m&w

debt update number one

Here is a quick update...

We paid off our first loan! :)

Yes! We finally paid our first one off. It totaled a little over $5,000 and we got it paid off in about 5 months.

We celebrated by going to our favorite pizza place then going for blizzards afterwards. It was wonderful.

Now to tackle the next one which is currently at about $6,500. (I am hoping to get this one paid on in less than 5 months.)

1 down, 7 to go. We can do this!

a wedding and mothers day

My family met up in Arlington this past weekend to attended a cousin's wedding in Ft. Worth. Here we all are dressed up. Apparently black and white were the colors to wear. And apparently Kelsey is a giant.

It was great to all be together.

Plenty of time was spent with this little guy.

I got to spend some of Mother's day with my mom!

The four of us after breakfast that turned to brunch that turned to lunch. It was crowded and it took forever but the food was good and so was the company. :)

our money story

Money stories are my favorite. Most people don't like to tell them though. Here is a little bit about ours.

Matt and I came from two totally different money backgrounds. And because of this we see money differently. I see it as a means to get things that I want/need and Matt sees it as security and worth. So with that said I am a spender and he is a saver. Before getting married we already knew this. We dated for 4 years so it had already come up a lot. We have both made compromises and I think we are both on the same page now. Most of the time. Well we at least know where the other one is coming from when problems do arise.

We started our lives together with over $60,000 in debt. All of it is student loans. Some is mine, and some is his. Our minimum payment for all these loans adds up to over $700/month. That $700 a month is very daunting to us. It laughs at us and makes us feel like it is holding back our lives. When we first realized that was how much we were going to have to pay monthly we were scared. $700 a month for 10 years? There is no way we are going to let it last that long. If you do the math that is a total of $84,000 out of our pockets. Um, no thank you. So what are we going to do about that?  

Enter Dave Ramsey. I have heard Dave Ramsey's principles for years. I could tell you the seven baby steps in my sleep. Here they are if you are unfamiliar with them:

1. $1,000 to start an emergency fund.
2. Pay off all debt using the debt snowball 
3. 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
4. Invest 15% of income into retirement
5. College funding for children
6. Pay off home early
7. Build wealth and give

We are currently on step 2. And we are trying our best to stay focused. We have paid a total 8.54% of our debt so far this year. We are so close to paying off our first of 8 student loans. Like so close it will happen next month! And as soon as that one is paid off we will put everything into the next. One by one we will pay these things off. We are gazelles.

We have set a few goals for ourselves as we pay these off:

• Pay them off in the next 2-3 years (hopefully closer to two than three)
• No major lifestyle changes until paid off (at least to the best of our abilities)
• Focus, focus, focus
• Reward ourselves for each one we pay off

 We can't wait to get to baby step number 3.

Every so often I will share more about our journey out of debt. Don't blink and miss it becuase we will be debt free before you know it! :)

wildflowers

Growing up in west Texas I didn't see a whole lot of wildflowers. Now that we live in central Texas, I see them everywhere! They are my favorite.

wrp wedding stationary

I have been thinking for awhile that I wanted to design wedding invitations. I mean I love weddings and I love paper. So why not combine the two? But I wasn't sure I could do it. I wasn't sure I had the right supplies, the right designs or enough time to do it. But I felt like I needed to do it and realized that if I started small, I would fall in love and go from there. 

To me, wedding stationary is very important. It's the first thing people see about your wedding. It sets the tone of the wedding long before the wedding date. I want to provide a service to brides that is stress free, affordable, and of course pretty! Here is a peek at my first four designs. They are simple, but I love them so much.

These four designs will be going in the shop very very soon. I can't wait to get this started! :) 

 

 

a new coffee table

Even though our apartment is small, we really wanted a coffee table. We enjoy eating lunch/dinner in front of the tv sometimes and having a coffee table makes that so much easier! So we spent awhile trying to come up with something to build since we knew we didn't want to spend much, if anything, on it.

I came across this coffee table while browsing pinterest, and instantly loved it. We already had some pallets left over from this project, so all we need to do was figure out the legs and of course I wanted hairpin legs, like the nightstand. :)

Last weekend we went to Lowe's to get the supplies to make the legs and headed to Matt's parents house. Matt had already put the top together a few weeks ago so all he had to do was sand it down and make and attach the legs. We stained the top and sides and put a coat of polyurethane on top.

I love the way it came out! It's perfect!  

 p.s. I got my hands on a Wacom tablet (as you can see the results of in the first picture) and am loving it!

a real week in our lives...

This was a long week...

Sunday: We spent the weekend in Dallas with friends. We had a lot of fun and it was so good to see everyone! We got home at about 2pm. Matt had to work at 3pm. When he got home at 8pm he had more work to do for his other job. He is working a part-time job (job number 2) and a pretty much full-time contract job (job number 1).

