My Spice

You Are Garlic

Of all the spice types, you are the most universally loved. You get long with pretty much everyone, and you leave a lasting impression. You adapt yourself well to situations. You can fit in or stand out, depending on what you're called on to do.

What Spice Are You?

Finance Fridays

Last time I spoke of debt. I would now like to talk about savings. A good savings account will give you about 3% return in interest. This meets the average inflation rate. In order to understand the importance of interest rates we must first discuss present and future values of money. Gone are the days when one could hide their money under the mattress and consider it their savings account. If you do this your money depreciates over time. The spending power of $1 today is greater than the spending power of $1 in the future - unless you invest it. For example, you have $100 that you invest in a mutual fund that makes 10% in one year. At the end of that year you have $110. This can quickly add up. If you had not invested the $100 then at the end of one year you would have the purchasing power of $100 minus inflation. For a better and more in-depth explanation of the time value of money click here.

It is important that your savings accounts earn money, otherwise you are practically throwing away your money. Even savings accounts that you take money out of regularly should be making interest. You should also have several types of savings accounts. Your first savings account is your emergency fund. It is suggested in this emergency fund you have the equivalent of 3-6 months of rent and bills saved in this account. This account should be easily accessible, a regular savings account at your bank should do. Once you have this account established you can venture out into other savings accounts. You can have accounts for you and your spouse's retirements, your children's college/mission funds, your vacation money, etc. Depending on the time frame, risk, and return you desire out of these accounts there are multiple choices. Everything from CDs to Roth IRAs.

I will go into a deeper discussion of those later. For now I must go attend to my son. Hope you enjoyed this discussion.

Weddings, Twilight, and Frontier City!

This week has really flown by on me which is why I have been a total slacker. Last Friday one of my best friends and former roommates got married. Shawnee and James Scifres were sealed for time and all eternity in the Oklahoma City Temple. I was so excited for her and so grateful that she invited me to everything. She looked absolutely gorgeous and James is one lucky guy (and from the little I know of James - Shawnee is one lucky girl).

Nichole, Shawnee, Karri, and I

After the reception and later that night a group of us went to the midnight release party of Breaking Dawn - the fourth book in the Twilight series. Here's everyone who came:

Me, Jesse (who humored two old married women and took them to the midnight release party), and Whitney

Karri, Christine, and Me!
Brandielle and her sister WendyCassie!!!

I had a blast but, unfortunately I was too tired to start the book right away... I guess that just comes with the territory of being a mother. It was by far my most favorite book out of the series and I LOVED it. I won't say anything more for those of you who are fans and haven't read the fourth book yet. Now I just need to get the first 3 books...hahaha.

On Monday, my brother, Dallin, took Carlin and I, and his girlfriend Lezlee, to Frontier City on his military discount. All four of us got in for a grand total of $2. Sweet! We had great fun riding every roller coaster in the park and stuffing ourselves with greasy hamburgers and overpriced funnel cakes. Later that evening, Carlin and I realized we just aren't getting any younger...sigh...but we at least enjoyed ourselves even if we weren't up to doing all the rides a second time.

Dallin and Lezlee

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!