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Meet the Knowles Family

When the housing market crashed, so did a lot of Tracey and Gran Knowles’ financial plans. They moved with their three girls – Emily (10), Amber, (8), and Ashley (5) – to Tallahassee last year. Unfortunately, they’ve been unable to sell their old house and have been carrying two mortgage payments for over a year.

In addition to working as a full-time firefighter/paramedic, Granv picks up part-time work wherever he can; Tracey works for the postal service. But late fees on unpaid bills and finance charges on credit cards eats up the money that doesn’t go to the double mortgage payment. “For our short term goal we would just like to be able to make our monthly payments without paying late fees,” says Tracey. “We literally feel like we’re drowning.”

Blog

Downtown Get-Down

09/05/2010 07:28 pm

We had a great time Friday night at the downtown get-down!! Its always great getting out, seeing old friends and meeting new people. If you didn't get a chance to go, you really should next time. Florida Commerce had a tent set-up at Kleman Plaza and we hung out there for a while with the Shaw's and Mallory's. FCCU will be there every downtown get-down. You can drop in and "Get Your Game Face On" pic taken for a chance to win ACC tickets. Of course, we were in our WeLiveFit! shirts.....and when at any seminole event, blue is not the color of choice to wear. Later in the night, one guy tapped me on the shoulder and said "good thing your shirt says "Knowles" on the back..even if its spelled wrong, or else I would think you are in the wrong place" LOL .. it also didn't help much that my garnet hair ribbon looked bright orange under the street lights!?!

The highlights of the night for us was when the Marching Chiefs played---the way the girls' eyes lit-up when they played the FSU war chant was priceless. Then a little later we discovered the kids dance stage and DJ that was across from the Double Tree. I think they would still be dancing if didn't make them leave! Let me tell you, Tallahassee has a lot of kids that can really DANCE!! All that and I think we spent a total of $2.50 for drinks while we were there.

Now, onto other things. On August 1st I did a blog titled "My New Goal" - - it was about challenging myself to save even more money by doing coupons. I said that I would give an update regardless of how it turned out for us. Well.....I'm pleased to say that not only did it turn out GOOD, but it turned out really really GOOD! I totaled up our receipts and the GRAND total for the month was $980.70 (we did a lot of back-to-school stocking up this month..cereal, snacks,etc). After coupons and other savings we spent a total $393.81!!! WOW!! That is a total savings of $586.89!! So I would say it was a success. My favorite site for coupons is iheartpublix.com . Lots of great tips can be found there.

Getting started was really time consuming at first. It took a trip or two to the store to figure out a system, but I finally got it figured out. I learned quickly that my little index divider wasn't going to cut it. I found some plastic zip-up pencil holders that clip into binders on clearance after school started back. I got about 15 of them and a 1 1/2 inch zip up binder. That has ended up working out great for us.

I labeled each pencil holder according by category (dairy, produce, etc) in aisle order.....the first one is labeled "this trip". I plan out which coupons I'm going to use according to my grocery list. If its a quick trip in, I can just take that individual holder out of the binder. Otherwise, I take the whole thing in..just in case I run across something that isn't on the list. Of course I added a few other things as well...a calculator, pens, and a BOGO print out for the week and sale paper.

Voting will begin again on Sept 13th and run through the 24th. As you've heard before "every vote counts!" We will keep our facebook page updated with all the challenge info and voting times so if you haven't already click here and become a fan of our Knowles Family page!!! Thanks for all of your support!! It means so much to our family!!

And remember ::::: GO KNOWLES!!!! ..... regardless of how its spelled ;)

Here we go again!!

09/02/2010 09:39 pm

With the next round of eliminations just around the corner, my anxiety is starting to build again. The past couple of months have been quite as far as the "mini-challenges" go. That has really given us the time to get more focused on the actual financial part of the challenge without being too stressed out about everything else. After the voting was over last time, I promised myself I would remain calm, cool and collected through-out the ENTIRE voting process this time if we made it to the second round. Well here we are and all I can say is : That's easier said than done!

Pretty much all summer, I have felt confident and excited about all the changes we have made so far. We've made extra sure that everything we have done or removed will be a sustainable life-style change. So far it has been and I'm very positive about the outcome for our family after the challenge is over. Even with the best intentions though, when the dreaded "eliminations" start creeping up...I start second guessing and questioning each and everything we do...have done...or for that matter even THINK about doing!!!

You know the point in all of the cooking competitions where the timer goes off and everyones hands go up? That's where we are at now as far as round 2. Its too late to make anymore drastic changes for this round. Our credit scores are pretty much now what they will be in a couple of weeks, what can be paid down has been and what can be saved has been saved. The only thing left that can be a last minute "game changer" is the COMMUNITY VOTE.

The voting is set to open September 13th and run through the 24th. Here's the breakdown again :

COMMUNITY VOTE = 25%

SAVINGS INCREASE = 25%

DEBT REDUCTION = 25%

CREDIT SCORE IMPROVEMENT = 15%

DISCRETIONARY = 10%

You see, YOUR votes count for as much of our overall total as our savings increase or debt reduction!! As you've heard before "every vote counts!" We will keep our facebook page updated with all the challenge info and voting times so if you haven't already click here and become a fan of our Knowles Family page!!! Thanks for all of your support!! It means so much to our family!!

And remember ::::: GO KNOWLES!!!!

Lawn mower gas: its not just for lawn mowers anymore

08/29/2010 12:53 pm

School has finally started back and our life is getting back into some sort of schedule again! Thank goodness!! Like I said in an earlier blog, with school comes extra expenses for us though. We made it through the summer really good, overcoming all sort of "semi-major" obstacles financially without straying off of our budget. However, the children I think are our weakness.

With the first week of school came three b-day party invites this week alone, school supplies x 3, adding $$ to their lunchroom accounts (the lunch is so cheap, it seems to be less expensive than packing lunch), school "activity" fees for Ashley...all the students have to pay this, it is not optional...and many, many other nickel and dime things. And believe me...those nickel and dime things add up!!!

I didn't realize how much they added up until today, when we were using our lawn mower gas to add to the van. Why? Because we are completely "tapped out" until next paycheck and refuse to touch our savings account. The good thing is that since I started doing coupons we have plenty of food to eat and send for school snack.

Our next coach meeting is right around the corner, and boy, are we ready for it!! Whenever I begin feeling discouraged and like we just can't keep it up, I look at the calendar and sure enough its about that time again!! I'm still not sure what "magic dust" they use, but after leaving the meeting I always feel like a new person. Like its really not that bad and that we can take on the world....one credit card payment at a time of course. :)

Summer is almost over!

