John and I have also made phenomenal progress on or financial disabilities, lol!  I believe that we have made our goals for this contest despite such a crazy year.   Expensive car repairs, central air problems, expenses for the kids, medical issues and a much needed trip to the beach.  We first and foremost want to THANKS everyone that has voted for us, encouraged us and most of all, to Madelyn and Lisa.  Without your support and encouragement, guidance and knowledge, we wouldn’t be where were at today with our BIG mess that we started with.  Our goal is to get rid of our debt now more than ever due to the never ending craziness with John’s job.  During this contest we both had job issues that have created such uneasiness with both of us that we still don’t know what’s in store for him.  He is now based in JFK in New York City that has caused him to commute there to work a lot of times the day before his trips that has created an extra hotel expense for us, sometimes more that 3 times a month!  He has to often times fly into LGA and get to JFK to either get to work or get home.  They continue to cut flights out the schedule between Columbus and Cincinnati and New York that will only make this commute much more difficult.  They still are furloughing employees.  The company can not make up their mind where they want to base their crews that we will not uproot our family to make a major move with them again!  So…he may be looking for a new line of work soon and paying off our debt will be a GREAT relief to make that a little easier.   

We want to congratulate all the teams for a hard fought contest that past 8 months.  Did you ever think you would make it?  I didn’t at times, I will admit.  Kudos to us all!!! 

We are both still amazed at the progress that we have made in the last 8 months, and have committed to the plan until that last bit of debt is paid. Some of the things we started to save money such as our power saver, (www.powersave.com) and changing to some florescent light has dropped our budget payment to AEP next year. Along with the lower budget for propane we will be able to pay more on those bills.

In the past eight months we have enjoyed sharing our experiences with you through our blogs and our videos. We hope you enjoyed them, and we were able to provide you with information you can use in your financial life. Many consider money and personal finances a taboo subject for conversation or public discussion. Throughout the past eight months we have become more comfortable discussing finances which has helped us improve the way we handle them. Increased communication about money was a cornerstone to exceeding both our savings and debt reduction goals for the contest.

We are grateful for the opportunity that KEMBA provided us as contestants. We have always been impressed with the helpfulness, courtesy, and professionalism of the folks at KEMBA, long before we became contestants in this contest. We are very appreciative of Laura and Amy, at KEMBA HQ, who were always quick to communicate contest information and answer a constant barrage of questions on a regular basis from Team Karns. We also want to thank all of the staff at KEMBA’s Hilliard Branch, especially our financial trainer for the last eight months, branch manager Mark Susi. We also would like to thank both Tim Powell and Frank Yensel for their time and expertise.

A giant thank you also goes out to all of our supporters. Family, friends, co-workers, and those we have never met have been gracious enough to take time to read our blogs, watch our videos, and vote for us, many on a daily basis! Thanks again, we feel we are very blessed to have such great friends, family and supporters and are very grateful for the opportunity to have participated in this contest.

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How did we do this? The beach house was paid for almost a year earlier when we reserved it. We paid for it with our vacation club that we contribute to automatically every payday, just as we have saved all year for next year’s vacation. We have been going to Destin for years and know that to get the place we want and at a reduced price, this is the best way to do it. Also, you don’t have to save at the last minute or go into debt. 

Jennifer and the girls started a day earlier with her parents and spent a night at Opryland in Nashville on her Mom’s dime. I flew into Nashville the next day from New York to meet them. 

We drove to Florida the next day. During the week, we cooked most of our meals at the house, splitting the cost between us, Jennifer’s parents, and two other couples. We spent a lot of time between the pool and the ocean.  We had been looking at a snorkeling and dolphin swim package before we left home, the price was around $100.00 a person. That seemed a bit pricey for us so we didn’t say any thing to Jessica about it. 

One night while on the internet, a family member found the same thing on line for $30.00 a person. You just had to say you saw it online, so the next day off we went. Jessica was fearless!  She was practically the first on off the boat. She found sea urchins, crabs, and pipe fish; of course she picked all of them up. The crab let her know that he didn’t like it, but she said it didn’t hurt too badly. We also saw lots of dolphins and a sea turtle. 

The one night that everyone else went out to eat we went to Publix and bought a rotisserie chicken and ate at home. We paid cash for all of this and had a really great time. We’re already on our way to paying for next years vacation.

Wow, it’s hard to believe this will be my last blog for the contest and the first thoughts that come to mind are…THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

I am so thankful to have been chosen for this contest!  I am truly thankful to have had the support, guidance, and direction of Gary Weaver, Julie Hudgins, Amy Kappler, Laura Ille, Frank Yensel, Tim Powell, and every single staff member at the Clintonville branch!  YAY!  I’d also like to sincerely thank everyone at KEMBA and the organization as a whole.  I said this at the very beginning and my opinion has not changed…this is an organization like no other!  They set out to make a difference in the lives of people in their community and they did!  Through this contest my life has been changed and I am grateful beyond words.  Not only have a broken down walls around my financial beliefs, but I have laid a strong foundation for my financial health.  I now believe that I can achieve financially what I realistically set out to do.  A wonderful relationship has been created with this organization — they have become a part of my ‘family’ so again, Thank you!

