We’re weird. I’m okay with that. No, really, I mean it. I’m glad we’re weird. It is one of the big reasons you check us out every day. But why are we that way? Why do we choose to look at “normal” and go the other way? Why do we drive cars we can actually afford instead of having payments? Why do we do most of our own construction projects? In other words – why do we do things that “normal” people don’t do? Today, I’ll fill you in.
I want to start with three ways we got where we are – the HOW. I believe we have to start there for you to understand the why.
First, we made the choice as a couple to live debt free.
With very few exceptions, the people who are debt free got there because they made it a priority. We made paying off debt a big priority and avoiding it thereafter an even bigger priority.
I’m not going to lie – I want expensive stuff. I have a thing for nice pens and watches. I lust after a beautiful Mont Blanc when I see it and I would love to have a nice Breitling or Rolex. You probably didn’t know that, considering I write with whatever pen is handy and my fanciest way to figure out the time is with an Apple Watch that’s about three series behind the current version. No matter how much I like really fancy things, I just can’t make myself buy them for the most part. They’re really nice and if you want to buy me one, I wouldn’t complain and would even write a nice thank-you note (insert subliminal hint here).
We made living debt-free a priority and these luxury items don’t fit (for now) in the scheme of our priorities.
Second, we educated ourselves.
Why do I love Dave Ramsey so much? He is all about educating people that tend to always need to figure out how to make $1000 fast and helping them LEARN about freedom from debt. He motivates people and gives them the information they need to succeed. When I grow up, I hope I can be just like him. Through Dave’s books and Financial Peace University, Stacy and I learned a lot about communicating with one another about money and setting accurate priorities. Even though we both have a good head on our shoulders about money, Dave (and others) gave us a lot of good information to be equipped to handle personal financial issues.
Third, we sought out mentors.
Some of the best money you can spend is on buying the right person/people lunch. If there is someone who has done life in a way you believe, ask them to lunch. Tell them you are impressed by how they live their lives and you want to buy them lunch so you can learn from them. It is a valuable investment in yourself and it gives them a chance to be a mentor (more on that in a second). If you don’t have at least one mentor in your life, get one – TODAY.
So there’s some of the HOW we did it. Let’s talk about the WHY.
- I talk to people who are divorced because they couldn’t agree about money and their marriage fell apart.
- I talk to people who have to choose between buying groceries and paying their Visa bill and discover (no pun intended) they make more money than I do!
- I talk to people who “can’t save for retirement” because they have a $1,000/month car payment.
- I talk to people who can’t make ends meet but refuse to do a budget because it “is too restricting.”
- I talk to elderly folks who are getting collections calls daily because they can’t pay a credit card bill on their small fixed income and can’t work to earn extra money.
- I talk to people who can’t tell me how much income they need to pay their bills each month because it is too overwhelming to face the mess.
- I talk to families who bought an extravagant house during a housing boom, financing it 100%, and now owe tens of thousands more than it is worth.
- I talk to moms and dads who want to save for their kids’ college but have too many bills to make it possible.
How many of those issues still exist when you live on a budget and live debt free? ZERO. That’s why we choose to live debt free.
Fun Story: Dave Ramsey + Cinnamon Rolls = Debt Freedom?
Several of our friends messaged us one day and said, “Hey! We heard your shout out on the Dave Ramsey Show today! Way to go!!!!” Huh? What? Yep. A couple we’ve never met were on air to scream, WE’RE DEBT FREEEEEEE!!!! and told Dave how they learned about him. The answer – a Google search on how to reheat cinnamon rolls, which led to a sidebar post (the earlier version of the one you’re reading right now), which took a newlywed couple on their journey to debt freedom. See? You never know what living debt free (and talking about it) will do to help others. If you want to check out their story, a link to it is below.
Summing it up…
Is it hard to get there? Yes. Is there sacrifice involved? Yes. Are there times when you’ll just want to buy something fun and blow a bunch of cash? Yes. But are there times when you can help a friend in need? Yes. Are there times when you can support a cause you believe in? Yes. Are there times when you can joyfully give an offering to God through His church and see His kingdom grow? Yes. Would I ever want to live with debt again? NEVER.
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. I Timothy 6:17-19
Want to learn more? Buy my eBook, From Debtor to Better: The Details of Debt and How to Get Out! and learn how you can gain freedom from the bondage of debt.
Why do YOU live debt free?
You are right in all you say. I am also living debt free (almost). I am on the right road, I have no more credit cards or loans. I have one car payment but it will be paid off in September. The only other bill I have is my house and would love some ideas on how to get it paid off. I am wired to everyone should be.