08/15/2010 10:28 pm

I think I can finally say that we made it through the summer without tapping into our savings OR using our credit cards! We probably haven't done as much as we would like with paying down debt because as usual, "life" happens and unexpected expenses popped up along the way. Even with several things like car repairs, air conditioning and other problems arising...we still managed to pay down some debt and more importantly not add any new debt.

School starts back next week. That will create a little more $$ going out for us, but I really think we will be able to handle this year. We've searched for deals on all of the back-to-school items and have used A LOT of coupons for everything else!

Yesterday, I went to the "Tallahassee Kids Clothing Swap" that was held by the "Moms like me" group in Tallahassee. Now that is a great idea! I was able to take in some of the clothes that Ashley had outgrown and swap them for jeans and other cute things that all three girls could use. I cleaned out her closet since she is the youngest (Emily & Amber can still pass down their clothes) and was able to take in 114 pieces! That was fun, I'm already looking forward to the next one!

My route car is still trucking right along...the one good thing about it, it is a "conversation piece" that's for sure. At least once a day, someone on my route will say, "hmmm, its about time for a new one, huh?"..... I guess nothing says "I need a new car" more than duct tape, wiring and zip-ties holding pieces together. LOL!! Oh well!! I just can't stand the thought of putting a newer car on the route. At some point I will get an older model right-hand drive. Ideally, that will happen when we save enough to pay cash for a cheap one without tapping too much into our savings account.

Gran is still burning the candle at both ends, but with our finances getting back on track, the stress levels are starting to decrease. I hope in turn, one day he can cut back on the extra jobs and relax once and a while.

We have really committed ourselves to make this opportunity work out for our family in the long run, long after the challenge is over. As a result of everything, we have really developed many positive habits. Some of which, I didn't think would be possible..but we have made it work for our family!

I say this all the time, but Liz and Michelle have been a key part to our success so far. Whether its trying to help us figure which avenue is the best one to take, or just to give us the much needed "pep" talk once and a while. They have been great!! Thanks guys!!! :)

Save money with coupons --- Check!!

08/10/2010 07:52 pm

Well, so far so good with the whole coupon thing!!! The first trip to Publix we spent $26.93 and saved $21.47. That was pretty good considering it was an unplanned trip and we only needed a few things.

The next day however was a totally different story!! Our total bill was $219.23. After coupons and sales we ended up spending $86.67!! That was a savings of $132.56!! YAY...I finally did it!! I feel like I finally broke whatever "secret couponing code" there is!! :)

It was actually a pretty funny experience. I know I blogged about leaving the kids home with my husband and going by myself, but Gran wanted to go with me, afterall, he did a lot of clipping and printing too. We had planned on having the grandparents come over to watch the girls, but since we only had a little bit of money to spend, I didn't want them to have to drive all the way over. I figured we would save them for a big trip. So we loaded everyone up and headed to the store.

By the time we reached aisle 3 we realized that we had made a BIG mistake!! Don't get me wrong, the girls were being great...but they were so excited about getting all the "blinkie" coupons for us..all we could hear was "mommy, mommy, mommy" or "daddy, daddy, daddy" times 3....for anyone who has seen "Finding Nemo" just think about the seagulls, that is kindof what it was like.

We finally made it through the entire store and even though we had coupons, I was getting a little worried because we had 2 buggies of groceries and exactly $90.00 in cash (I didn't realize how little $$ we had at this point though)..and with all the excitement, I had not been able to keep track of the prices like I had intended on doing.

So we made it to the check out and half way through the cashier scanning the items Gran leans over and whispers "oh, no..we don't have enough money" So I smiled and said, "well run to the ATM over there real quick", then he whispered back ,"you don't understand..we don't have enough money....period!" That's when I started feeling a little flushed. I whispered back "we can't have her take things off...I had the manager give me rain checks, had the frozen food guy go to the back and bring out extra stuff for us AND asked for an aisle print out of the store..this can't be happening..how much $$ do we have anyway?" Then he said "only $90.00" I thought I was going to pass out when he said that!! In the meantime I just heard the beeps $135....$189.....$202...etc.

So Gran said "I'll have do a transfer on-line through ibranch...but I have to finish it before the cashier gets done ringing things up...I don't think I can" My response "just hurry, PLEASE!!" Of course, the phone would not cooperate with us.

When it reached $219.00 she started scanning up the coupons...("Gran, hurry..she's already on the coupons")...I was really hoping she would have to manually input a few, so we would have some extra time, but no such luck!! I was so embarrassed, my face felt like it was on fire..then I looked and the total was down to $100.00....then $90.00 and finally $86.67!!! We both looked at the final total and just took a deep breath. It was actually under the $90.00 we had!! Which was a good thing because our phone never let us access our account, we didn't have enough service bars in the store.

I'm still not sure which one I was more excited about : Saving that much money with coupons or actually having enough money to pay!!! Either way, we lucked out that trip!! Who knew a trip to the store could be exciting!?! Plus...after seeing how much we saved, several of my friends have become obsessed with coupons too!!

However, next time I will have it better organized!!!...LOL, yeah, yeah and NEXT Monday I'm going to start exercising too! ;)

My new goal

08/01/2010 01:02 am

Well, I posted a question on the discussion board earlier in the week...and judging from the amount of responses it got (none), I think its safe to assume that I'm not just overlooking the perfect at home job

The question was about making extra income and what was out there that could be done from home after my full-time job. I had mentioned that everything I see on-line looks like some sort of bad infomercial or gimmick. Most of them probably are. Oh, well..I'll keep looking but in the meantime I think I will approach extra income in a different way.

Since I can't go out and work away from home at night because of the kids, as corny as this may sound..I'm going to try and make saving money my way to bring in extra income. :)

I was talking with my mother-in-law earlier today and the conversation turned to coupons as it seems to do a lot lately. She was telling me about this lady that had totaled up her receipts for a 31 week period to see exactly how much money she had saved for a family of 4 with coupons. Now I can't rememeber the exact numbers, but over that period of time the lady had spent about $1,500.00 on groceries. When she totaled up the full amount it was somewhere around $5,500,00!! That is a savings of around $4000.00!! That savings itself is like having a part-time job! I mean, she would have had to get groceries anyway, and without coupons she would have spent that hugh amount....and if she can do it, I can certainly give it my best try.

