Young couple wins financial makeover contest

It was my joy and privilege to work with this year's winner of our annual Financial Makeover Contest. Corey and Ketrina were like many others, using credit cards to establish their first apartment, then their second and third. They said they used their credit cards as though they were a checking account. Sound familiar? The end result unfortunately is financial stress due to the credit card payments that come due every month. So they ended up paying for yesterday's purchases today, and into tomorrow. Money became very tight. Worries increased. It became hard to sleep at night. And they had a dream, for Ketrina to be able to stay home with the children. But that dream looked impossible, too many bills to pay.

But Corey and Ketrina dug right in and worked out a balanced budget (meaning expenses were less than income). They began to live by that spending plan, setting up cash envelopes for the things they purchased daily and weekly. No more credit cards, no more using debit cards. If they had the cash they could buy it, whatever "it" was. If not, they couldn't. It almost became a game to see if they could have money left in the envelopes by the end of the week. Then they saved that money! Wow, I think I would have spent it on something "special."

They completely changed the way they think about money, which is our theme here at FISC. I'm so proud of them, and you can do the same thing! And they achieved their ultimate goal, Ketrina is now a stay at home mom! Congratulations to them.

Muddle Through

I remember hearing General Schwarzkopf say in a TV Interview during operation Desert Storm, that they made their plans and then carried them out, but sometimes when they got on the ground, in the midst of the battle they found themselves in a confusing mess (I'm paraphrasing). So then he said when that happens, they just have to "muddle through."

Many people that I am seeing nowadays are in that situation. Everything is a mess. There are no easy answers. There is not enough income to pay all the necessities. For them the best advice I can give is to "just muddle through. Events will unfold as time goes by, decisions will be made or forced upon you, just muddle through the best you can."

We all have to understand what we have control over and what we don't have control over. Act on what you can act on, and the rest, well, leave to God. Learn from the situation as much as you can, forgive yourself and believe that you will be ok. Sometimes life's richest lessons and experiences are gained in the muddling times. I know it's hard. I've been there. You will be ok.