WHAT A TRIP!

First off I need to apologize for the delay of the weekly blog post this week. My wife and I had to go to Salt Lake City, Utah to get some checkups at our Doctors down there. No worries everybody things went well for both of us.

Since Sunday is just a few days away I'm going to be brief on this post and tell you of our trip we had and the testimony I built in just a few minutes of time.

Thursday February 27th we were about 10 minutes from hitting downtown Salt Lake City (6 hours from Casper Wyoming) traveling in Parley's Canyon in the middle of a rain/snow storm when all of the sudden the wipers on our car quit working, of course you start thinking "Oh No! What's Happening?". So we pulled over on the next exit which was called the Lambs Canyon exit and my immediate thought was "The fuse blew!". So I crawled up under the dash and pulled the wiper fuse. As I was pulling the fuse I heard my wife and children saying a prayer that we would be able to fix the problem or get the help we would need. As I was struggling to get another fuse (that I robbed from another accessory in the fuse box that I knew I could live without for a few minutes) a young man who introduced himself as Cole pulled up to help. As Cole and I were trying to get the fuse back in (since the engineers put the fuse box in such a convenient spot) a tow truck pulled off the exit and drove by and backed up and asked if we needed a tow. I asked a few questions such as how much is your charge, and how far will that get me and let him know I had my wife and 4 children with us. Just as I was talking to the tow truck Cole was able to get the fuse back into the wiper spot and much to my dismay we still had no wipers.

Oh great! I'll have to get a tow, so the tow truck lowered it's flat bed and asked me to drive upon the bed, well just then the car had a loss of engine power. So we had to be winched upon the flat bed. He then asked which dealership we wanted to be towed to, I had no idea! He named a few and my wife called Jerry Seiner GM and gave the phone to me to talk to the service department. I was told that the evening service consultant would give me a call right back. When the service consultant called back I told him I was in town from Casper Wyoming for some doctor appointments and was being towed in and let him know the problems I was having, he then informed me they could look at my car at 6:30 p.m. that evening. I thought that's weird most service departments I've heard of close at 6:00 p.m.

Remember how a couple weeks ago I told about the importance of the EMERGENCY FUND? I also told how we have an auto repair fund in last week's blog post. Our auto repair fund didn't have but a couple hundred dollars in it so we knew we'd have to dip into the emergency fund and were we ever glad we had it.

So the tow truck dropped us off at the dealership and on a big sign in front of the dealership read a sign "SERVICE DEPARTMENT OPEN TIL MIDNIGHT". Wow this is another answer to a prayer. I walked in and the service consultant said "You must be Brandon from Wyoming!" I said I am, and he said first off let's get you and your family back on the road by getting you a rental car. So they loaded us up in the only thing they had at the time that would hold a family of 6, a BIG OL' 15 PASSENGER VAN! Uhhh yeah not my ideal vehicle but it had 4 wheels and the wipers worked. I'll take it! He then gave my wife and children complimentary drink coupons that they could use in the restaurant connected to the dealership. 

As we were waiting for the rental van to get to the dealership I was kind of concerned that the repairs might be more than our $1,000.00 Emergency Fund, since the car also experienced loss of engine power. So I went off in the corner and said a prayer to my Heavenly Father that he would watch over and protect us and that the repairs would be under our $1,000.00 Emergency Fund.

We got checked into the hotel and we took the kids to the swimming pool and my phone rang and it was the dealership. He said what was wrong with the car and told me that everything out the door, parts, labor and tax I would be looking at $785.33. I told him sounds good, get it fixed please! He said they had to order some parts in and so it would tomorrow afternoon before they could get it finished but they would get as much done that night as they could. No worries I had the VAN to run around in!

THE VAN AND THE FAMILY!

So my friends at the end of the day I paid:

-Tow $60.00

-Rental Car with Insurance (since they said a 15 passenger van was a specialty vehicle by most insurance standards and I didn't have time to call my insurance and double check) $88.00

-Rental Car gas $28.31

-Car Repair Bill $785.33

GRAND TOTAL $961.64

THAT MY FRIENDS IS THE IMPORTANCE OF AN EMERGENCY FUND!