I've been trying to do coupons, but it hasn't really clicked as much as I had hoped it would have by this point. I can save a good amount of money at the store, but I haven't been able to get a large amount of groceries for almost next to nothing....yet. My first plan of action is simple: get my husband to watch the girls while I go to the store (here comes the key word) by myself. I just can't focus as much as I need to with 3 little ones running around the store picking on each other. Once I get coupons down to a science, the girls can start going with me again.

So from here on out I've decided my goal is to become completely obsessed with coupons, and look at each coupon clipped as real money. Afterall, it will be that amount of REAL money not leaving the house. I can't wait to see how I do..I'll post my outcome one way or another...good or not as good :)

Unplanned trip or budget, which one won??

07/28/2010 07:27 pm

The BUDGET won!!!!! :) We actually did so well, I think I should forget delivering mail and go into travel planning. LOL

I can't believe it is almost August already!!! Time really seems to be flying by with this competition, so far the summer has been pretty fair to us financially. We have had some minor bumps in the road, but we have been able to get through them without tapping into our savings, having overdraft fees or using our credit cards!!!

Most recently (last week actually) our oldest daughter Emily's fast-pitch softball team made it to the State finals in Key Largo. She was so excited when she made the "All-Star" team at the end of the season and even more so when they won Sectionals which was held here in Tallahassee this year. So, we couldn't not let her go to state. She plays softball at our local recreation department, not for a travel team - - we know enough to know that we simply can't afford that. It goes without saying that although we were happy they made it...it sort of felt like we were on top of a roller coaster fixing to go downhill fast! The excitement for my husband and I was quickly replaced with "How in the world are we going to do this financially?"

Everything just happened to work out for us :)

Remember last week when I blogged about my work car being broken? Well, it needed to be in the shop a little longer than I anticipated, so I was off and had to use some of my annual leave on that anyway...so work was already taken care of.

Then through fundrasiers and sponsors, the girls team was able to raise a pretty good amount to cover some of the cost.

Gran is originally from Miami, so we were able to stay with friends and family for a large part of the trip....It was great being able to save money, visit with friends and spend time with our family. We both have been working so hard lately that we haven't had any amount of time away from home/work to just reconnect with our children.

Luckily, the girls just had b-days!! Which meant they all still had their birthday money/gift cards. (no, we did not use their money! That would just be mean) However..they had saved their money just for the trip and were able to buy their own souveniers. I think they really learned a lot from that.

Another bonus ** they knew how much they had to spend and didn't ask us for EVERYTHING** They were more awares of prices than ever before, and actually still had some money when they got home!!

During the last leg of the trip, the place we stayed had a small kitchen. We also got a hugh discount on the room since we were with the softball tournament.

Instead of going and eating out with the team each night...we went to Publix bought some groceries and ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at our room. Afterall, we would have had to buy the same groceries at home, and what we didn't use we were able to bring back home with us. Yes, it was not as exciting doing that, but we knew that was the only way we could make this trip happen. When you have a family of 5, its hard to even go to a fast food restaurant and not pay a fortune.

I even used coupons down there!! I was very proud of myself for that. I saved quite a bit in coupons/sales for those few days. The last night we did splurge and go out to dinner with the team. Aside from that, we cut corners in everyway possible!

So, although I was terrified to begin with..it all worked out and we are still on budget!!! I even noticed a lot of differences with myself on this trip. I thought twice before I purchased anything, didn't buy any clothes for the trip, did not pay to do any "touristy" things....and we all still had a great time!! Imagine that!! Oh, and her team came in 2nd in the whole state..those girls did a great job!!

But now that August is just around the corner, its time to get back into gear and get ready for all the mini-challenges that are going to come our way!!

And as always, click here to "like" our WeLiveFIT! Knowles Family page. We will keep the page updated with important dates and information regarding the competition.

First round accomplishments

07/17/2010 09:58 pm

Since the challenge began back in April, we have made great strides in improving our financial well-being. Although, "technically" our totals do not reflect much of a difference...the change has been hugh. Many of those changes come in the form of reducing monthly payments, totally removing late payments and changing our spending habits. Here are a few of our accomplishments so far:

1.) Reducing cable/electric/phone : This was probably the first thing we did at the beginning of the challenge. We cut our cable back , had the City of Tallahassee come in and do a free energy audit and we also reduced our cell phone plan.

2.) Mini-Challenge #1: The yard sale. We were able to bring in a little over $400.00 to jumpstart our savings account. I thought maybe, just maybe if we had a really good yard sale we would get $150.00!! Boy, I underestimated the power of a yard sale!!!

3.) Refinanced our home : Our monthly mortgage was originally a 6.9% VA 30 year fixed rate. Through our coaches prompting, we called and inquired about reducing our payments. We were able to refinance our home and get the same mortgage at 4.8%. What a HUGH difference two little points make!!! In our case it added up to around a $500.00 per month savings!!

4.) Refinanced our van : While we were on a refinancing roll, we decided to try the same for our van. It worked and we were able to reduce our monthly van payment by $100.00 per month......thanks to lower interests rates again.

5.) Coupons: I've made an attempt to use coupons whenever I'm shopping. I'm not a pro yet, but hopefully one day I will be better at it. Southern Savers is one helpful site I found.

6.) Car Repairs: We were able to save some money on Gran's truck repairs. Normally the first thing we do is take it to a shop. Gran will be the first to tell you that he can build almost anything, but when it comes to cars that's a different story. This time in the spirit of saving money, he decided to roll up his sleeves, purchase a repair manual and try to figure it out himself. He was able to repair his air conditioning and replace his radiator!!! We saved about $600.00 and it WORKS!!! :)

7.) Late payments: The whole "snowball effect" works in reverse too!!! Who would have thought??? Since we have been able to reduce our monthly payments: #1 our bills have been more managable, which #2 means no late payments....which #3 also means NO LATE FEES!!! YAY!! At roughly $30 a pop, those fees can add up quickly. I know we easily spent over $100 a month on late fees in the past...I'm not so sure it wasn't pushing closer to the $200 mark.

8.) Credit cards: We have been paying down all of our cards and not using them. We paid 3 large ones off in March. Now instead of paying a single card off, we are trying to get them all below 80% to help improve our credit score. Of course, our goal is to pay off all the cards soon.........I'm actually excited about pay-day now because it means we can make another payment toward something because we haven't been paying LATE FEES lately!!! (reverse snowball effect in action again,LOL)

9.) Birthdays: We survived the kids birthdays so far (2 down 1 to go), we paid cash for the gifts and they had a great time. This is probably the first time in years we haven't used the credit cards to cover the birthdays.

