Financial Peace University

I made lots of New Years Resolutions. 

• I'm going to church every Sunday.
• I'm going to the gym 4x a week.
• I'm eating low carb until I lose 10 lbs.
• I'm going to stick to a budget. 

The first three are easy enough. I have had a budget for years. I just don't stick to it. So this year, I decided to take a Financial Peace University class at Stonebriar Church. 

They haven't told me to sell my car YET, but I'm sure that's coming. Sorry Dave Ramsey, I'd rather pay it off early than buy a beater car. I bought beater cars for both of my children's first cars and they always cost me a fortune....You need a catalytic converter $1200, you need new brakes $300, new tires $300, new clutch $400, blah blah blah. I bet for both of the beater cars I ended up spending at least $5-6K each by the time it was said and done for 10 year old cars. Texas is NOT the place for driving beaters. Just too much driving going on. So anyway...

I'm also afraid Dave will tell me to quit eating sushi, playing golf, and getting pedicures. I will definitely cut back.

So the troubling thing is that I probably haven't had more than about $40 cash on me at any given time in decades. Well, a new beginning for February. I'm going to a cash basis for my personal expenses. At first, I was scared. Someone will steal my cash. Well at least it has a limit. Duh. I mean if someone stole my purse now with the credit cards, they could spend tens of thousands of dollars before I could call the 800 numbers which I would have to look up because I wouldn't have the cards to get the numbers off the back. 

Which is another thing. Why so many credit cards? 

• American Express (my fave) because I have to pay it off every month and I earn points.
• Visa (x2) because not everyone takes AMEX. One for me and one that my daughter can use for emergencies....you know like Pei Wei.
• COSTCO Amex because it serves as my membership card with my picture.
• Visa debit card in case I need cash (but can be used as credit too)

Yikes. I mean really. What a mess. I'm going to clean out my wallet and go to cash and the Amex. I mean Amex has been good to me over the decades. They even sent me an Ipod shuffle for Xmas one year. Nice touch Amex.

I'm hoping to spend about $500 less this month than I typically do....she says rolling her eyes.

Dave says if I go to cash it will be more emotional for me than swiping a card. I'll let you know how that works out for me. Maybe it is. I'm about to cry now and I haven't even begun.