I am thankful that I have broken down walls and can now look at my finances from a new perspective.  I am thankful that although I may not have reached my debt reduction goal yet, I now have a strategy in place and will accomplish what I have set out to do.  I am in such a better place than when I started in January!  

I am thankful to all my friends and family who have encouraged and supported me along the way!  I am also truly grateful for the other members of the contest — that they too have had the opportunity to completely change their lives in a way they never thought possible.  I am truly happy for them and congratulate them on their hard work, accomplishments, and their winnings!  We have all come out winners!

I want to wish you a happy and healthy future.  A future where you have the courage to dream your dreams, and believe that you have it in you to make those dreams come true — whatever they are.  You have more resources, strength, and courage than you may realize.  I believe in you — and I believe in myself now too.  How great is that!!!

Here’s to you and again, thank you!

Hugs,

Amy

First, we would like to thank KEMBA for selecting us to participate in this contest.  This is the trigger for the major changes we’ve made in our lives.  Although we will continue to manage our money as we do now, we probably wouldn’t have changed our ways without this contest.  We’d like to thank our financial trainer, David Trent for assisting with creating our budget and helping us plan for debt reduction and savings.  We would also like to thank the many other Kemba staff members that have assisted us throughout this process by putting on seminars and meeting with us.  Our families and friends have been incredibly supportive throughout this contest and we are very appreciative!

We wanted to participate in this contest not only to change our financial future, but to inspire others to do the same.  We hope that we’ve set a good example for others to follow.  We also hope that everyone has enjoyed watching and reading about our journey.  While this is the end of the journey in terms of this contest, our financial journey will continue.  As we mentioned before, we will not go back to our old spending habits.  We will continue to save and spend carefully while paying down our debt.  We are looking forward to having a brighter and less worry-filled future thanks to the changes we have made.

I want to point out that my motto coming into this contest was, “It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save.”  My motto leaving the contest is, “Pay yourself first.”  While I still believe in that original tenet, and they are, indeed, similar in theory, I have adjusted it based upon what I have learned in the past 8 months, or the past 17 paychecks, I should say.  Each and every time I get paid, I have a chunk of money go directly to my savings account.  I don’t know why, but it’s like magic to me!!!  Because, in the past, I have told myself, “OK, I will put X amount of dollars in my savings account each time I get paid.”  I would do it, but then the following week I’d be spending that money!  I believe it was a combination of living above my means and wreckless spending.  Also, the luxury of having it go directly into my savings account without it ever hitting the checking account is something like a mind game.  haha, I know that sounds ridiculous, but the fact that I do not ever see it in my checking (a.k.a. “spending”) account is more helpful than one would ever think!  Whether it’s simply mind over matter or not, I don’t care, it’s working for me!!

Thanks for reading my ramblings and happy saving

In the letter it states they “prefer we pre-pay the entire amount prior to our admission.”  The letter continues on to say “if payment is not received prior to service that we will be contacted by a counselor prior to our admission to complete this financial obligation.”  While we can certainly respect the fact the hospital is a business and wants to insure they get their money from those who are able to pay, but paying ahead for only estimated services may not be manageable by everyone.

In talking with our insurance company the only fees they suggested paying prior to any services rendered is the co-pay amount.  So, keeping inline with our budget we have submitted the payment for the co-pay amount but will await the final explanation of benefits from the insurance company before making any additional payments.  We will be able to pay almost half of the hospital stay using the remainder of our dollars from our flexible spending account and the balance there after we will work with the hospital on a budget plan.  If you have means to a flexible spending account it is a great way to lower your taxable income by reimbursing yourself using pre-taxed dollars on health care expenses and many over-the-counter expenses. 

Thanks to everyone for checking out our blog and videos.  We appreciate your loyal support and online votes!  Only a few more days left to vote TEAM KARNS!! 

I hope you are doing well!

Gosh, we are almost to the end!  Just a few more days to go…wow!  I have learned a great deal about myself during the course of this contest.  I realized that it’s much easier to focus on and reach the smaller goals that you set for yourself while shooting for the bigger goal.  Let me explain a bit more.  Early on in the contest I had some setbacks — mental setbacks more than financial.  I had a tremendous amount of hopelessness and fear about never having enough money.  I was always looking at the final goal, but it was so overwhelming that I could never take the small steps necessary to even start walking towards achieving it!!!  So, I stayed stuck, swirling around in the hopelessness that I would never get this paid off or I would never be able to save for that…yada, yada, yada.  I offer a sincere THANK YOU to everyone at KEMBA who helped me work through that!  I have since been able to break through that thinking, start working on the small steps, and be excited because I’m seeing progress!!!  Even more than that, I have realized that my default ”all or nothing” philosophy about things only serves to hurt me and there is a better way.  So, thank you so very much again — to everyone for your support and lessons learned!!!

Hugs,

Amy