Way to go on paying off that car this year! You should be able to take that same payment and apply it to your house payment as principle, and you’ll knock it out in no time too! 🙂
The only debt we have is our house and my school loan. My goal for the next 5 years is to pay off my school loan. I thought I saw somewhere that the government was forgiving some of our school loans. Does anyone know anything about that?
There are a few ways to have your student loans forgiven: apply for an income-based repayment plan, get certain public service jobs (military or similar government roles are some of the most likely to qualify), or become a teacher in certain low-income parts of the country. Beyond that I’m not sure of a way to have them forgiven. Just as a side note, student loans do not qualify for discharge via bankruptcy.
Thank you. Probably the income based payment will be my best thing to try.
Before we bought our house I had a little savings and was pretty carefree with my spending. Then when we bought our fixer upper house I put a bunch of my savings in the down payment but left a little cushion in the bank. It wasn’t enough though because I way overspent on fixing up and furnishing the new place and then when i was down to 2k left in the bank, my car died. That last 2k went to a down payment on a used Civic and ever since then, my monthly outgo has been just enough more than my income that I have gone more and more into debt. My goal these next five years is to. 1) pay off my credit card debt(and I now have confidence I can do it since finding your site and downloading your budgeting spreadsheet!) 2) Build my savings back up and 3) finish graduate school and get a better job. You’re resources are great. I love your site and have only just found it and scratched the surface and have yet to delve in but I’m sure I will be coming back again and again. Thank you so much.
You’re welcome! Please let us know any time we can help!
I had us nearly out of debt when my husband was in the military, but when he got home from deployment, he wanted to have fun and refused to pay bills. We ended up incurring a whopping $16k in debt over the last 6 years. I felt so defeated and gave up. I’m finding my fight again, but now – we have three kids, a ton of debt, no savings and we’re expected to move out of our rental in 30 days as the owners are selling it. You’d think my husband would be motivated to budget and stick to it, but nope. I’m just quietly asserting my way – paying down debt as I can.
Don’t give up hope! You can’t do it alone, but you can help him and encourage him to help you in the fight. Hopefully he’ll come around!
We are buried in debt and it is suffocating us. I honestly don’t know where to start! Feeling hopeless! Any suggestions?
Do you have our free ebook on how to set up a budget? Setting up a budget is most definitely the first step in getting out of debt.
I don’t . Going to look at that now. Thank you and God bless
If that doesn’t answer your questions, please holler back and we’ll try to help! 🙂
This is a great post. I am 34 and have been trying to get out of debt for a while and nothing really sticks …. the only thing that has stuck is that I do pay cash for vacations. It is a small step! I have bought your book and I am looking forward to learning and implementing. With the amount of money I make, I am really uncomfortable that I am not debt free and have nothing to show for it, it is time for a change and 2015 is the year! I would like to know where my money goes and travel more!
That’s great, Courtney! Let us know if we can help in any way!
We are so close to being debt free. Completely and truly debt free. We have always paid cash for cars, etc. But I had student loans. We rent, so no mortgage. It’s been hard. But not as hard as it would have been if we had waited. Thanks for sharing your story. 🙂
Good for you, Nicole! 🙂 It’s gonna feel so great!
I need help. I can’t get my husband on a budget and even though we make decent money, we scrape by paycheck to paycheck. We have mortgage payment, car payments, owe irs and a few smaller bills. We take vacations but do put on layaway at our travel agents business . my son is entering college Monday and we are incurring another $200
monthly payment. How can I get him on a budget, I really want to get out of debt but it just seems there is no way out. any suggestions
Hey Tammy, this is an all-too-common challenge. You are not alone! I wrote about this here: http://www.stacymakescents.com/using-money-to-show-your-spouse-real-love
If you have any specific questions, feel free to use the email form on the site to send me an email and I’ll try to help further. Don’t give up!!!
I love this! I have a feeling that I’ll be reading your blog often! We also love Dave’s FPU and we’re in the early stages, but thankfully we started with only student loan debt. It’s massive, but it’s interest free while we remain in country (NZ), so it’s at baby step six while we try to get a FFEF.
We have a weak spot for giving, but it’s God-led, so it’s exciting and totally worth the eternal investment. I’m so thankful to have a husband who rejoices with me when I tell him how God led to give to so and so, or to do such and such. What a mighty God we serve!
As a stay at home mom, I understand trying to pinch pennies and “sell everything until the kids think they’re next.” We’re currently working on that (downsizing house and car helps that process!) and I’ve recently started an online selling business which will soon be increasing that FFEF!
Thanks for sharing your journey on here. I can’t wait to read more!
