a post about Addison's Baptism which was March 15th, but I didn't have my camera that day and I haven't gotten a chance to download Amber's yet! But there will be a post coming soon! (I promise Amber)

Name That Horse

Tonight Matt, Gramps, and I went to Sinton to look at a horse. The trailor didn't come home empty. We need help naming the 4-legged critter!! I want to name the dude "Benji". Matt said that the horse would end up being called "Ben." I said I would punch someone in the face! Matt said he needs more options. I am asking for help. Either leave a message or send me an e-mail. What is the best name for this horse?

FPU #3

The 3rd class of FPU was a bit more intimidating. The budgets are getting more serious and in depth. I can definitely see how they work though. They are going to take more time to do this week.

Yesterday Mr. Bell (he teaches the class) came into the feed store and was talking about how glad he was that Matt and I were taking the class. He was talking about making a budget, and this lady next to him said "you've never made a budget?" I said no ma'am. She said "they don't teach that in school anymore, that where I learned it." I said no ma'am. Not to get political, but if they did teach this in schools, maybe the idiots that bought houses that they really couldn't afford wouldn't have gotten us into this economic mess! Beeville ISD is more interested in making sure that their losing football teams look good, than they are in academics! Don't even get me started on football (Its one of those things I can go on and on about!) It's amazing the number of people who don't balance their checking accounts. Matt's one of them. He said that he couldn't keep record of it with using his debit card. Now that we are using cash, I am going to keep up with it. Its kinda the nerd in me. It kinda drives me nuts that its not balanced! My checking account (when I had MY checking account) was always balanced to the PENNY as soon as I got it in the mail. FNB isn't going to take one penny from me that doesn't belong to them!

I am/ We are still enjoying the class. I would still encourage everyone to enroll in Financial Peace University.

Side note: A few months ago I filled out one of those Neilsen surveys that they send you along with $1. Yesterday I checked the mail and there was something else from those people. I started thinking that it was a mistake to fill that survey out...now I'm on their mailing list and they are going to keep sending me stuff...then I opened it. There was $30 in it (along with another survey)! WHOO HOO! I was so excited. Then I went to Wal-Mart last night and I looked down and there was a dime on the ground! $30.10 in one day. I think its the power of Dave!

Cuatro Res. Champ San Angelo

Here's the picture of Cuatro in San Angelo.

The Nerdy Free-Spirit & The Free-Spirity Nerd

After our second Financial Peace University class which ended tonight, and after we talked about it, this is how we would describe ourselves. I am the nerdy free-spirit. I am the number person who figured out the budget, but I will walk down the toy isle and pick up a toy for one of my baby loves. Matt on the other hand won't sit down and figure the budget, but he doesn't go to the store and buy things that he doesn't need (often.) Although like I said before Matt's toys are much more expensive than the ones that I buy, so when he buys something, he does spend more money.

Honestly I would recommend this class to EVERYONE! It is a 13 week course that meets once a week for 1-1 1/2 hours. There are classes all over the place. http://www.daveramsey.com/. This is the website. There is a place where it has zip code. Just type in your zip and it will pull up classes that are near your current town. If Beeville has a class...I would guess that almost every town has a class. The class is free. All you have to pay for is the kit. It sells on the Internet for $199, but they run specials. Our coordinator sold ours to us for $100. That's what he had to pay for it. There are also people who sponsor those who can't afford the kit.

Tonight we learned about how money ruins marriages, what to do if you are single, and how to raise your kids to be responsible with money. IF kids are in our future, we would totally raise them the Dave Ramsey way. It just makes sense. They get a commission instead of an allowance. Dave says to start them when they are like 3 or 4. Just help them clean their room, make a big deal of how good a job they did, then hand them $1 then and there. As they get older, the jobs they do get bigger. When they get a little older, start them on an envelope system. They get 3 envelopes. Saving, spending, giving. If they have 5 jobs, they get a job for each job they complete. $2 goes into spending, $2 goes into saving, and $1 goes into giving. Then the next time they go to church, they take the money they earned and put it in the offering plate.

I could go on and on about how great this stuff is. I really am a believer in it, and I'm just getting started. Matt even said that he enjoyed the class.

Houston and Maggie

This is Maggie.
This is Houston.

