June Birchbox

Here's my June Birchbox!

Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk (find it here) - I'm excited to use this especially with summer pool visits and not wanting to wash/blow dry all the time

 Suki Exfoliate Foaming Cleanser (find it here) - Again, with all the time out in the sun, exfoliating is a must!

Laqa & Co Lil' Lip Duo (find it here) - I received a very bright pink color of this lip tint, not sure I am a fan (after I tried it, my husband asked if I was going to an '80s throwback party). I used it again with a bit of vaseline (my favorite lip gloss!) and liked it much better as a simple tint.

Color Club® Wanderlust (find it here) - I was a little bummed out when I saw the other colors I could have received in in this color collection. I especially liked the coral polish. I have "Mod in Manhattan" and I hope it will look great once I have worked on my tan a bit more!

 twistband Birchbox Nautical Hair Tie Collection (find it here) - This is my second twistband from Birchbox, and I love them! They hold back my hair just like a normal hairband, but they do not leave a crease after I take it out.

Dave Ramsey - Inspired!

Now that I'm on summer break, I try to listen to Dave Ramsey each morning. He's on in KC from 9-11am on AM710. The advice he gives and the stories people tell (the good and the bad) are so inspiring to me. I get all motivated to move along the baby steps! If you aren't familiar, here they are

My husband and I are currently on baby steps 4 & 6. Baby steps 4, 5, & 6 are done simultaneously and because we don't have kids, we are just on 4 & 6. When we started off, we didn't have a terrible amount of debt and we were first married. The biggest thing was paying off the student loan debt we had from college. Once we got that finished, we piled up money to have our 6-month emergency fund completed. That was such a huge accomplishment for us, as I am a teacher and my husband works at an early education center (read = we don't make a ton of money).

We are putting any "extra" money we have toward our home mortgage. Whether that is $15 or $80, every little bit means that we will own our house outright sooner and we won't be paying any more interest to the bank than we need to. To tell the truth, I can't wait for Baby Step 7, to be able to bless others with our wealth, but it will be a while!

Goals Update: June

My husband and I took time to make goals for ourselves for 2013. We tried to be specific and will hold ourselves to these goals. After three months, we have begun 11 out of the 13 goals, with 4 fully accomplished!

1. Plan a vacation for just the two of us. Save to pay for it up front! - no plans made yet, savings are building - We are visiting my sister & her family the first weekend of June and I am surprising my husband with a day at Disneyland!!
2. Pay off 100% of student loans!
3. Save and buy a "new" vehicle - $3,284.50 saved as of May 31, 2013
4. Save 100% of emergency fund - 98.3% as of May 31, 2013--> put together two saving accounts; plan to be done in June!
5. Get basement and garage ORGANIZED!
6. Floor the attic (more storage) - still haven't thought about this at all, too far down on the list to do anything
7. Bret to purchase the firearm of his choice
8. Organize a Legacy Drawer  - About 90% completed! Need to write legacy letters & think of funeral plans --> sad to think about, probably why we are putting it off!
9. Make wills for each of us
10. Build a 72-Hour emergency kit (here and here) --> haven't even started this, slackers! We were at Bass Pro this week and saw some survival supplies we need to get
11. Be intentional about finding opportunities to give to others --> I have tried to find opportunities for random acts of kindness
12. Plan our meals by the week - so far, so good! We do this on Sunday night for the following week
13. Keep communication open and loving between us --> We have been trying to pray together at least once a day