Don't Be Afriad To ASK

Written at the beginning of Jan 2008

I am sad to say we have gone from a habit of saving, to a habit of spending, to a habit of living pay check by pay check and now, this month, we are finally in debt.

It was never even a possibility in our mind. We vowed we would NEVER be in debt. But bad spending habits snowballed, and then unexpected emergencies happened along with a major change in a child's diet, and some bad spending choices recently and here we are. A BUNCH in debt!

We have decided to become as serious about our vows concerning money as we are about our vows concerning marriage. We will have to pay finances charges on our credit card this month as we wait for a pay increase to help pay off the card next month. And we now have a loan that is needing to be pain on.

I have learned that it never hurts to ask. For a discount on something you want to buy, a late fee to be removed or waived, or even for something about your account to be changed.

I needed to buy a birthday gift for a friend and one for JJ (I know his birthday is not until May, but when there is a sale AND you have a coupon... welll...I had a coupon for $5 off a Polly Pocket item, and the Polly Pocket items were on sale for 30% off. There was also the PERFECT gift for Josiah, also on sale. I had only two dollars in change and went up to the front. I had an expired coupon of $10 cash. I asked if they would honor the $10 cash. They said yes. They would also honor the Polly POckets Coupon! So basically I got two BRAND NEW TOYS totaling almost $30 before sales for less than $2!!! KOHL's totally ROCKS!

We also had a late fee on our mortgage this month. I called and explained the situation and they removed the late fee! OF course this is a one time thing, but it saved us over $80!

I also needed our payment date for our credit card changed. Beloved gets paid on the 15th and we owe balance in full on the 14th. SOo I got to actually PICK the date I wanted to pay! It starts in two months! This will REALLY help on those months we are back to living paycheck to paycheck as we start getting our finances back in order.

Just some ramblings on cash I wrote at the beginning of the month that I found and thought I would share.