Like Cowboy said it's not really an emergency anymore it's more of an inconvenience. Inconvenience it was!

There was a time in my life when I wouldn't even of had the $60.00 for the tow. GLAD THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!

I hope you have enjoyed my testimony about the importance of the EMERGENCY FUND!

I will see you again on Sunday and I hope you have your Emergency Fund and are getting used to living on a BUDGET! YEAH I SAID IT, AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN! B U D G E T!

REMEMBER 

COWBOY UP 

AND FIRE YOUR DEBT!

(Thanks Erin, Cowboy and your Awesome Family and Dave Ramsey and his team, and Integress Solutions for your inspiration and God my eternal Heavenly Father for all of your blessings!)

The B Word! BUDGETS!!!!!!

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Well my friends, thanks for reading my blog the last couple weeks! This has been really fun to get started with and I certainly get to reflect back on how I'm doing on this journey with my wife and children and I also get to hopefully inspire others as I change myself and family.

As I stated in my last blog post we are going to talk about Budgets. (I'm going to capitalize the word Budget, because I want to drive home the importance of a using a Budget.) 

ONE OF THE LEADING CAUSES OF DIVORCE ARE DUE TO MONEY FIGHTS AND MONEY PROBLEMS. (Not communicating or miss-communicating. Talk to each other, you did it once, do it again!)

I think Budgets are misunderstood, and a lot of people think that if they create a Budget, they can't do what they want with their money. 

Have you ever been in between pay periods and want to go buy something or do something as a family and you look at your bank account and only see a few dollars in the bank and wonder "Where did all of our money go?" I HAVE AND IT ISN'T FUN, IT'S DOWNRIGHT DEPRESSING!

After my wife and I read the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, I decided we are getting on a Budget. With my employer I am able to go to the company intranet website and see how much my paycheck will be, this is nice because as a family we can sit down and have what Dave call's a "Budget Committee Meeting". This is a meeting where we can plan, sit down, and TALK CALMLY about what bills need to be paid and where the left over money is going to go. IF YOU DON'T TELL YOUR MONEY WERE IT IS GOING TO GO, IT WILL DISAPPEAR! (I know your shaking your head up and down right now, if your not you've beat the statistics, congrats!)

I'm going to describe two Budgeting techniques that are commonly used. 

The first is what I call the ZERO DOLLAR ASSIGNED BUDGET.
- This is where you will sit down with a sheet of paper, and assign each and every dollar a category. For Example!
 Paycheck = $2,500.00 (all figures are arbitrary and for example only, adjust accordingly to your needs.)

Tithing - $250.00 (Tithe means 10%, In the Bible we learn about Christ's followers paying a tithe. I'm a firm believer in the concept of tithing.  I believe God gave me this money, I can give a bit back to him for large blessings in return. If you don't tithe, that's your belief, but you can give to a charity instead.)
  
Mortgage/Rent - $1,000.00   

Food - $300.00

Utilities - $ 150.00
(Notice I Budget for the necessities of life, Shelter, Food, Utilities before anything else? I then get to the other things in life.)

Insurance - $40.00

Car Payments - (If you unfortunately have a car payment) $300.00

Fuel for Car - $150.00

Phone Bill (Cell Phones/Landlines) - $150.00

Auto Repair Fund - $50.00

Credit Cards (If you have this evil) - $50.00

Clothing Fund (kids grow out of clothes more than adults) - $30.00 

Pay Yourself Fund - $30.00

Now you will see, we have assigned each and every dollar a category. The next paycheck you will have different categories, like:

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Medical Prescription / Co-pay Fund

More Credit Cards if you have them

School Lunch Fund

Appliances / Furniture Fund

Christmas Fund

Birthday Fund

(Each person's wants and needs are a little bit different, but the basic concept is the same.)