Monday: I worked from 8am-5pm. Matt worked from 9am-5pm at job number 1 and 5pm-9pm at job number 2. We got home at about the same time becuase I went over to Jessi and David's to watch the bacholer. Matt ate supper and we headed to bed.

Tuesday: Sillly me, I had expectations for today (Valentines Day). I shouldn't have becuase Matt has been so busy working lately and it's not really a holiday we celebrate. He did surprise me with some mini reeses (my favorite) and a really sweet handmade card. And I totally apprecaited this, it meant a lot. Since Matt was working both jobs today I offered to babysit the newphew, Jack, tonight. I also had the smart idea to bake Matt something for valentines day while babysitting the 3 and a half month old. It was a new recipe that I had never tried. I wouldn't say that it was complicated but it was very involved...at least for me it was. It was these Raspberry Cheescake Cupcakes. They surprisingly turned out really good, despite the ginourmous mess I made in the process. Matt got home around the same time Jessi and David came to pick up Jack. We ate dinner and then while Matt was taking a shower I accidently fell asleep.

Wednesday: Matt wasn't scheduled to work job number 2 today! All day I was super excited to finally spend some time with him and to catch up on Parenthood and watch some Friday Night Lights! He did work job number 1 but usually he is done around 5:30pm or 6pm. I got home a 5 and started watching tv. Then 6pm came, then 7pm. I texted Matt and asked him to pick up dinner on his way home since it was getting late. Then 8pm came, and 9pm. You know how when you are waiting for something it's hard to do anything? Just me? Well let's just say I got lots accomplished while waiting. ;) Finally he called me a little after 9 and said he was on his way home! He came home with Jack in the Box and told me that he had more work to do tonight. We ate dinner and I went to bed.  

Thursday: My alarm went off at 6:30 and Matt finally came to bed. He was up all night! I head to work at 8 and he heads to work at 9. And of course he has to work job number 2 tonight. He usally only works it 3 nights but of course this week it is 4.

All that to say that we really need some M&W time. Which won't really happen this weekend because my mom and younger sister, Kelsey, are coming up! Which I am super excited about!

We are trying to decide when he needs to stop working job number 2. Yes the extra money is nice and it will help us pay our student loans off sooner (and we need all the help we can get with those), but it is taking away from our M&W time. Job number 1 isn't exactly permanent yet. We are hoping it will become that way soon. Hopefully.

This was February 12th - February 16th in our lives. This was kind of an impromtu week in the life except without all the pretty pictures.  

instafriday

Here is a look at my last few weeks/months through Instagrams.

You can follow me if you would like too!: whitneyrae

downtime at work + sketchbook = awesome // new plant for the apartment...it's mint!

thankful for the elevator at work // back to working out...it's been a long time.

finally got my hands on my favorite girl scout cookies // front door. #febphotoaday

project life on a friday night // ephesians

civil war concert // mail always leaves our house with happy tape on it.

lunch at a wonderful panini place // me

me and jack // thankful for now working car

goodwill find // pretty flowers from the boy

p.s. I decided yesterday to join in on the #febphotoaday thing.

since october 17th...

Since October 17th:

-I got a full-time job and was able to quit my part-time retail job (thank goodness)

-Jackson Carlysle Keefe was born

-I took Jack's newborn pictures

-Celebrated Thanksgiving with my family here in Round Rock

-Bought our first Christmas tree

-I got moved to a new job at work (no more filing for me :) yay!)

-We had car trouble (but Matt and his dad fixed it!)

-Did a few photoshoots

-Matt started doing some contract work for a Landscape Architect in town (such an answered prayer)

-Sent out our first Christmas cards

-We celebrated our first Christmas in Katy with Matt's family

-Spent New Years in Big Spring

-Went to The Civil War's Concert

-Babysat Jack for the first time :)

With lots more small things, that's what we have been up to!

 

 

I think I got it back...

Appearently it takes me a long time to adjust to something new...because once I got a full-time job I just stopped blogging. Seriously it has been like 3.5 months. That's just crazy. Not really sure why I stopped. There is something about sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day that really sucks it out of me. I am not sure what it is but it has been gone for awhile. However I am starting to feel it coming back. And I like it.

I love blogging and I have really missed it. Being able to talk about what is going on in our lives and documenting it on this blog is really what it's all about for me. I could care less about who reads it (I mean, I do care about you :), but that's not why I blog. I blog because someday I won't remember the little things we did, or the details of the big things that happen.

A blog post is coming soon with updates on what's happening over here.

Thanks for sticking around.

p.s. how do you like my new banner?