10.) Negative balance: Not only have we not had any LATE FEES (did I mention that already??) but we have not had a negative balance in our checking account. On average our account was very, very negative to put in nicely. We could have up to $300.00 in overdraft & negative day fees sometimes. Early on, we got a small loan to repay our checking account and that was just the help we needed to start making things turn around for the better.

11.) E-bay : Not only have we rediscovered e-bay, but so have our children!! We have been able to put our unwanted things/collectibles on-line and make a little money in the process. Our thinking is...each time we sell something, that will go straight toward our credit card debt. The kids have gotten into it as well. Emily just sold her old i-dog and was so excited!!

12.) Savings account : We have one!!! We have been together for over 12 years and until now, we have never been able to say we actually had a saving account. Now we can finally say we have one!!!

13.) Spending money: We have made great efforts to not do this as much. If we do eat out, we try to use coupons or if its fast food, we try to stick to the .99 menu and not the combos. If I need clothes, I may check out goodwill or consignment stores first, instead of heading straight to the mall credit cards in hand. I also went back to more of my natural hair color so I will not have to have my hair done as often. All of this was difficult to start with, but I just keep the larger goal in mind: Financial Freedom!!!----I'm just really hoping financial freedom will occur before the gray hair takes over completely!!! :)

14.) This is one of the big ones..(as far as staying in the challenge is concerned)...Community Votes!! :) There is no way we could have made it to round #2 without the community votes that we got!! We did a lot of financial revisions on our end, but I believe it really was your support that made the difference this round!! Thank you !!! Click here and "like" our Knowles family facebook page if you haven't already. We will keep it updated with challenge highlights and voting times.

The challenge began just in time for our family. We had been struggling financially for so long, it was all really at its breaking point when we got the call. We were so far bahind with everything I really didn't think there was any type of "life-saver" out there that could be thrown to us...but I was wrong. Finally after using the first three months to get our bills under control, we are at the point where we can now start getting things done and making some noticeable improvements with our debt. In turn, hopefully our credit scores will follow.

If someone would have showed me the list above 5 months ago and said "you will write these things about your finances in a few months" there is no way I would have believed them, but I would have got a good laugh! That just goes to show that with a little bit of guidance and a lot of determination, things can get better.

That was then, this is now.

07/09/2010 11:24 pm

In my last blog I talked about b-days & how this is usually when things start getting out of control financially. Even as I was typing it, I was thinking..that's not going to happen this year!! Well, that was then, this is now :(

I've been so proud of us. We have almost survived the birthdays with only minimal damage. This year, Emily wants to help make her cake, I'm making Amber a cookie cake & we only got cupcakes for Ashley. Usually we spend $30 to $50 on each cake alone, depending on the party size, plus whatever we grill for everyone. So we really scaled back a lot. Here's the best part...I think the kids still had fun.

Here's where things head south. On my way home from work today, I was driving along and all of a sudden my car just decided to stop..right in the middle of the road. I'm a rural carrier with the postal service. This means I drive my own car to deliver the mail and get paid a set rate for mileage/maintenance. The rural routes are very hard on vehicles and mine is about 100 miles a day...much of that is clay roads. So it goes without saying I spend a lot of time & money on car upkeep. This year alone, I've spent over $3,500.00 on just repairs (brakes, engine, tires, etc) .. that doesn't include my average $900.00 per month for gas. These totals are just for my route car. I used to use my route car for our family car also, but it really isn't safe/depenable enough to use as our primary car for the kids, so we got a van for the family.

So today I'm sitting on the side of the road waiting again for the tow truck and just wanted to cry. ***I should have got video of all this, but I couldn't think beyond my car breaking at that moment*** Whatever is wrong with my car can not be good this time..and on top of everything else, in order to work on Monday, I'm going to have to rent a car (that will be another couple of hundred, which means I will pretty much be working & losing money that day). I get so depressed when I think about my car. I feel sometimes like I'm working to just repair the stupid car. This is the third car I've had for work in the past 10 years. Somedays, a nice office job sounds SO good. No car upkeep, I could actually dress cute and I wouldn't be stuck out in the weather all the time. I guess that's the "grass is greener" syndrome. I know right now with the economy the way it is I'm lucky to have a job, and I'm thankful for that.

Oh, I almost forgot. On top of everthing else, over the years..I've been in search of the perfect mechanic. You know, one that won't rake you over the coals & does a decent job on you car. I found them last year. I called to get my car dropped off today and found out that after 50 + years of service....they have closed, what are the odds, really??? Of course, my friends have had a field day with that! The main line goes something like this "Hey, once they started working on YOUR car, they were finally able to retire, ha ha ha" I'm glad some humor can be found at least. :)

Alright, sorry to vent so much, I do feel a little bit better now though ..... My next blog will be more positive !!

Cake & Ice cream & gifts...oh my!

07/04/2010 12:00 pm

I posted a discussion question today about birthday gifts for children. I decided to go ahead and blog about it too, because this is usually a very trying time to say the least, on our finances.

Two of our girls have a birthday this week and the next will be three weeks from now. Just in time to usually clear out any extra money we have before it is time for the dreaded school shopping! This is normally when things start getting more out of control financially for us.

Like any parent, we want the kids to have an extra special birthday, but we don't want spend a lot of money. We have scaled back this year and the party will be just family -- maybe a friend or two. No face painting, princesses, clowns or gift bags this year for us. When you host a party, the cost can really add up quickly even if you do not intend it to. This is one reason we try to give our oldest daughter the option of having a party or opting out of the party & getting a bigger gift (we still always do the family thing though) - - we usually save money that way.

With all the excitement leading up to the birthdays - the first thing Ashley says every morning & before she goes to bed is "Only __ more days mommy." I've tried to think back to my birthdays growing up and to be honest, if someone asked me "what did you do for your 6th birthday & what gifts did you get?" I really couldn't tell them. So, if we did have to go way smaller on the gifts this year, I don't think it would scar them for life or anything.

Since the challenge has started, the girls are more aware of us trying to save money and are finally beginning to get more adjusted to it. Amber asked if she could deposit money in her savings the other day and Ashley asked her grammy for movie tickets for her birthday. That is something that I'm pretty sure would not have happened in the past. They would not have wanted to "waste" a gift on something they figured mommy & daddy would just do without it even being a special day. So progress is being made. :)

I'll have to blog later on and let you know how everything turned out. It will probably be harder on me than them!!!