You will notice I have a Pay Yourself Fund, some might be wondering "What the heck is this?" Ahhhh, let me explain. Has your significant other came home with a new blouse, or a new gun, or whatever their addiction is and you think to yourself  "We can't even buy milk for the cereal, and you go out and buy a new blouse?" THIS IS THE FUND WHERE YOU EACH GET A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MONEY TO SPEND ON YOU, NO QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED BY EITHER PARTY AS LONG AS THAT PERSON HAS THE MONEY THAT WAS ASSIGNED TO THEM.

Pay Yourself Fund is my favorite fund, because I no longer go into the gas station to buy that Coke or Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I find it is so much harder to part with that money, and if I want to save for Cowboy to build me another Cowboy Hat (check out his website at www.cowboysclassichatco.com ) I can save that money for just that reason and no questions are asked. HOW FUN IS THAT? (IT'S A PARTY TO YOURSELF!)

Next you will notice the AUTO REPAIR FUND. How often does the car break down? Not very often, but when it does your having the "OH CRAP, HOW AM I GOING TO AFFORD THIS?" moment. How often do you plan for your car to break down? Same answer, not very often. If you plan for it and you have the funds saved up that repair will be paid for before it happens. It's an awesome feeling, trust me it's worked with my family.

Okay, the second Budget is the ENVELOPE BUDGETING SYSTEM! I love this one!

This system was used a very long time ago. I tried to trace the origins down, but was unsuccessful. The nearest I could find, was back before credit cards were used people would actually save for things, yes I know that sounds crazy, but it actually happened!

What people would do and my family and I do now, is we take the paycheck and stick the CASH in the envelope assigned to the categories for example:

The Tithing envelope would get the amount assigned in the Budget meeting

Mortgage/Rent Envelope would get it's assigned amount

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Food Envelope would get it's assigned amount.

ETC., ETC.

Once that amount in the envelope is spent, it's spent. IT'S GONE!

There might be times where you have to adjust your different categories for different reasons, for instance there is a case lot sale at the grocery store and SO YOU COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR SPOUSE and say "There is a case lot sale at the grocery store, I am going to adjust here so I can have some extra money for this case lot sale".

When you start your budgeting you will find that the amount allotted for Groceries isn't enough or it might be too much. It will take a few month's to get it right, but keep pushing through. DO NOT YELL AT YOUR BUDGET MEETING, talk calmly and YOU BOTH MUST AGREE! Men, let her have the say so on the Groceries Budget amount, especially the groceries. (She will think your king of the world if you do this.)

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Life will be much more enjoyable when you live on a Budget, much less stressful and certainly not as depressing. A BUDGET IS NOT A PRISON CELL!

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

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THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON

BY: GEORGE S. CLASON

When I was about 13 years old, I remember my brother Trent coming home from school saying we needed to read this book called The Richest Man In Babylon. He said his religious instructor told them they should all read it, I remember him buying this book and I saw it one day on our bedroom floor and tried reading it but never got past the first 5 pages for some reason. (probably because I wasn't a reader back then, although I probably should have been.) About a year and some odd months ago, I picked up this book and it's set back in time, and gives phenomenal stories about how to achieve personal financial success and some great tips anybody can learn from. I certainly wish I would have read it at such a young age, I'd probably be millions of miles from where I am at today.

This is a quick read, and can be finished in a couple of hours. Most libraries have this book, if not they can get it for a nominal fee for you or you can get it on your kindle or nook to have forever and read again and again as I have.

FRIENDS I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK AND YOU COME BACK NEXT WEEK! (Next week's post will be postponed by a couple of days!)

COWBOY UP AND 
 FIRE YOUR DEBT

Why I'm here!

Hi, I'm Brandon Mitchell. I live in, work in and love the state of Wyoming! I have a beautiful and phenomenal wife and 4 wonderful children. 

In my short married life I've been out of debt twice, only to find myself back in debt before the end of the year. WHY?WHY ME? I didn't learn about the most misunderstood tool we all use on a daily basis, MONEY! I was a consumer.

