This is more of an update article on our lives than anything else. Courtney and I have come a long way with our finances. We were both heavy spenders before marriage. Today, we’re on the extreme side of frugal. As of late, our financial focus has been tested due to several big projects that have sprung up.
Our dilemma: Dip into our emergency fund, or not?
Currently, we are working Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps and are on Step 3: building our emergency fund of 3 to 6 month’s worth of expenses. We initially chose to build up to 6 months, but were recently considering only 3 months. Why? Consider these major financially-impacting projects (adjusted for what our health insurance covers):
- Braces for Courtney (est. $4,000-$5,000)
- Potential oral surgery for Courtney (est. $15,000-$30,000)
- College for Courtney (est. $5,000-$10,000)
- Potential oral surgery for John (est. $5,000)
The combination of all these projects has been quite overwhelming – especially when we’re trying to complete our baby steps. We’ve been tempted to sacrifice a portion of our emergency fund in order to fund these expenses, but then we realized that none of these projects are urgent. Any or all can be done within the next 5 years and we’ll be okay.
College for Courtney was especially high on our priority list. Getting a medical degree would likely help her find a high-paying job that would propel us onward. We believe this is a major part of our financial plan. However, college can be expensive, and we must make sure we don’t get started before the timing is right.
We’re going to have to find more ways of raising our income to truly attack these projects. My online endeavors have helped, and a big “THANK YOU” goes out to all of you who have supported my work. What a blessing! So if you’re looking for a writer for your company, blog, website, etc . . . you know who to contact! 
God has always provided. Whenever we think we’ve hit a dead end, or struggle to see how we’re going to accomplish our goals, God always surprises us with something new and unexpected!
It seems we were trying to get ahead of ourselves. Slow and steady has done well for us so far, so we’ve decided to stay on that course and fully build our emergency fund before we do anything else. That 6-month emergency fund will be the bedrock on which our financial lives will stand. This doesn’t mean we won’t continue to strive toward the goals that we have in front of us – in fact, we’ll get intense about meeting those obligations.
What is focused intensity?
Focused intensity is the mode in which you are solely dedicated to one objective at one time. There is great power focusing all your energy on a single task. I’m convinced that this focusing of energy can help you reach your goals faster as a whole.
What I’ve found is that those who try to multitask and dilute their efforts to several objectives get burnt out. Because they are not seeing major goals being accomplished, they feel that progress is not being made and can more easily give up. On the other hand, focused intensity will show you results quickly. The rush of completing one step will propel you forward to complete the next!
Last thoughts.
We’re going to build that emergency fund! We’re not giving up! We’re not giving in! We’re holding on and trusting God with our finances and that everything will be completed in the timing he has planned for us. In what ways have you struggled with staying on track with your financial plan? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
! John wrote two articles for the book: "Budgeting for Groceries" and "How Grocery Stores Work."
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“We’re holding on and trusting God with our finances and that everything will be completed in the timing he has planned for us. ” I appreciate this thought! We also have been off track for the last 2 months but September looks really good and we will be building our emergency fund up again! The reasos we have been side tracked are varied but not from bad planning or spending on our part and for that I am thankful!
Thanks for your thughts today!
Glad it resonated with you Zina! Trusting God is key when it comes to finances. Otherwise, we try to do math, and math doesn’t always equate with life.