Finance Fridays

Ok - I know today is not Friday but I am busy tomorrow and wanted to start on my new idea. Finance Fridays are my days to exercise some of the knowledge I have recently collected in my years in college. This is purely for my benefit. I do not want to forget the things I have learned and I love talking about finances. Today we will start with the basics. My opinion on how to get out of debt. Disclaimer: I am by no means a professional, these are just my thoughts.

Steps to get out of debt:

1. First come up with a budget. The key to a budget is to spend less than you earn. This will help you itemize your expenses and debt.

2. Start with the smallest bill. Put all of your energy to this bill - if minimum payments need to be made to other larger bills then make those payments but any extra money should go to the smallest bill.

3. Once the smallest bill is paid for you take that money and apply it to the next smallest bill. For example if you were paying $50 on bill 1 and $50 on bill 2 then once bill 1 is paid for you are now applying $100 to bill 2. Continue to do this until all of your debt is paid.

4. Put money into savings. It doesn't have to be a huge amount, just set aside money every month or every paycheck. Whichever you prefer.

That's it. Pretty simple, hunh? You want to feel like you are progressing. A lot of times we see huge bills and we think - it's impossible! So, we just tack on more debt to our already large account because we think "what's the point in trying to pay this off?" That's why we start with the smallest bill. Once you get that bill paid off you think to yourself, "Hey, I just got an entire bill paid! Woohoo. And now I can take that money and pay for the next bill and it will get that bill out of here even faster." This psychology works - I've tried it myself. If you dive headfirst into your largest bill then you feel overwhelmed and you feel like you aren't making a dent.

The last step is probably the most important. If you are spending all of your money on debt then you start to get depressed. There is no motivation to get the debt paid off or to avoid more debt. Putting money into savings is your reward. At the end of the month when you look over your accounts you will be surprised how happy you get over that little bit of money in savings.

At this time I must give David Austin credit. He has been my mentor in debt management and budgeting and is one of the strongest reasons why I chose the degree I did. A lot of my debt/budgeting philosophy comes from him. Thank you David!

My opinion...take it or leave it.

Anyone who has lived in Stillwater knows the name and anyone who puts gas in their cars should recognize the name - T. Boone Pickens. The man has billions of dollars and is a classic example of rags-to-riches. He makes his money off the oil business and started doing so in the 1950's. Stillwater citizens do not particularly like him because of the $170 million he put into athletics. This money led to the destruction of 412 homes north of campus and the construction of T. Boone Pickens Stadium (and therefore closure of Hall of Fame Ave), which when completed will hold about 60,000 screaming Cowboy fans.

Lately, his name has been popping up on news reports, newspapers, magazines, and anything to do with oil and the economy. Even though he was pretty much directly responsible for the annihilation of my very first apartment ever - I find myself defending the man and often arguing with the TV. I must admit that if it had not been for an Energy Finance course I took this past spring semester, I would stand with the 90% of America who would readily blame Boone Pickens (and by doing so the oil industry) for the economic problems that are facing our nation and many other nations in the world today. Let's get one thing straight - Boone Pickens is NOT responsible for rising gas prices or for the economic recession. I guess it is not enough to blame an entire industry (aka: oil) for our problems; we must put a face to the name and that face is Mr. Pickens. Pickens is an extremely shrewd businessman... and extremely intelligent. If he says oil prices are going up - oil prices go up. Is it a self-fulfilling prophecy or does he just know the industry really well after being in it for 50+ years? I will let you decide.

There are a few things I would like to point out. Despite popular belief, men like Mr. Pickens are not out to scrape up your feeble savings to make their pockets deeper. They have money. They have money because they maximize shareholder wealth, watch the markets, study their respective industries, and are forward thinking. Yes, our country has hit a crisis. Oil prices are higher than they have ever been and we, the middle-class Americans, are feeling it in our pocketbooks everytime we fill up at the gas station. However, the hurt wouldn't be so bad if Americans weren't already in so much credit card debt that they are drowning. What's happening to the economy is not the result of one man or one industry. It is the result of greed, pride and covetousness. Inflation is rising, debt is rising, and the market is declining. Americans need to learn money management.

Instead of blaming Boone Pickens for our problems why don't we listen to the man? Last year Mr. Pickens predicted that oil prices would reach $150 per barrel of oil. If you had listened and decided to invest some money in oil you would have more than doubled your investment. Now he is looking to wind energy. Am I saying you should invest in wind? No. I am saying to stop blaming other people for your problems and stop being bitter towards those making money and do something about it. Take control of your finances and listen to the changes taking place in the energy industry. Be a forward thinker like the many millionaires out there and invest in alternative energy. Do your research. Last fall I followed the stock price of First Solar - in three months the stock jumped from $99 to $250 per share. Once again, despite popular belief which says no one is doing anything about the oil crisis and we are running low on crude oil (which we aren't by the way) and the industry is just trying to steal all of our money so they can live in comfort when the economy busts - what is really happening is that there is a change for alternative energy happening right now. Wake up and take a look around you. Be a forward thinker - take control of your future. That is what Boone Pickens did many years ago.

