Resisting the urge

Assalaam Alakium ladies!

Jummah Mubarak! InshAllah you're Friday has been blessed. =) I spent the majority of my day cleaning and doing laundry. I feel so refreshed when everything is nice and tidy. I also resisted the urge to buy new hijabs. It was tough but I didn't give in.

The thing is, I have plenty of hijabs and there is absolutely no need for me to get anymore. Would it be nice to have some new hijabs, yes. Could that money be used for something else, most certainly yes. It took me awhile to really say "no" to myself. I had everything in the "shopping cart" and had looked over it about 10 different times. I even went to go get my credit card, but I stopped myself and told myself to just think about it for the day. Within an hour I had already decided against it. I'm not torn up about it either. =)

At times, I can be compulsive in turns of shopping. I'm really trying to make the effort to manage my money better. I grew up poor and never had any money to spend until I got a job, when I was 16. It felt so great to have money that I just went crazy buying all of the things I ever wanted. I never had any money left over for savings and just days after pay day I was broke. Being older and living with my husband independently has forced me to resist the urge to buy.

I've realized that most of the things we "need" we really don't and if we really thought about our purchases before we bought them our money situation would be different, and I say this for everyone. Islam teaches us to to live simply. There is a saying I love, "Live simply so others can simply live". I try to remind myself of this when I'm feeling compulsive. 

How do you resist the urge to shop?

Do you think about your purchases before you buy them?

Please share in the comments!

Have a great rest of the day. 

Wasalaam,

~Hijabi Butterfly~

Makeover in progress....

Assalaam Alakium ladies!

How's your day been? Alhamdulliah, mine has been great! As stated in my previous post, I was flipping through David Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover. Well I've finished "flipping" and wrote a few quick notes that I'd like to share with you all. 

First of all, I'd like to state that in Islam being debt-free is a Sunnah. We all know that Riba (interest) is forbidden and most of all debt has interest attached. It is encouraged in Islam to pay off debt as swiftly as possible. Here are a few hadiths (sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon him):

"Narrated Salama bin Al-Akwa: Once, while we were sitting in the company of the Prophet, a dead man was brought. The Prophet was requested to lead the funeral prayer for the deceased. He said, "Is he in debt?" The people replied in the negative. He said, "Has he left any wealth?" They said, "No." So, he led his funeral prayer. Another dead man was brought and the people said, "O, Allah's Apostle! Lead his funeral prayer." The Prophet said, "Is he in debt?" They said, "Yes." He said, "Has he left any wealth?" They said, "Three Dinars." So, he led his prayer. Then a third dead man was brought and the people said, Please lead his funeral prayer." He said, "Has he left any wealth?" They said, "No." He asked, "Is he in debt?" They said,  Yes, He has to pay three diners.", He refused to pray and said, "Then pray for your dead companion." Abu Qatada said, "O Allah's Apostle! Lead his funeral prayer, and I will pay his debt" So, he led the prayer."

Narrated Abu Huraira: "The Prophet said, "Whoever takes the money of the people with the intention of repaying it, Allah will repay it on his behalf, and whoever takes it in order to spoil it, then Allah will spoil him."

We all see the importance of paying debt in Islam. Now I'd like to give a few of Dave Ramsey's tips. Note: I won't be posting too many details because I don't want to take away from Dave Ramsey. If you can, I recommend buying the book to get a detailed explanation. 

First of all, write down all of your debt from smallest to largest. Then pay off your smallest debts first. This way you get an emotional response to paying off debt and feel that you can do it. 

Once you have written down your debts and have started paying them down, write out a budget. Be detailed as possible! After this, save $1,000 for an emergency fund. This is only for emergencies, not that new Ipad3 coming out! Once you're debt is being paid off start saving enough money to last you 3-6 months of expenses and add that to the $1,000 emergency fund. This is for an emergency, for an example if someone loses their job. This money is used to pay bills and bills only. 

Once you have conquered these steps you are on your way to debt freedom! It's really that easy. It takes some planning and organizing to accomplish but it'll be a great feeling when you finally have ZERO debt. Another quick tip is to implement the "envelope system". Divide your expenses into categories such as food, gas, clothing, entertainment. Get an envelope for each category and put a certain amount of money in each envelope. Once the money in that specific envelop is gone, you are done for that month or pay period. Any money left, put in savings. 

I hope this helps some of you and if you are doing this now, please share how this is working for you and your family!

InshAllah, in the future I'll be posting updates on the Writer and I's budget and "Total Money Makeover".

Have a great day!

Wasalaam,

~Hijabi Butterfly~

Budgeting

Assalaam Alakium girlies!

Sorry, I didn't post anything yesterday. Not much was going on and I didn't want to post just anything. Please forgive me? =) Today, I'm at my Wednesday spot, Barnes and Noble! I'm looking around for some budgeting books and may read a chapter of The Hunger Games. Have any of you read it? I'm not sure if I should buy it or not. Cheapo ova here. hehe

It's a rainy day here in Houston and it's my mom's birthday today! She will be getting a call from her favorite daughter! Favorite, only because I'm the only daughter hehe. =)

While I'm here at Barnes and Noble I'm looking through Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover. I've read and watched reviews on this book and thought I'd give it a look through. The Writer and I have accumulated some extra debt due to tax time. The Writer worked at a non-profit organization so we have to pay taxes as well as some other stuff we weren't expecting. It's time for us to get our money right and start a "real" budget. So far, our budget has just consisted of writing down the bills, when they're due and how much they are. Any extra money is free game and we end up at the end of the month thinking, "where did all that money go". Needless to say, we don't want that happening every month. 

I also found a nice budgeting notebook at Target the other day. It was full of budgeting forms and had everything already organized so I think I may go get that as well. Can you tell I like forms and organization? My life seems so much more put together if I am organized and have a solid plan. I'm a planner, fo sho. 

The Writer and I are wanting to buy a second car and pay down some debt so inshAllah these tools will help us succeed at that. We both hate interest but sometimes it's impossible to get around, unless you have a rich uncle, which neither of us do! hehe

I'll let you all know what I think about Dave Ramsey's book and if I like it I'll add a few tips or something as well. Have a great day and I'll (inshAllah) be back later with another post. 

Wasalaam,

~Hijabi Butterfly~