The eliminations are over!!!...and I didn't even pass out :)

06/29/2010 02:33 pm

The first round of eliminations are over and guess what.....WE ARE STILL IN IT!!!!! Yay!! When we arrived to the credit union this morning, I knew walking through the door that we were pretty much going to be one of the three families no longer in the competition. Afterall, all of the families did a GREAT job at reducing debt, increasing savings & getting votes from the community.....so the competition was fierce to say the least.

My husband Gran, was at the Fire Department, so it was just me & the girls. I discovered early on in this that I am terrified in front of cameras, so I was already a nervous wreck since Gran wouldn't be there to do the talking. For everyone who knows me personally, yes....believe it or not, there are times when I get quite & don't know what to say !! :)

Florida Commerce had a room all set up for the press event, complete with a stage. They announced that they would be calling three families up at a time - - kind-of like American Idol, for the elimination. The event kicked off and I heard Samantha say "Would the Shaw's, Knowles's & Kirksey's please come up to the stage" ....... yeah, this is the point where I wanted to turn and run quickly out the door!, lol. Although we were right in front, it was a long walk because all of my calculations up to this point had both the Shaw's & Kirksey's still in the competition...so I knew we were walking up to hear bad news for our family.

After we got up there, it went something like this : "Shaw family...Congrats, YOU ARE STILL IN THE COMPETITION" ...... then, "Knowles family" (this is the point when Samantha looked at me very sadly) "I'm sorry ....someone has to be eliminated (long pause) ......but you are not one, your family is SAFE!" --- WHEW!!!!! Talk about not knowing if I should laugh or cry!! Then the Kirksey family was eliminated.

The next group was pretty funny too. It was the Bryant's, who were safe. The Mallory's, who were also safe, and the Middleton's. After a drum roll of sorts they announced that all three families would move on.

In the end The Kirksey's, Fleisher's and Exantus Families were eliminated. :( It sucks that any families had to be eliminated, everyone is so nice and have worked so hard. The good news is that all of the families eliminated will still get financial coaching for the year. PLUS, this year Florida Commerce has not only added cash prizes for 2nd and 3rd place....but a $1,000 prize for the eliminated family that does the best over the year.

I know I've said this before, but although we have worked hard ..... today would not have been possible without your votes for our family!!! Thank you SO much!!! We really appreciate the support we have gotten from everyone, and I know its the community that saved us this round -- along with some GREAT coaching advice ;) ... I don't want to leave Michelle and Liz out!! Thanks guys!!!!

Next up: Elimination Day

06/26/2010 12:37 am

Well, the two weeks are finally over! The voting has ended and all of our other numbers have been calculated as well. Now the only thing left to do is sit and wait patiently for Eliminaton Day to arrive!

I really want to take second and Thank everyone who took the time to vote for our family....or just tolerate all of our facebook updates over the past few weeks!!! You all are great and it really means a lot to Gran and I that you took time out of your day to help out our family by voting, again and again!!

Its only been a very short period of time, so although we haven't completely turned our finances around yet....we are well on the way!!! That is so exciting! I'm really amazed that we have done as well as we have in only a couple of months. Although our "official" numbers do not reflect much change, we have really done a lot.

When we began the challenge we were so far in the hole, I didn't think anyone could help us. Now, not only have we dug ourselves out of that hole..but we can actually see the light of day!! We are up-to-date with our bills and we have also started a savings account. In the 12 + years we have been together, we have never had a savings account valued over $5.00. Like many families, we always seemed to have something come up and never were able to save. Most of the times it was something along the lines of car maintenance, house repairs or medical bills. We have medical insurance, but with 3 kids, you know if one gets sick, they all get sick. Co-pays are not that much but times that by 3 kids getting sick at once plus antibiotics if needed, that can really add up quickly! Especially if you are living pay check to pay check.

Gran and I both work very hard to provide for our family and it is frustrating that it never seems to be quite enough. Once we really started taking a closer look at our finances, we realized the amount of money that we were spending each month on late fees, overdraft fees and interest was shocking. On average it was probably about $400.00 per month! We had times when we would do pretty good, but one set back would send everything spiriling out of control - mainly due to the lack of an emergency savings account. Over time those set backs all caught up with us and added up to us paying all those fees monthly, unable to regain control.

With Liz and Michelle's help our goal for December is to be completely credit card free and to have absolutely no more late payments!! Even if we get eliminated, we are still going to stay on track!! The entire reason I applied for this competition to begin with was to get the much needed coaching advice. I knew that we really needed someone on the outside to look over our debt and help guide us in the right direction. Having the extra accountability also helps out! Liz & Michelle have worked so hard and have had so much faith in us, we really do not want to let them down!! Don't get me wrong, the $10,000 would be GREAT too :)

In the meantime, stay tuned to www.wtxl.com to see which families makes the cut on Tuesday the 29th!!! Also, don't forget you can also "like" our WLF Challenge family facebook page and we will keep it up-dated with challenge info http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Knowles-Family/121222277895260?ref=ts

Credit scores: the "other" embarrassing numbers

06/22/2010 07:06 pm

There are many numbers that we encounter in our day to day lives that people tend to find embarassing at times, be it your age, weight, income or last but not least your CREDIT SCORE! Over the past few months since the challenge began, we have been working very hard, cutting corners at home and making sure that each and every payment is made on time. I have been so excited about our progress that I could hardly wait for our credit report to get updated. On the very 1st day of June I pulled up our Equifax report and waited for it to display our new numbers. No luck, it wasn't updated yet.

I kept checking back each day growing more and more anxious to see the report. Then on the 10th of June I got an e-mail regarding Equifax and quickly pulled up my updated report. I was so excited, that it seemed like an eternity waiting for the report load. Then the numbers finally appeared! Yay.....ummmmm, WHAT?!?!? How in the world?!? Did I just input the wrong username? .... That was a few of the thoughts that immediately crossed my mind.....others followed. Our reports were a good 30 points lower than the month before!!! I felt as if I had just been punched in the stomach. But really could this happen?

I called Gran. He pulled up his report and the same thing had happened to him! But why? The last report was pulled in April and we haven't been late on anything! We've actually been early on some things. After Gran took a closer look at the report he saw that we had a "late" payment recorded for May through a certain bank. We knew that was incorrect and had all the paperwork to prove it. Our first step was to file a dispute through Equifax, next step, contact the bank (and no it was not Florida Commerce). Well, at least the first step was easy. The second part proved to be very trying to say the least.

