I'm told, "you're going to lose your readers" because I haven't written in a while. That makes me laugh for a couple reasons. The truth is, I write when I have something interesting to say (well, at least that is of interest to me) or a memory that I want to capture. I often end up writing several posts at once because thing shave been building up and I get in the mood. If you don't hear from me for a while, it's probably because things are either 1) crazy busy and I can't even stop to think about it or 2) just the daily grind.

The past couple weeks have had a bit of both. The other truth is that I do write, but I don't always post. In fact, I wrote a post about how I was jumping out of my skin waiting to hear about what kind of finance rate we were going to get for our new vehicle. Looking back, it really isn't something that any of you would want to read at length, but it took the edge off for me while I was just sitting around itching with anticipation.

After hours of research and visiting a few dealerships we did buy a "new to us" Honda Pilot. It was a stressful situation for me with the research, comparing, etc., but now it's done and I feel like we got a really great family vehicle for a fantastic price. I'm not one to love cars--I actually think it's kind of silly to "love" your car, but I can appreciate a reliable vehicle to get me from place to place. And if you add in a few extras (such as heated seats--hot butt!) then I might be a little more fond. So it's true that I have left the minivan world and moved into the land of SUV's, but only sort of. We do have the optional 3rd row that goes up or down very easily depending on if we need extra seats or the extra storage. I love the possibilities.

And then we helped my mom move back to Pittsburgh. Actually, Kyle helped put things together and I tried to keep the kids out of the way. I'm really excited to have my mom closer and her new digs have some fancy amenities that I plan to take full advantage of.

One of my many obstacles from day to day, week to week, and now year to year is to get our debt and spending under control. A couple years ago, my mom gave me the Financial Peace book by Dave Ramsey. What he said made sense and I started arranging our lifestyle and budget according to his principles. There were a couple things that I wasn't so sure about and I still struggle with. First and foremost, I have chosen to work part time. I was a full time employee up until I was able to go part time when Cameron was 4 months old. It was the best decision and I feel very blessed to have been able to have that opportunity. If I could have stayed home with him full time I would have done so. The only reason I could not is because I carry the health insurance for our family and it wasn't something we could give up. Now, I am thankful that I continued to work because I think it fulfills some needs that I have and allows me to give the kids some independence with going to "school". One of Dave's principles is to make as much money as you can to get out of debt as fast as you are able. That makes sense, but it doesn't take me more than 15 seconds to say that my family comes first and I will never get this time back. For that reason, we have to make due with the money we are bringing in.

After I got a working budget, we worked out a system to use only cash and no credit card for any reason. We have been successful at this for 2 years now and looking back--I'm pretty proud of that! We have been steadily paying our debt, spending within our budget, and feeling like we were doing the right thing for quite some time. Recently, however, I started getting frustrated that my credit card debt wasn't disappearing as quickly as I would like. I took a hard look at where we were spending money and although I don't think we were spending outrageous amounts, I do think we can cut back. So, we are making some hard choices and cutting way back in a lot of areas--to the point that I don't want to buy anything new, especially if it's not absolutely necessary. I admit, I am saying this after we bought a new car (not according to Dave either because we financed) and I just bought the kids new wardrobes for next year ($5 per piece of clothing from Children's Place!! And 80% off at Harstrings! Great deals!). Still, this means no decorating pieces for our house, cutting back on gifts, Christmas budget, and vacation. No more electronics fund (sorry...no flat screen), furniture, or any of the "extra" budgeting that I had been doing. All of those funds are being slushed into the credit card until it is paid off.

We will be feeling good in our reliable car, but we'll be vacationing at my mom's this year. Camping is even out of our budget. If I turn down invitations to go out to eat, don't take it personally it's just because I went out to dinner with you 3 years ago and am still paying it off. :)