Murphy's Knocking!!

Well, Dave said this would happen. (It's so funny how many times we have said that phrase recently--"Dave says...") And yes, he's right again. We have gone through the whole year with very little unexpected expenses and have squeezed our monthly budget each month and achieved our goal of 3-6 months living expenses in savings. Now, essetially we are our own "bank". Well, wouldn't you know...December comes and everything starts falling apart: the furnace, the water heater, some sort of pump on the Jeep, toilets running, pipes dripping, it really is almost comical. Praise God that we have been able to save and have the money for these repairs, but it still hurts knowing how many months it took to get there :-). Next year after the savings is built back up we will begin to put specific money away for household repairs. It is so fun to see those accounts grow each month they are not needed and then be there when you DO need them! And like Dave says, Murphy WILL come, just don't let him in!! :-)

What!? Pay for Christmas Presents with Cash?!!

O.K. I would normally NEVER recommend something from Saturday Night Live, but this one skit is so perfect for what we've been learning at our Financial Peace Class.



It really is so sad how true this little skit is. We have bought into this concept that "things" are so important and we need to buy them whether we have the money or not. Which brings me to my title -- how does that fit into our thinking of Christmas? What does giving extremely expensive gifts to our children even have to do with Christmas? What are we celebrating, what message are we sending our kids and what are we setting ourselves up for next year when everything is more expensive and our children are one year older wanting bigger and better things. These are just a few things that have been rattling around my head for awhile and I will continue with thoughts along these lines. Any ideas would be wonderful and I would appreciate any and all advice in this area!