Decisions

So, I did it. I told my supervisor that I was quitting. We have agreed that I will stay with them through August to help them get through the first couple of weeks of the semester and then I am gone. I went back and forth on this a lot and it was not an easy decision. It was hard for me to adjust to motherhood. I went from working full-time and going to school part-time to being home all the time with an infant. As the weeks have progressed I have found myself enjoying the little things that motherhood brings to your life. When I went back to work last week I found that I also enjoyed getting out of the house for a few hours a day. However, I realized rather quickly that I did not want to leave my beautiful baby boy everyday.

I made the decision to stay home with my son and I felt like a heavy load was lifted off my shoulders. I can now focus on being the best mother possible for my child and future children.

Cute background and stuff

Yay - I finally joined the uber-cute blog background group! So, do you like my cute background? I thought it was summer-y.

Just to keep everyone updated - I've gone back to work part-time (I will write more later), Samuel is getting so big and has slept through the whole night a few times. Carlin has two more weeks left of his internship and then it is on to his last semester of school! Woohoo!

What a morning...

Samuel had basically been awake off and on since 5am this morning when he had finally woken up for good around 7:20. I heard him exercising his lungs from his bedroom and obediently dragged myself out of bed on this rainy morning to take care of the little tyke. I noticed his pajamas were a little wet which naturally leads to an extremely wet diaper. I, of course, had a moment of guilt, realizing I probably should have changed his diaper at 5am, but in my defense the only way I could keep my eyes open long enough to feed him was to blink them rapidly. I naturally wasn't thinking all that straight that early in the morning and when he had fallen back to sleep while eating I gratefully put him back in his crib and sought the warmth of my bed. So, it was now 7:20 and he had wet pajamas and a rather full diaper. I positioned him on the changing table and prepared the clean diaper and wipes. Then it happened.

If I had paid attention to the desperate look on his face I may have paused a moment, saving myself from the disaster that was about to follow. Unfortunately, I dived right in undoing the diaper. It was a messy diaper to say the least. I lifted his legs and began to remove the dirty diaper when an explosion, I imagine close to a nuclear bomb, came flying from his bottom. I didn't stand a chance. I desperately tried to replace the diaper to catch the majority of the contents now flying haphazardly through the air. This only smeared said contents all over him and the changing table. When the rumbling finally stopped, (and I swear it felt like an eternity although this all happened in a matter of seconds) I timidly started to remove the ineffective diaper. The damage was quite extensive and there was only one solution - a bath.

Fortunately Samuel has really started to enjoy his baths and smiled up at me very content and warm as I scrubbed him from head to foot. I wrapped him tightly in his towel and took him back to the battle ground. The changing table was a complete disaster and now useless so I placed him in his crib. So, here he is, warm and wrapped in his towel, lying in his crib with a smile on his face when I turn around to grab a clean diaper. In the half second it takes for me to do the half turn to grab a diaper and turn back to the crib, Samuel had kicked the towel from his body and decided to entertain Mom with a water show. Yes, that's right, we now have a fountain of pee shooting all over the crib and the fresh-out-of-the-bath Samuel. I wipe him down with a washcloth and finally get a clean diaper on him.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I set him in his swing in clean clothes with a warm blanket and went back to the room to start the process of clean-up. The damage was more extensive than I had first noticed. The contents of the explosion had splattered the wall and floor surrounding the changing table. I had to stand on my tip-toes to clean the walls and use a carpet-stain remover to clean the floors. All linens and water-proof liners were quickly removed and put in the laundry. The whole process took me almost 20 minutes, all of which Samuel screamed and cried from his swing because I was somehow neglecting him!

At 7:50am it was all done. I picked up the screaming Samuel and fed him and cuddled him. The little stinker quickly fell asleep... after all, he had had a rough morning.

Happy 4th of July!

I love America. Which is probably why I love this Holiday so much - we get to celebrate America. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. A beautiful country with so much diversity. I remarked to Carlin once that I could spend my whole life exploring what America has to offer let alone what the world has to offer.

Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley in his book Stand for Something said what I feel but could not put into words. He said, "I love America for its great and brawny strength, the products of its vital factories, and the science of its laboratories. I love it for the great intellectual capacity of its people, for their generous hearts and helping hands. I love America's tremendous spiritual heritage and strengths."

Happy Independence Day!

"We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Consituttion for the United States of America."