Long story short, we have had this particular loan for years, never needed to call about anything. When I finally do have a problem that doesn't involve us getting a loan...good luck getting help! (okay, my venting could continue for quite some time, but I'm going to stop . You probably get the point now anyway)

Anyway, after leaving messages for a week, I finally called back again and got someone who was "very busy". They looked over the info and told me that they were correct. But how? I know we were 2 days past the credit reporting deadline paying our March payment, but that was March not May... aren't credit reports suppose to be accurate? Afterall, May was not late. Well, apparently not the type of accurate I'm thinking of. They (the unnamed bank) informed me that it is when they report the late payment, not when it is actually late, and the late payment would show on the report as late the month after..or two I guess in this case.

I'll admit. It was a real set-back for me seeing our numbers lower, and I was down in the dumps for a few days afterwards....but, we are just going to focus on the next few months and keep making progress like we have been. Those three numbers control so many different things in our lives, but I'm not going to let them get me too discouraged. If we continue to do everything right, the numbers will go up. There's no doubt about that. In the meantime we are going to keep a close eye on our credit reports.

I can't stress enough how important it is to keep track of your credit reports. Gran and I would at least check ours at www.annualcreditreport.com - this is free once a year. However, it is nowhere near as comprehensive as the reports at www.equifax.com. I have found a lot of little errors in our report that I have been working on getting corrected, such as our address, account status, etc.

Through Florida Commerce, we have not only been working on getting our finances in order, but understanding all the different aspects of it so we will not fall back in the same situation...credit reports are one of those things we are working on better understanding. Our coaches , Liz & Michelle have given us a wealth of information and a lot of valuable tools to help us. One web-site that contains a lot of info and worth checking out is www.balancetrack.org, it has information on everything from credit reports to Money management.

In the meantime....don't forget to VOTE for us at www.welivefitchallenge.com !! We need all the help we can get :)

Its almost time!!!!

06/12/2010 01:35 am

Well the long awaited time has finally arrived!! Voting willl begin this Monday at 8:00 and run through June 25th at mid-night! You can vote once EACH HOUR ! You heard that right......EACH HOUR!!!!

We are so proud of what we have been able to accomplish so far, but I really don't think it will be enough to get past this elimination without your help....and a lot of it!!!!

The elimination will be based on the following factors:

25% savings increase

25% debt reduction

25% COMMUNITY VOTE

15% Credit Score Increase

10% Discretionary points (in the event of a tie)

We have come so far in such a short period of time. I remember when we first got the call that we were selected for the challenge. At that point we were so far behind with our bills, that I actually felt sorry for the coach that got stuck with us. I just knew she had to be thinking "How in the world am I going to help them?".

Here's our problem. In order to increase savings & reduce debt, you first need to be current on your monthly bills. This just doesn't happen overnight. Its a process. When we first started the challenge, we had more $$ going out than coming in and were over a month behind with all of our bills. Our monthly bills were high - keep in mind they include the house and property we have been trying desperately to sell. Late fees & interest were also not helping the situation.

However, we are very proud of our accomplishments so far. In just a couple of months through cutting back, better financing, and great coaching, we have reduced our monthly bills by $3000.00 for the past couple of months!!! That has allowed us to have our bills at a more managable level & we have been able to get completely caught up with everything. In the 2 1/2 months since the challenge began, we have not had late notices, phone calls or anything!! That alone is a hugh stress reducer!! I only wish they included monthly debt reduction in the formula....that is where our strongest point is right now. It has taken everything we can to reach the point where we can start saving and paying down debt, and time is up...at least for this elimination round. That doesn't mean we are going to stop, I just wish we had a *little* more time now that our bills are under control :)

That's why the community vote is SO important!

Here's the info: Vote at www.welivefitchallenge.com

Voting beging Monday the 14th at 8:00 and runs through June 25th at mid-night

You can vote ONCE AN HOUR

In order to vote, guest must register with a username & password

The elimination will be live on WTXL 27 June 29th

So please, go to the web-site & vote for The Knowles

While you are on check out the financial tools that Florida Commerce has on this site to help you learn how to LiveFIT yourself. Since we have been in this challenge, we have had many people tell us that they would love financial "coaching" also. Anyone can stop by a Florida Commerce branch and sign up for the ILiveFIT! Program. By enrolling in the iLiveFIT! program, you will receive a FREE confidential personal financial assessment. Once your fitness level has been determined, you will be provided with a comprehensive prescription plan specific to your needs. This program is absolutely free and as you obtain levels of financial fitness, you will be rewarded with points towards CDs, points off a loan, gift cards & other great prizes! ..........don't worry!! The ILiveFIT! Program is not the very public WeLIVEFIT!Challenge!

If you are interested in participating in season 3 of the challenge, I'm sure near the end of 2010 Florida Commerce will have info on their web-site www.floridacommerce.org just keep checking in. That's what we did. Last year it was announced on their web page and we just filled out the info on-line, sent it in and believe it or not, here we are :)

One more link for you. If you are on facebook go to http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Knowles-Family/121222277895260?ref=ts an become a fan of our page. We will be keeping it updated with challenge info along the way.

Is it enough?

06/02/2010 11:12 pm

Are we doing enough to win? I'm not sure today. To be honest, I would probably give a different answer each day of the week. What I do know is that we are doing everything in our power to cut back and reduce spending in a manner that we will be able to continue afterwards, but is that really enough to win? ughhh, I just don't know!! I hope so.

There are moments when I think, "even if we don't go any further in the challenge, the improvements we have made so far have been worth it." which is the truth. However, the very next second I think, "but if we've done this good in such a short peroid of time, just imagine what we could do in the next 3 months if we aren't eliminated!" ...that's when competitive mode kicks into high gear. This is afterall, a competition.

In the van the other day my husband and I were talking about how its anybody's game at this point. When my daughter Emily chimed in from the far backseat (its always amazing to me how good her hearing is. Unless I'm speaking to her, then its the complete opposite) She said, "mommy, you always tell me its not about winning or losing, its about just having fun!"----those are the little sayings really come back to get me sometimes!! I thought, "yes sweetie, but mommy really,really wants to win" LOL, I didn't dare tell her that though :)

The only thing we can do is give 110% and hope for the best!! I watched a video that we sent in and realized how far we've come since this started. It was the one where I had just got off work and came home to about 3 late notices in the mailbox that day alone. That was a very bad day, I even cried at some point that evening because I had no idea what we were going to do or how we were going to dig ourselves out. Fast forward a couple of months, and through great coaching advice, (thanks to Liz & Michelle) not only do we not have any late notices coming in, but we've caught up and are now paying our bills on time and beginning to start saving a little. That is HUGH!! but is it enough?? There are so many ups and downs in this competition, I know tomorrow I will probably feel better about where we stand...but until then!