Here’s my newbie blog if you’re interested in reading about a kiwi mama doing her best to serve the King. http://kissescuddlesandaeroplanes.wordpress.com/
My family is working on becoming debt free as well. I have been managing to eat healthier on an organic and natural diet for my family of 4. My journey is bakodepot.blogspot.com Keep your posts coming! Love it!
Good for you, Jenn! 🙂
Wonderful! Thank you so much for the e-book. It was amazing and really got my brain thinking… lol
Excellent read thank you so much
Excellent article. There are some points of Ramsey that I love-he is very common sensical. However, I also love Robert Kiyosaki’s ideas as well. These 2 are both on opposite ends of the spectrum and many may not be able to have the discipline to leverage money the way Kiyosaki teaches (good debt). Ramsey does not believe in managing risk, at all so it seems. Every ‘cent’ of my my hundreds of thousands of debt is in mortgages of rental properties and my own home. As a public school teacher (with just the Dave Ramsey approach), I would have never been able to have my wife come home from work from a 6 figure income, design and build our dream home, have the choice of home schooling, have cash in the bank, and still be able to give over 25% of my monthly gross income to ministries local and abroad. Yes, we put all our eggs in one basket and we watch that basket like a hawk. It has performed month after month after month for the last 11 years (cumulatively) and when the mortgages are paid off, we will have substantially more than just putting our discretionary money in a “savings” plan. I do believe God has his hand in it as well. We use both Ramsey and Kiyosaki’s ‘toolboxes’. We NEVER pay retail for anything if we have to. There are too many FB groups selling clothes, doodads, “stuff’ for pennies on the dollar. Why would you pay retail, + tax on top of it? And you can sell your junk on there to pay for your new junk. LOL. I recommend playing Kiyosaki’s board game Cashflow 101. This will give most people a paradigm shift in the way they think about how they spend their money. The game is not perfect-you can’t buy stocks in real life the way you can in the game, but overall, it is the best thing out there to teaching real life personal finance. To God be the Glory!
My husband and I were married later in life. So he is now 60 and I am 54. I am afraid he will not get to retire! It’s a long story but he did have $300,000 invested with someone and it was all lost under false circumstances. We have contacted lawyers , but the statute of limitations is up.
Anyway, we have home mortgage, vehicle loan, and I have 12,000 in cc debt. I am so sad that my VERY HARD working husband & stepfather to my kids won’t get to retire. Where do we start????
This is a TOUGH situation. I’m drafting an email to you with some thoughts. I hope it will help, but it will also give you a direct way to reach me with specific questions.
Well, I just typed for 20 minutes and then created an account and it was all gone, so if you get two comments, sorry about that!
My husband and I have been married for over 19 yrs (fortyish also) we have two young children 4 and 6. We have had many ups and downs financially–even being debt-free a couple of times. Being debt-free with money in the bank is a great feeling! But each time we acquired that status, we either moved across the country (to start fresh–expensive) or started a new business venture (expensive and didn’t work) which left us back in the debt-status! I call us Serial Entrepreneurs!!!
We have accumulated approx. $320K worth of debt!! Mostly from business ventures that didn’t work!
Our home is around $215K. We built it ourselves and had $60K in it, then added on (2 kids) for a mortgage of around $130K (very manageable) but have since taken all the equity out of it to pay off credit card debt, etc. (from business ventures that didn’t work). We thought that 4-5% interest in a home equity would be better than 15-30% interest which we were paying! Our home sits smack-in-the-middle of my husband’s father’s land (aka the family farm!) so we have tried desperately to hang-on to it! We did recently list the home online for sale or rent but haven’t listed with a realtor because we can’t sell the home and pay the 6% commission and come out clear! We have commercial bldgs. that we bought (one of our business ventures that hasn’t worked!) remodeled and are trying to sell/rent. We can’t seem to sell or rent because we live in a town where everyone is afraid of starting anything new (can’t blame them), so we have had them for sale for almost 2 years now!! Those bldgs. make up around $92K worth of debt and maintenance! We drive old vehicles (2001 and 2004) but still have a loan on them totaling around $11K! We have always had excellent credit and even now have a fico score of over 720 but what good is it doing us? We have always been people to believe we are responsible for our own debt–even in business, so when a business closed, we ate the debt! We are finally at that point where we feel bankruptcy may be our only option. We don’t believe in bankruptcy! Every time we get close to filing someone comes along with “interest” in one of our bldgs. and we hold out on the “what if” they do and that would solve some of our problems! Maybe we can did out of this mess on our own! This is taking a toll on our family relationship and the stress is overwhelming. I am a stay-at-home mom who homeschools (now, I did have a boutique before—that didn’t work). My husband has been in construction for 20+ years, mostly self-employed. But work is sporatic. By the grace of God we have made it for the last 5 years!
