Carson's 1st T-ball Practice

...well not so much.

We have been preparing for Carson's first t-ball practice for about a month now...well really since we found out we were having a boy, almost 4 years ago. Brian has been patiently waiting for the day Carson became old enough to start playing sports, and baseball is at the top of the list.

We signed him up at the Pearland YMCA in February. This past weekend we went to Academy and bought him his first glove and t-ball bat for his practice today. Last night we charged up the camcorder and cameras. My dad drove down from Grapeland and Brian's parents came from Pasadena to witness Carson's entry into the world of organized sports!

Well tonight we pulled up to the Y to find the parking lot in front of the baseball field EMPTY! I went inside to find out where everyone was, thinking that maybe they were meeting inside tonight. Nope. T-ball practice was canceled. Why? Because TAKS testing is going on this week. Last time I checked, three year old's didn't take the TAKS test... Needless to say, I am not a happy camper. Regardless, we made the best of the situation. We had a glove, bat, and baseball, so Carson's first practice became an impromptu game w/ the family. Luckily he was none the wiser.

Live Like No One Else

About a month ago a co-worker of mine asked if we would like to go to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Live with them at the Reliant Arena. If you haven't heard of him, Dave Ramsey is this financial guru with a radio show and a huge following. He gives advice to people on how to get out of ALL debt and is like the Dr. Phil of finances. I spoke to Brian and we decided to go, although Brian wasn't all that sold on the idea of paying to see someone who would save us money.


You should watch this before you continue reading, (it wouldn't let you embed it on the page, but it takes you straight to the youtube video). This is the first few minutes of the event we went to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLX3wUY1xGg

After the first ten minutes, Dave had our attention. We were captivated all 6 hours of the seminar. He was funny, and had tons of data to back up his theories, although mostly what he explained was just good old common sense.

He has 7 steps for his program, that you are supposed to follow in order and you can't start the next until you finish the one before it:

1- Create an emergency fund with $1,000 (that way you won't go back to using credit cards when emergencies come up)

2- Debt snowball: you pay off ALL of your debt, except your mortgage, starting with smallest debt. When the smallest debt is paid off, you apply the money that you saved from paying it off to the next smallest debt...this keeps rolling over until you have a huge amount to pay off bigger debts like cars

3- Create a 3-6 month salary emergency expense fund

Steps 4, 5, & 6 you work on simultaneously

4- Invest 15% into retirement

5- Start a college fund for your children

6- Pay off mortgage early

7- Build wealth & give

After his seminar we signed up for his 13-week Financial Peace University. The average family to go through the course pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 in the first 91 days. We aren't ones to typically talk about our finances with others, but we have been going to the classes for 4 weeks now and have already paid off $2,500 of our debt and saved our $1,000 emergency fund, saving us $700 on monthly payments! We are so excited to be on the road to paying off EVERYTHING, including our house, we are almost obsessive!

Here is a link to his website, if you want more info: http://www.daveramsey.com/