Help us before June 7th by going to www.welivefitchallenge.com/discuss and respond to our topic "What is there to do locally, or at home to keep kids entertained this summer?" Even if someone has already posted your idea, tell me again, one word suggestions are fine if you are short on time! Whichever team gets the most responses before the 7th will win a date night, babysitter included!!!--- and who can't use a date night?

Thanks so much!!!!

Tracey

I think I can, I think I can...

05/26/2010 11:33 pm

At the orientation we drew names to see which financial coach would be working with throughout the year. As luck would have it, I drew the one paper that had not 1, but 2 coaches!! Michelle Bailey is our coach with Liz Sergeant as a "coach in training" -- this works out well because we need all the help we can get! LOL

During our first meeting they discussed how we could reduce our spending. The hard part so far has been cutting back on dinners out. With the 3 girls and a busy schedule, sometimes its just really, really hard to find time to cook dinner AND make sure they get to bed on time. I didn't realize exactly how much we ate out until I started trying to eliminate it! All I can say is, ugh!!! Its going to be rough.

The one time we had no choice and HAD to eat out, the guilt I was felt was crazy!! I just knew any second one of my coaches would walk through the door and see us! ...and I didn't have a single coupon in my hand, but it was "kids eat free night", so I was going to use that as our "get out of jail free" card if needed. ;) http://www.examiner.com/x-43368-Tallahassee-Motherhood-Examiner~y2010m4d8-Kids-Eat-Free-in-Tallahassee

Our biggest accomplishment by far was getting our house refinanced at a lower interest rate..almost 2 points lower! This was something that we could have done without being in the challenge, but just assumed we wouldn't qualify. We only called the bank because our coach suggested (okay, maybe it was more like insisted) that we at least try.... and voilà...refinanced! We happened to call on a day that interests rates were really low. They went up the next day...Whew..that was close! It was quick, painless and our payments are going to be about $400.00 less per month. I think it was so easy for us because, since Gran was in the military, we have a VA loan on our home. Whatever the reason - YAY!!

Other things we have done so far: I had the City of Tallahassee come do a free energy audit on our home (btw, I recommend this to everyone) , reduced our cable bill and I'm in the process of calling around to compare insurance and cell phone plans. We are trying to do little things as well...One day I noticed we used a crazy amount of paper towel - for cleaning, napkins, to wrap popsicles in, etc -- this is something I never paid attention to until that very moment. So now I've switched to dish towels for cleaning and cloth napkins for meals. Our coaches really stressed "every penny counts", and who knows how much I spent each month on paper towels!

** added bonus: it appears to be helping us become eco-friendly **

Why I wanted to do the challenge

05/23/2010 10:03 pm

The main reason I sent in the application to be part of the challenge is my husband, Gran. (He had no idea I did this until we got the call...( oops, sorry honey!!) He is really a great person & wonderful dad -- but he has really been burning the candle at both ends for years, sometimes working over 100 hours a week, trying to provide us everything we want/need. In the meantime, the girls are growing up so quickly. It saddens me when I think about how much we are missing just going through the motions -- we are both so wiped out when we get home, then the added stress of our finances completely takes away from the time we want to spend with them. We moved last year, in hopes to make things better. We thought if we put them in a good public school, instead of paying the tuition for private school like we were doing -- things would change quickly. The only thing we didn't plan on was our old house just sitting on the market FOREVER. We figured it would take more than a few months to sell and had allowed for that in our budget, just not this long. I'm hoping somehow with our coaches help we can get our life back before its too late and the kids are grown up with only memories of us working and being stressed all the time. It would just be great to be able to have a savings built up so those "unexpected" moments don't catch us off guard and cause the bills to snowball out of control. Gran and I both have good jobs. I don't think that we splurge a lot on unnecessary things, so that must only mean we are not doing something quite right with our budget -- and a coaches insight is just what we need to get & stay on track.

Also, check out our WeLiveFIT! family page on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Knowles-Family/121222277895260?ref=ts and become a fan! Just click "like" at the top of the page! THANKS!!

What a difference a day...I mean 45 days make!

05/20/2010 05:44 pm

If I was asked 3 months ago, "What would you do if you had $100 in your wallet and could spend it any way you wanted?", my answer would have been somewhere alongs these lines: If it was just my money alone to spend, meaning the kids or my husband did not need anything at all, my biggest decision would have been which store should I go shopping at! Well, "would have" is a key part of that sentence now. I never considered myself a big shopper in the past, but everyone likes to splurge every now and then, and I was no different.

The exciting part for me, is that I can actually see a difference now! I've heard that it takes about 45 days to develop a habit and I am proud to say that I'm beginning to be proof of that! Even though the challenge has only been going about a month and a half, if asked that same question today, I would probably stop, think , then drive quickly to the credit union to make a deposit.

I have also found myself getting excited about paying down debt! Who really thought that paying bills could be just as fun as shopping? (lol, well, maybe its not quite a fun, but its more rewarding. Plus, there's no guilt afterwards!) I'm not saying that its all been a walk in the park, its been hard. As with any lifestyle change, learning to readapt is rough, but seeing bills get paid down really helps remotivate us on the days that are a little more difficult than others.

I know the grand prize winner will get $10,000, but honestly, the coaching that we are receiving from Liz & Michelle is invaluable - that's the tool that is going to help us in the long run, long after the competition is over. That's what it is all about for us: reclaiming our lives, being able to spend time with our kids and not be run down by the burden of debt/bills anymore. I'm just so happy we were selected to participate in the challenge and given this opportunity. I can't wait to see what the next 45 days holds in store!!! Hopefully its not elimination!! ;)

Want to help? Here's how!!

05/18/2010 03:42 pm

The family that gets the most new fans to "like" their family page the week of 5/17 -5/23 will win a WEEK of free facebook ads!!! Which is a hugh deal considering the communtiy voting will begin in just a few weeks!! Please help us out by going to : http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Knowles-Family/121222277895260 and "like" our page :)

Thanks so much!!!

Menus save time and money.

