I have come to a conclusion.
Debt stinks.
Many of you have probably come to this conclusion as well.
Many of you have probably come to this conclusion as well.
For the longest time,
we complained about our debt.
We talked about managing our money better.
I created hypothetical budgets.
But all of the complaining and planning
never translated into action.
Month after month,
we found ourselves borrowing from our small
savings account.
Until one day...
our savings account ran out.
I believe this would be our "rock bottom" moment.
{financially speaking}
{financially speaking}
But then... something clicked.
We created a budget and got serious about it.
We cut WAY back on our debit card usage,
and we said HELLO to cash.
"Cash is king," as Dave Ramsey would say.
(If you haven't read this book, you probably should)
We now budget our money using these:
{Glass jars with labels stuck on them- we have 13 of them total}
And WOW!
We couldn't believe the results in our first month on this plan!
In our first month, we were able to achieve Dave's baby step #1:
gain an emergency fund of $1000.
Did you hear me people?
One thousand in savings in one month!
This was huge for us!
{Where was all of our money going before... that's what I'd like to know!}
In our first month, we were able to achieve Dave's baby step #1:
gain an emergency fund of $1000.
Did you hear me people?
One thousand in savings in one month!
This was huge for us!
{Where was all of our money going before... that's what I'd like to know!}
For the first time in our marriage,
we began to feel like we have a hold on our finances
rather than our finances having a hold on us.
While we are walking in much more freedom
than we were 8 months ago,
we look forward to the day when we are
debt free!
{Don't worry, I'll let you know when that day comes!}
I can't claim that I'm as frugal as I could be.
I don't clip coupons
{but I might take after my friend Andi and follow her advice here, and start!}
and I quit shopping at Aldi.
{I got tired of having to hit up two grocery stores with a baby tagging along.}
But, I'm happy for now with the progress we've made.
"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." ~ Proverbs 22:7
I can't claim that I'm as frugal as I could be.
I don't clip coupons
{but I might take after my friend Andi and follow her advice here, and start!}
and I quit shopping at Aldi.
{I got tired of having to hit up two grocery stores with a baby tagging along.}
But, I'm happy for now with the progress we've made.
"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." ~ Proverbs 22:7
For some great money saving tips and motivation, check out these sights:
If you've got a "getting out of debt" success story, I'd love to hear it!
Leave me a comment with your story, or a link to your blog post about it, if you have one!
Because a debt free nest, is a more blessed nest!
Happy nesting!
3 comments:
This is SO exciting! Good job!
I agree it is an absolute blessing to be able to live where we are approaching God's Will - (to be the lender and not the borrower!) It's amazing how the things that used to seem important no longer matter!! Just working on the house now!! Even that feels like freedom from where we were!!
Tim and I took Dave's Financial Peace class at our church 3 years ago. We celebrated the birth of our first child AND rung in 2011 by being DEBT FREE! Trust me, it took a lot longer than we thought - and sometimes it felt like we took 2 steps forward only to take 3 back - but we made a budget every single month and stuck to it (the "key" to success - as boring as it is). I look back now and think of all those times when it felt like we weren't making any progress, but it WILL happen. The thing that inspired me the most (besides the Biblical applications on debt) was changing our family tree for our daughter. So happy for you both!
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!