Living Like No One Else…and ashamed of it?

Remember my love affair with Christian Louboutin?

Alas, I still haven’t acquired my dream shoe.

But I have been on the lookout for nude high heels.  Young ones, not the ugly brown leathery 1-inch ones your grandma wears.  Specifically, these nude heels.

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They are from my favorite brand of shoes ever, in the entire universe-LK Bennett.  Unfortunately, they’re from London.  And they are $275. 

(Side note, if you love shoes, just go peruse their website.  I seriously want almost every shoe on there.)

I have the money.  We’re debt free.  (Other than our mortgage, just to clarify.)  I work hard and to be honest, I can afford them. 

But I still couldn’t quite justify buying them.  “That’s groceries for two weeks.  What if something else comes up?  What will people think if I spend $275 on shoes?” 

I went round and round in my head for weeks over these shoes trying to decide whether to buy them.  That is, until the newest member of the royal family decided to wear them – hence they sold out, instantly.  I’m disappointed, but a tiny bit relieved at no longer having the option of buying them. 

But really the question was for me was when is it ok to splurge and be proud of it?

I have never had a designer handbag.  Ever.  There are 13 years olds that I know with a collection that rivals Lindsay Lohan’s.

But this weekend, my husband took me to buy my first designer purse.  (He even offered to buy me two!  Which, then I rushed him to the nearest ER because I was sure he was having a stroke!)

I was so happy.  And am still.  But I really wrestled with the decision to post it on Facebook.  (Stupid, social media.) 

I have friends who are working feverishly trying to pay off debt and don’t want to rub it in their faces.  I have friends who work very hard in Christian service and may never be able to afford a designer bag.  I have friends out of a job.  And then I have the “friends” who will run it down just because.

(And I have to admit, it felt odd carrying a designer purse and paying with a huge stack of coupons.  But I quickly got over that – that’s how I earned that purse!)

Somehow, when our husbands get a new $500 handgun, his buddies “ooh” and “ahh” over it.  But when we spend $275 on shoes, our girlfriends will say it was ridiculous and snipe about it behind our backs.

And then I go back to why I even care? 

I feel like I’m on a merry go round…

You know, these merry go rounds that we rode till we were sick and probably would’ve given us Hep B if we had gotten cut or something?  They were great.  Stupid plastic “safe” toys now…

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A pretty smart man has this saying, “Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.”  Well, I’ve done that. 

So how long before I can be proud that I’m living like no one else so that I can live like no one else??

Scratch That

I had a fabulous idea for today's blog, but when I went to a certain news website to link up the pictures, I saw this picture and scratched the whole post for today.

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We all know I'm in the pro-royal column, but I really could care less about the royals in this picture. 

Go read the article.  It's heart warming and heart breaking all at the same time.

It was a nice reminder to take a time out and be thankful for what you have.

Your house may be upside down...

You may have to figure out which bills get paid this week because they all can't...

You may be just plain down & out...

But look around you...

Look at your family...

Are they healthy?  Are they fed?  Clothed?  Happy? 

Then we have more blessings than we ever could possibly deserve.

(And next week, I'll share the blog I originally planned for today.)

Debt Free Livin’ in 2011!

After a lot of pushing and prodding, my sister has convinced me to start a blog.  She tried this once before and I think I may have updated it twice.  But this time, I'm going to try blogging about something I'm very passionate about...money.

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Doesn't that sound horrible?  I'm passionate about money - but, yes, I am.  Since I was a child, I've loved forms, numbers, and office supplies.  In college, I fell in love with taxes.

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In my tiny circle of life, I’m kinda known as the money gal.  Most of you know that I work with taxes for a living and I see such a wide spectrum of personal finance situations.  It’s really given me the desire to share my experience and the (little) knowledge I have.  I love personal, small business, and church finance. 

I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey and worked through his Financial Peace University. 

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It’s the debt free plan that we used, but by no means is it the only plan.  It is what I would recommend to people who don’t know where to start.  But whatever method you use to get out of debt – whether the snowball, blizzard, avalanche...getting out of debt is the first step to any kind of financial freedom.

I refused to start any kind of blog, Facebook group, or website till we actually completed our debt-free journey.  We completed that on 1/14/11.  Before I posted that on Facebook, I had no idea how many people in my tiny circle were walking down the same road. 

There is strength in numbers.  I want to use this blog and the corresponding Facebook group as sort of a support group for those of us on our way out of debt (or trying to stay out of debt.)  You can get the same thing at various websites, but I’m not good with strangers.  J 

So feel free to join if you agree to the following:

1.                  I am a Christian and try to go at things from the believer’s perspective – another reason I am a Dave Ramsey fan.   I believe God knows your name.  He wants to hear about your life and wants you to ask for His help – even with your checkbook. 

2.                  You can be vocal or quiet.  You can share everything, nothing or just some things.

3.                  Financial problems can be extremely embarrassing.  (Just like weight loss.)  I’ll be the first to raise my hand to admit I’ve done some dumb things with money.  There will be no judgment.

4.                  I will not gossip about anything told to me in confidence.  Please respect each other’s privacy. 

5.                  I’ll be honest about the challenges and pit falls we faced – be prepared. 

6.                  You can use this group for support, accountability, or just a laugh. 

7.                  I don’t guarantee that anything I say is original.  Really – money has been around since Moses and so has debt.  But I’ll give credit where credit is due. 

8.                  Most importantly, if it’s something serious, you should always seek the advice of a CPA or lawyer. 

So sign on the dotted line with your social security number….just kidding!