Financial Peace...I'm on my way!

My hubby and I have been taking this class called Financial Peace University at a local church. It is a 13-week course that goes over topics like developing a financial plan, setting up a budget, investing, real estate, and much more. Although I was somewhat--okay, a lot--dreading it at the beginning, I am starting to actually (dare I say it?) ENJOY IT! Tonight we talked about "cash flow planning," which I gather is supposed to be a more user-friendly term than budgeting. During the lesson, Dave Ramsey (the main guy) walked through about 5 or 6 different forms/worksheets to complete each month (at least at first) for your budget. This is something that I have been feeling like I wanted to try for quite some time but didn't really know how to begin. As he was going through the sheets, explaining what numbers to put in which line, and how to manage the whole darn thing, this giddy grin spread across my face. I even whispered to my hubby, "I'm so excited to fill these out!" Yep. I'm a nerd. I can't wait. I have only a loose grasp on how we will manage it once it is put into place, but we're taking baby steps. Even my budget-reluctant husband is starting to come around. We are going to work at finding a system that works for our personalities and marriage. We even have our first "Budget Committee" meeting (i.e. where we sit down and hammer out the details, doing our best to avoid a fight) set up for this Saturday. It's certainly going to be a long, bumpy process, but I am really excited about it!

The snowball effect

As I am sitting here writing this blog post that no one will probably read, I am smelling the stench of a garbage can that badly needs to be emptied. I am looking at the kitchen table that is piled with bags, coffee mugs, and books. I am dreading turning around to see the mountain of dishes in the kitchen. Our dinner plates are still sitting out. There is laundry on the floor...

The funny thing about it all is that I probably won't do any of it tonight. It's not for lack of time, because I truly do have at least an hour to spend on such endeavors. It's also not for lack of motivation. I really do love a clean home and derive pleasure from putting in a little work to make it that way. No, I am not lazy. That is the simple answer. But it is wrong. Rather, I am a perfectionist. I do nothing half way. If I begin, I will not stop until I finish. I will do all of it--or none of it. I think I am like this in a lot of ways. So, the easiest thing to do is to ignore it. To let it be. To just take the night--or week--off from doing those tidious, never-ending chores. The problem is that, because I am a perfectionist and want everything to be in its place, if I let one thing go, I let it all go. For example, if I come home and do not hang my coat up immediately, the entry/dining room/office (hey, it's a tiny apartment) will look messy and I'll start letting everything go out of place. It snowballs. Two days ago I didn't feel like putting my dirty clothes in the bin and hanging up the clean ones, so I left them on the floor. The next day, the bedroom already looked messy, so I tossed down my clothes for that day. This morning I figured, Hey, this room is already a dump, why bother making the bed? See?

And the worst part about the whole thing is that I am sitting here over-analyzing why I am chosing not to just get over myself and clean up. I suppose this is what life is like in a tech-addicted, self-reflective, post-modern society. Or, at least I think so...

Organizing Digital Pictures

As you probably already know, I'm a sucker for things that are well-organized. I love being organized and having things run efficiently. However, I have minor panic attacks when things are not very organized. About every two months I freak out because I hate the way I'm storing, filing, and backing them up. If you have any solutions to storing photos, please LET ME KNOW!

Here are the main areas I struggle with:

• To delete or not to delete? Do you delete photos from your memory card immediately after uploading them to your computer?
• Back-ups: Is it wise to have the photos stored in two places (for example, your PC and a flash drive)? If so, how do you make this happen?
• It's all in a name: How do you label your photos? Do you include the date in the title?
• Picasa: this seems like an amazing tool to use, but I'm not sure how to make the organizational piece work for me.