I had a job that paid pretty good. I was literally getting credit cards and calls from banks offering me $10,000.00+ limits. HECK YEAH! I'll take that money! I can buy new appliances, build a garage, redo things in the house, etc. etc. I was keeping up with the payments, everything was going great. I WAS LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM! or so I thought.

Things changed in a split second, on January 1st 2012 I was hurt in a work related accident and spent 2 months healing up at home. Our income was slashed by 40%, workman compensation only paid out 60% of our monthly income. WE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO SAVINGS AT ALL! DUMB, DUMB, DUMB! I was so consumed by spending that I didn't care enough about myself or my family to live on less than we made, and my debt to income ratio was too high to save any money for the inevitable or a rainy day!

After I was healed up and back to work, we were already behind on bills and the calls started coming in, and I was becoming depressed, severely depressed. The bill collectors wanted money, but I didn't have any! My ecclesiastical leader met with my wife and I, he was willing to pay for us to go to counseling through church donations. I would have went but didn't have money to put in my gas tank to get me there. I even changed jobs and made more money but still was just barely treading water. 

Thankfully through this period in my life, my sweet wife and a phenomenal friend whom I'll refer to as Cowboy, (because by all definitions he is a stellar example of what a man should be to his family and a true Cowboy friend.) helped me out and stuck by my side. I remember Cowboy always saying things about this Dave Ramsey guy, who I listened to off and on through the years but couldn't bring myself to adhere to his teachings and studies. Cowboy would always say "CASH IS KING!". I just blew it off, because deep inside I knew, but thought I was too far gone and could crumble at any moment.

One night my sweet wife, came into the living room and said your oldest daughter is in the bedroom crying wanting to know why your always so sad. That pierced my soul and saddened my heart! After my wife went to put the kids to bed, I went into the bedroom and knelt down and pleaded with my Father in Heaven to help me through this dark depressing spot in my life. I had not lost faith in God and knew through my faith that I could get an answer to my prayer. I just hoped it would be a quick answer! 

As I was driving down the road the next morning, it was as if I was hit by a 2x4 across the head, a voice as clear as day said "The reason your so depressed is because your buried in debt, you cant breathe, you can hardly sleep. Get out of debt and you will know true happiness and peace by adhering to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ!" I picked up the phone and called Cowboy and asked if he had that Dave Ramsey book. He said it was at his shop! Perfect I would be driving by his shop in a few hours! When I stopped by Cowboy's shop, we spent the next three hours talking about debt, the bondage it has on people and the destruction it can do to a person and their families! I took that book home read it in two nights and then my wife read it in a week (she likes all the fiction mystery love tales).

I then took the step and started selling as much as I could, I sold our camper, our broke down truck and anything I could think to sell. NOW UNDERSTAND, GETTING INTO DEBT DOESN'T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT, IT TAKES TIME TO GET OUT OF THE DEBT HOLE! 
So we are still climbing out, but we are not stopping, we are learning how money works, and how CASH IS KING, about ourselves and what successful people do and becoming successful ourselves.

IF YOUR SICK OF THE WEIGHT DEBT WEIGHS YOU DOWN WITH, IF YOU ARE TIRED OF THE PAIN THEN FOLLOW ME, AND LETS FIRE YOUR DEBT!

Lets do this journey together! 

We are going to learn what over 80% of successful self-made millionaires do, we are going to learn about credit card companies, loans, the history behind them, and why our grandparents and great grandparents never lived off of these things! If they didn't, why do we have to? 

WE DON'T AND WE WON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD ANYMORE!

We'll learn how to live off of a BUDGET! 

Banks, and loan companies and credit card companies are in business to make money! Your not their friend, your their next paycheck! 

Along this journey you will also learn about yourself and your relationships will get better and stronger than ever before.

TUNE IN WEEKLY FOR NEW POSTS!

TOGETHER WE WILL COWBOY UP AND FIRE YOUR DEBT!