Celebration!

WE DID IT!!!! We have finished Baby Step 1!!! We have a $1000.00 Emergency Fund!!!!

Right now, it feels good to have $1,000.00 in savings. Checking off this step has encouraged us to keep going and we are ready to tackle Step 2, which is to pay off our debt using the Debt Snowball.

Felicia and I worked hard to accomplish this. We had to hold each other accountable to sticking to the budget we both agreed to. It is not easy, especially when you get invited to parties, dinners, and going out with friends, but we are doing good saying no when the money isn't there. Living on the envelope system is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. If the cash is there, we use it and if it is not, we don't spend it. We are working on taking this momentum and applying it to our debt snowball.

Because we budget and stick to it, we knew what day we were hitting this goal and budgeted some celebration money. Felicia and I got her parents to watch the kids while we went to dinner at La Cubanita. It was awesome, we had a good time without feeling guilty for spending money on ourselves and we also talked about how great it will be when we finish Baby Step 2.

When we were done eating, the waitress brought us our check in a little black folder and we got out our envelope and put our cash in the black folder with plastic pocket for credit cards. We kept talking and finished our drinks while we waited for her to bring us the change. We were celebrating so the place we were eating at was a little more expensive then the places we normally go and used a $100.00 bill to pay. The waitress kept walking by and looking at the folder but never picked it up. The fourth time she came to the table, picked up the folder, and asked, "Is your credit card in here?" But before we could answer, she then said, "Wow! You carry the big bucks with you" and then said something like not being used to people using cash. My wife and I looked at each other and smiled, because we knew that our dinner didn't have any interest rates attached to it!

We are living like no one else, so that later we can live like no one else!!!