If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix it.

But if it is.....

I have someone in my life, who has a track record of going on what I refer to as 'kicks'. Jaunts into an area that take on a life of their own. With this person I've jumped into knitting, baking, cooking in general, organizing, purging possessions, reading big old books, and if I'd ask Cub Sweetheart I'm sure he could add to the list.

The thing is - the kicks usually bless me / us.

This particular person is wise beyond their years, and it's easier to see what they come up with next, and jump in, rather than deciding for myself.

So the latest is being frugal. And who would that not bless?

CS and I actually have been budgeters for years and years. It started back in the 1980's when I realized I had no idea how to manage our family income, and I heard about Larry Burkett. His book, "Your Finances in Changing Times' was my first dabbling into putting together a monthly budget, and living by it. It was labor intensive, involving reams of paper put into three hole notebooks, and writing down every single transaction, but it taught me a lot. About how to manage our money and how I was spending wasting it.

So we went with that method for years. We did better, we limped along. Then somebody, somewhere told me about Dave Ramsey,

who is sort of a Larry Burkett with a lot of coffee in him. And Dave's background involved Larry Burkett too. Dave Ramsey had learned the VERY hard way to get control of his finances, after hitting it pretty big, then losing it all. 

So I checked out or bought every book of his I could get my hands on and read them. By that time we had kids in college and money was going out faster than it was coming in, so we needed to get much more serious about how we used our money. We started doing Dave Ramsey's method, doing debt snowball, building an emergency fund and keeping track of 'every penny on purpose on paper' before it was earned.

It was life changing. We not only got control of our finances, we taught all three of our kids how to manage their money by planning a budget and living within it, and I eventually found a small ministry working with young couples who were in financial trouble. That sure isn't something I would have seen coming.

Even now, ten years into retirement, we still live on a budget. We both still get a monthly allowance, and determine whether we can travel or go out to eat or buy a piece of furniture or appliance by looking at our accruals.

But it's still easy to get sloppy and let your thinking relax. I realized this had happened, when I was talking with my 'kick' person, and thought about my horrible sounding vacuum cleaner.

I bought a Dyson Animal at least twelve years ago - maybe more. If I'd stop and think about which dog died when I'd have a better idea, but the vacuum has sucked up more than its share of golden retriever sheddings. And it sounded, and smelled, like it.

But I got used to the sound. And the smell. If I was vacuuming baseboards - which, keeping it real is not a very common occurrence in our home - it sounded just fine. Likely because I didn't use that function nearly as much as I should have.

If I dropped the main part of the vacuum down onto the floor it sounded like the engine of a plane I wouldn't be willing to board. For the past year I've been looking at vacuums online, checking to see what they cost, and planning to replace this one because my paid for, lots of years old one sounded terrible.

I started thinking, "maybe I can just have it serviced and repaired?' There's a thought. So I took it to the handy dandy local vacuum guy and he plugged it in, listened and told me there was a part that had some edges broken off of it, a worn out belt, and it needed two new filters and a VERY good cleaning, which would cost me about $140 but the motor itself was in great shape. A week later I picked it up, and it purrs like a kitten who wants to suck up things, and works great. And doesn't make our house smell horrible every time I start it up.

I spent $140 but a new one would have been about $500, and I expect this one will run for a good number of years to come.

If we want to change, we always, always, always have to start by changing our thinking. Our perspective. And with a new perspective just about anything is possible. I may have so much fun using my newly serviced vacuum that I go wild and start vacuuming the baseboards and window blinds on a regular basis.

I'll come back in a day or so and tell you what happened when I knocked my Kindle Fire off the desk and it shattered, and I looked at the finances of replacing it. That's an allowance item, by the way, so I don't spend it frivolously.

And I'll tell you what I asked Cub Sweetheart to give me / build me for my birthday - so fun!

Supposedly only about 7% of Americans have a budget or use one. How about you? What method do you use, and how does it work for you? If you're the other 93% click on the link above and check out Dave Ramsey. Trust me, it can be life changing, but only if you really want it to be so.