05/14/2010 06:06 pm

We have decided to make and stick to a menu. It should help both in time management and in saving money. Today we made our menu for two weeks. We spent $179.46 between Publix and Costco without any coupons, yes that is for 5 people, 3 meals a day, for 14 days; for a total of 210 meals at a cost of 86cents per person per meal. Yes that is correct, an 86cent per person per meal price. This is now referred to as the Knowles dollar menu, and no the meals are not boring or bland. Here are some of the meals we will be eating:

Fried grouper, cheese grits and coleslaw (cheeks are $5lb compared to fillets at $13lb)

http://www.southernseafoodmarket.com/

Braised beef tortellini with broccoli

Shrimp and white wine Tapas with sautéed asparagus

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/shrimp-and-chorizo-tapas-recipe/index.html/

Italian meatballs and Marsala reduction with mash potatoes (Publix deli made meatballs)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/the-best-of/marsala-sauce-recipe/index.html

Deer sausage with collards and Corn Bread

And the best thing is that all the meals take about 30min to prepare and cook. Before, we would spend a minimum of $20.00 to $30.00 a meal for all 5 of us when we would eat out. If we only count dinners, that would be a cost of $280.00, which gives us a savings of about $100.00 every two weeks. And we all know there were a few lunch and breakfast that were eaten out. We are excited about our new menu and the kids are looking forward to pick the next meal. Come visit us at our Facebook page to see what will be on our menu next week.

Gran Knowles

Couponing...Really?

05/14/2010 06:05 pm

Coupons….who would have thought that you practically need a master’s degree to figure them out?!? I mean after all, they only consist of printing or cutting out and handing to the cashier right? WRONG!! The very first day that I actually sat down at the computer and attempted to print out some coupons “really quick” before going to the grocery store was a real eye opener. I learned that printing coupons “really quick” just isn’t going to happen—for me at least.

I ventured onto a few different web sites and felt as if I was sneaking a peak into a whole new world of acronyms, color coding and the most important of all……complete patience. The latter, I must admit, I tend to lack at times. One can truly admire the people that do this effectively and without missing a single coupon they could use. My first time out I did end up saving $15.00 off my purchase, but to be honest, I’m not really sure that I needed 6 tubs of butter just because they were B1G1F/MFR/IVC , but it DID make me feel like a seasoned pro for about 5 seconds.

I mainly buy store brand products as it is, so I feel like when I buy brand names just because I have a coupon I’m spending more money than I would have to start with! I have discovered a few good sites along the way in my attempts to become a master coupon clipper, one is www.iheartpublix.com thanks to a friend, but I still have a way to go. My plan for the very near future is to become one of those people who can do this, understand it and come out of the store feeling guilty because I got so many of their products for so little money. Right now I’m trying to figure out which is better: to make a menu and print coupons based on that OR make my menu based on the coupons that are available? So many questions still, so if anyone has any ideas or suggestions send them my way!! J In the meantime, if anyone could use help deciphering the acronyms themselves, I found that www.afullcup.com/acronyms is helpful.

The Yard Sale

05/14/2010 06:03 pm

I still can’t forget when I heard the first mention of a Family Yard Sale, it was during our very first meeting at Florida Commerce with Joy and Samantha. At that point we were one of 18 families hoping to make the final 9. They were interviewing us and going over all of our information. We were told that a yard sale would be one of the competitions and if selected we would have to do one within the next month. I smiled and said something along the lines of, “that would be great!” .……I think.

I was so nervous that I can’t recall much from that interview, but the yard sale thing really stood out to me. Why? Because after holding my one and only yard sale in the fall of 2008, I vowed to never, ever, under any circumstances have another yard sale again ever!! LOL, well that was then and life seems to take us in unexpected directions sometimes. I just decided that if we were selected for the challenge this would be one of those times.

About a week later we got the call from Kristin and my excitement quickly turned into dread when I remembered “the yard sale”, you see, back in 2008 we moved into our new home and shortly after, we held our first and only yard sale. I wanted to get rid of pretty much everything that we didn’t use, need or flat out just didn’t want. Heck, I even got rid of some stuff that we probably did need, and really could use just because I got carried away! Our three little girls wanted to sell hot chocolate to raise money for the Children’s Burn Camp so we set them up and were ready for the sale to begin.

Over the next year, anytime we had stuff around the house that the children outgrew or we didn’t want I would have flashbacks to “the yard sale“ and then, I would either give it to friends or pile it up in the van and take it to the Children’s Lighthouse …..which only meant one thing. I had NOTHING at home to sale for this upcoming, very public yard sale competition. I was really at a loss when I tried to find stuff to sale. Luckily, we have a bunch of friends and family that were ready to step in and help! Within two weeks our garage, house & cars were loaded down with items for the sale.

We didn’t get to bed until 2:30 that morning. I’ll tell you this, when the alarm went off at 4:30 so we could start getting the kids ready and be at the location setting up by 6:30, I really didn’t think I would make it through the day! We all squeezed into the different cars that were loaded up and I when I turned the van’s ignition I just heard “click”…. the battery was dead and we were already running about 15 minutes behind! I completely panicked! It was dark out, which meant all the neighbors were still asleep and we had no jumper cables. Fortunately, we had a tiny little battery charger that we use for the lawn mower. It took a while, but we finally got the van started and were off to set up! We had gotten off to a bad start, but not only did we make it through the day, we actually started having fun as the day went on!

It was a real learning experience.

While we were busy selling, we let our two oldest daughters put on the rollerblades that weren’t selling and skate around. Little did I know that my oldest daughter had grabbed a handful of our family “vote for us” cards and was handing them out…..at other families tents..oops!! My daughter Amber came to me and said “mommy, Emily is handing out our cards over there.“ and pointed behind her. That’s when I got to meet the Shaw’s!! I was so embarrassed !! Fortunately, they were really good sports ! I told Emily that she was doing a great job helping out, but to try and not hand out our cards at other tents! LOL

Before we knew it, it was time for the press conference. After which, they told us that there would be prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place. That was an exciting twist! Everyone had their money tallied up by FCCU then they called us together for the results. All the families together sold over $2,932.00 that was a really impressive total! After hearing that, I didn’t think we stood much of a chance, then the winners were announced. I’m still not sure how we did it, but we came in 1st place! Here is the exciting part though…it was only by $10! How close was that!!! That meant that we pretty much won by just one sea-shell !! We made a total of $436.70, which is going straight into our savings account! It was a lot of hard work and in the end, despite my feelings about doing another yard sale, it was really worth it.

It may take me a while, but I would maybe consider doing another sale sometime in the future. I guess I just didn’t know what I was doing the first time around! We still have a few things left over to sell, but for the more immediate future I’m going to try e-bay.

Although this was only our first challenge, I can already see a little change in the way we approach saving & spending. It has really become somewhat enjoyable to try to save money and come up with alternative ideas for doing things-----I’m really looking forward to our next coach meeting and the next challenge!!

Tracey Knowles