These are the new border collie puppies you will see if you come to Mathesonville. Maggie belongs to Matt's mom and dad, and Houston is our puppy. Right now they are staying together in a cage. Matt and Mr. Matheson went to show Grandma the new puppies and she told them to try not to run over these two!

It Hurts

This Friday and Saturday I was in Houston for a bachelorette party for my friend Keri. Being the good Dave Ramsey junkie that I am, I took cash to pay for my weekend. We went to dinner Friday night at the House of Blues. They had some very interesting items on their menu. They had some yummy looking steaks, but I looked over at the price and saw that they were close to $30 dollars. WHOA! I don't think so. So I looked over the menu a few more times and settled for a turkey wrap for $8.95 and a $2.00 tea! Yea me!! I have 2 baptisms coming up and I really didn't have anything to wear, so the next day we went to Katy Mills and went shopping. SIDE NOTE: Katy Mills has a Bass Pro Shop that opens into the Mall!! That would be nice if all the Bass Pro Shops opened into a mall!! Back to my story, so I went into Ann Taylor Loft and tried on 3 dresses and some shirts and capris. Normally if I like it I would have bought it all. Since I was paying in cash I had to pick and choose. So I put the things back that I didn't like as much! Then I got up to pay and the lady told me my total, I handed her my cash, and had a sinking feeling in my tummy. I never felt that with a credit card swipe!

Our newest "thing"

I kinda think of myself as a Dave Ramsey junkie. I watch him every night on Fox Business and I listen to him in the car if he happens to be on while I am driving. I have read his book "Total Money Makeover." Now "we" are enrolled in Financial Peace University which is a 13 week program. I say "we" because I went to the first class by myself and when Matt is on call I will also be attending by myself. Anyways...I just like his whole idea of life and money. He has a seven step program, which Matt and I have decided to alter a bit, to get to financial freedom. The first step is to have $1,000.00 in the bank. Check. The second step is to pay off all debt except the house mortgage. His theory is to pay off the smallest debt first. He says the smallest debt so you feel accomplishment when you get one down and you won't give up after months and months. Matt and I have no credit card debt. Whoo Hoo! We do however have a tractor, a Chevy pick-up, and a H-3 that we make payments on every month. Dave also says that you need to tell others your goals (kinda like my 15 pounds in 3 months on the Wii Fit that I haven't touched since the end of the first week of buying it!) We hope to have all 3 of these paid off by the end of 2010! The one rule that we kinda altered is he says to stop contributing to 401k's and IRAs. We decided that we still wanted to make our contributions. We really don't have a lot of other bills and obviously we don't spend money on clothes! (Have you seen what we wear!) Dave also says that you should try to pay in cash. So we are trying that. I even "made" Matt go inside the gas station the other day to pay for his gas!! Dave says that in each relationship there is a "nerd" and a "free spirit". Between me and Matt I would have to say that I am the nerd, but Matt is a tight wad... he just likes to buy big toys like 4-wheelers and jeeps. Matt told me "we can do this, but I don't want it to be too strict that we can't buy what we want." I said ok, but I still want to get all this stuff paid off. Dave also says that your friends and family will say that you are weird for doing this. Check Check...My family and friends have been telling me that...well way before I ever heard of Dave Ramsey!

Anyways here are the 7 steps:

1. $1000 emergency fund
2. Debt snowball (this is the step that we are at)
3. 3-6 months in emergency fund
4. 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement (the part we aren't going to stop doing!)
5. College funding for children (sooooooooooooooooooooo far away from that!)
6. Pay off home early (that would be so cool if we could do this by 35)
7. Build wealth and give

When I first told Matt that I wanted to give this a try he said ok. Then he said "Does that mean that you have to stop buying stuff for Mattie and Addison?" I said "Yes" with a sad face. This is going to be the hardest part for me!

Anyways if you ever get bored and want to talk to a "nerd" just give me a call. I have "Total Money Makeover" and a new book that came in the Financial Peace University (FPU) that I can't remeber the name of. I also have 13 audio cd's of the 13 FPU sessions. I will be willing to loan them out to anyone else who wants to be a "nerd!"

"LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE, AND LATER YOU CAN LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE" DAVE RAMSEY