We live in a consumer driven society. There is always something to buy, something to own, and something to upgrade. Our economy thrives when everyone is out there spending. Marketing tells us we NEED to have this-and-that to be a worthwhile person. And if you’re like me, you grew up in a culture where having more is one of, if not the, primary motivators of our time; the greater the consumer, the greater the person. But after walking down that path for forty combined years, we’ve decided not to endorse that lifestyle any longer.

Not to sound too idealistic or self righteous, we battle selfishness every day, but we have made up our minds to not live as consumers, but rather to live consumed for something greater. Basically put, we embrace a lifestyle that says “we want our lives to be spent for the greater good of others”. And this doesn’t just include the use of money, but of time, energy, goods, everything. The thing that a lot of us miss is finding something to live for greater than ourselves. Wrecked for the Ordinary is an online magazine of people trying to do just that.

When we approach the broad spectrum of personal finances, therefore, we try and see everything from a mind-set that remembers Jesus’ words, “it is better to give than receive.” If we are reworking our budget, trimming down our expenses, it’s not to put more money in our pockets, but to free up more money to be directed to more significant purposes. If we search out the best cash back credit cards we are looking to maximize our returns in order to funnel it where it counts.

In essence, we want to be wise with what we have, enlargening the mouth of the income funnel and put those funds into the efforts that will cause the greatest good. When you think about the fact that at least 80% of the world’s population lives on less than $10 a day, it’s hard to justify a consumer lifestyle. We have to face the truth that we are blessed, immensely blessed. And we want to do the best with what we have been given. Hopefully, our life will speak louder than these words.
....................................................................................................
Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
....................................................................................................

Alright, down to the nitty gritty.

In the spirit of transparency and community, we wanted to share in more detail our savings goals. My hopes are that you’ll be able to compare your own goals and situation with ours. Hopefully looking through that lens we can learn from one other.
Here’s how it breaks down:

To finish paying for school we need an additional $15,308; our savings goal. Luckily for us, we are not completely ignorant of the importance of putting money aside. Since beginning our marriage we have been able to save about $10,000. In a way, living in third world countries has its advantages. One can live way beneath their means and that’s just what we’ve done. For three and a half years we have given a good portion away, lived off the bare essentials, and put everything else in high yield savings.

Our challenge is to raise that $10,000 up to $15,308 in 6 months. It breaks down to $885 per month which is roughly 40% of our monthly income after taxes and health insurance. We are not going to stop our giving, which means we need to live off of about ½ of what we do now. To alleviate some of that pressure, we have decided to try and earn $2,500 as ‘side income’ over these next six months. Side income could be odd jobs, selling stuff on Craig’s List, finding promotional money at different business’, etc. The rest, we will have to save by jumping on the super frugal train. Here is how that looks:

So there you go. Maybe a little ambitious, but we like extremes! I hope the numbers didn't bore you too much, but at least you can have a better idea of where we are coming from.
....................................................................................................
Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
....................................................................................................

The following is a journal entry that I wrote on the first night of the PYF kick-off party we had back in September. This whole contest is an incredible opportunity for us and we appreciate the folks at FNBO Direct for inviting us. I hope this sheds a little light on the 'people' side of the challenge.

9.11.08 Magnolia Hotel, Omaha NE

We are just about ready to turn in for the night. Samantha, our 8 month old daughter would have stayed longer at the welcome party, but she just couldn’t manage to keep her eyes open. Tonight kicks off the beginning of a six month journey in which four other contestants and ourselves will Pay Ourselves First. We each have different goals and different challenges to achieve those goals, but our one common denominator is that to summit our Everest, we need to master the art of saving. FNBO Direct, with their wealth of resources, is going to help us along the trail. And just a few minutes ago we met more than a group of financial advisors, we met a group of friends.

I must admit, I was expecting a much more formal and awkward opening ceremony. A hugely successful bank could easily carry that kind of reputation. But I was wrong. Just a few minutes into it we felt very comfortable and at ease, this was a crowd I could enjoy hanging out with. And meeting the other contestants was very encouraging. Just normal people, striving for a dream. The reality is, any of these guys could win the contest, and they would use the prize in a positive way. But we are going to do our best take home the gold!

In the end of this journey, I think the real reward will be learning to live in a way that allows us to accomplish your dreams without sacrificing the enjoyment of daily life. To be frugal can be seen as a negative thing. But there is so much out there to enjoy that doesn’t require one ounce of consuming. You just need something bigger to live for, creativity, and the right attitude. Remember, dreams are to be lived for, money is just a tool to help make those dreams a reality. Money is never the dream. As we embark, we’d love to have you join us on the trail, and please share with us what it is you’re saving for.

....................................................................................................
Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
....................................................................................................

Welcome to the PYF challenge, and welcome to my blog. I thought for my first post I would spend a little more time introducing myself and my family. We are a three member family - Michael, Kristen, and 9 month old Samantha. Michael and I are in our late twenties and are hoping to acquire a system for finances that will help us achieve our dreams throughout life.

As a family, we have spent the last five years working overseas for a non-profit organization . We don’t do what we do for the money, we do it out of our hearts to reach those less fortunate than ourselves. Our organization is purely support based, so our annual income isn’t much. Over time we have learned that to achieve our dreams we need a good plan and we need to stick with it.

As our video shows, my current dream is to provide free health care to those who can’t afford it in the Dominican Republic. After a year of nursing school, I’ll have enough training to begin providing basic care for our friends down in the Caribbean once we move back in September of 2009. In the meantime we are living in Nebraska, Michael’s home state.

I’m sure over the course of this blog we will dip into some tangents, but for the most part we are going to focus on these three things... 1) Our philosophy on money: how our view of finances influences our lifestyle. 2) Savings: how we manage what we have and 3)Side income: how we generate new money to put towards our goals.

If you’d like to read more about our life go here, or contact us directly here kristenpyf@gmail.com

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to vote for Kristen!