Any advice as we are at the end of our rope (and we have tied knot after knot after knot!)
I just sent you an email as well, but here are a few thoughts that may help everyone reading: 1) You can’t borrow your way out of debt – you MUST change your mindset radically to get out of this mess. 2) Bankruptcy MIGHT be your only remaining option, but it is a poor option so I would only go there once you’ve tried everything else…for example – 3) Since you won’t make any money from the sale of the property and are desperate to get out from under it, have you considered a short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure? 4) It doesn’t sound like you’re behind on the payments, but frustrated beyond measure. Don’t give up! You are learning some powerful lessons to share with your kids and THEY ARE WATCHING. Give them a strong example of perseverance and maturity in this time of extreme difficulty. 5) Prayer works. I’ve asked God to give you wisdom and I hope you’re doing the same daily!
Hi Barry! I loved this article! Unfortunately, it seems so unobtainable for people like my husband and I. He and I both studied at more than inexpensive universities with him going on to the most expensive graduate school in our state. The thought of living debt free is mouthwatering but impossible when we’re paying our mortgage AND $1200/mo. in student loans. I would love any advise that you have for someone in a situation like ours. Our mortgage is chump change compared to our student debt and haven’t even been able to think about having a family, yet! Thanks and I look forward to reading the rest of your work!
Just because you have a lot of debt doesn’t mean you can’t pay it off! I would never encourage someone to go to the most expensive schools unless they had fantastic financial incentives to do so. That being said, that’s your past and we need to look forward. First and foremost, I’d encourage you to live on a budget that puts you in charge of your money and not the other way around. Also recognize that every little bit now can make a lot of difference later. I don’t know what you studied in school, but make sure you’re using that education to maximize your income earning potential. The biggest advice I can give is that as long as you keep digging, you’ll eventually work your way out. Don’t give up and don’t assume it is impossible. There are literally millions who have done it before – you can do it too!
The old saying applies here that I think Henry Cloud has summed up best: “We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change.”
Seems to me your spouse doesn’t see it as the issue you do because he doesn’t think “scraping by” is a big problem. Help him see your perspective. Pray for him to change. Pray that God will help him see how important it is to you. Don’t nag, but encourage.
As a financial counselor, I get people trying to justify poor financial choices to me all the time. Worst part is – THEY KNOW THEY’RE MAKING BAD CHOICES and choose to do it anyway.
I love everything about this article! My question is what to do when my spouse refuses to take any steps to live out of debt? I’ve done everything that I can think of to save money and it’s literally driving me crazy that 8 years and 3 kids later we’re just barely scraping by with our monthly payments. I would just love to work together with our money and use it to promote the Kingdom, but what can I do when it’s just me wanting change?
How much debt you pay off is always based on what you’re bringing in. Someone who makes more can always pay things off faster…and while you might make less, you can still make a huge dent in your debt. It might take a bit longer, but it’s still worth it. The tortoise always wins the race. 🙂 Slow and steady…you’ll get there.
I love reading about all these people paying off debt, like the one couple who paid off $40,000 in a year. That’s fabulous, but what about if that is your family income for a year? We would love to live debt free but with four kids and school costs alone being $5000/year (only school option in our town) it gets ridiculous. My husband already does all our car repairs, all our fixing house etc, we don’t have satellite etc, no loans or credit card debt except our mortgage. if we eat out it is Mcdonalds, but are still scraping by. I would love to know how to stretch our dollar even further. Thanks!
I hopped over from Raising Arrows and this post caught my eye. If only people knew how much freedom they’d have being debt free. My husband and I sat through a 20 wk seminar 9 years ago about becoming debt free and the principles that we learned then completely changed our lives. We were never big spenders before, but we have a much clearer vision now when it comes to finances. We are a family of 10 living in Long Island, NY. Living expenses are very high here, yet God willing we are on course to pay off our house (our only debt) in two years! We only bought the house 9 years ago, so this is pretty rare. I wish more couples would realize how much freedom they’d have if they weren’t in bondage to the credit card. It’s very hard to get out of debt, but so worth it. Thanks for sharing your story. 🙂
Thanks for reading it. 🙂 Being debt free allows us to give, give, give! Our favorite perk. 🙂
Awesome! We are Dave Ramesy Followers, too! We have just paid off the second car! Praise the Lord! Credit ards are paid off! No more mortgages……..one more loan to go……a student loan! Then we are DEBT-FREE!!!!!!! I love your life style…..gives inspiritation to others!
Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 You’re kicking it!
I am so glad that you are weird. I follow Dave Ramsey’s teachings and am weird myself. I am debt free, and it is the only way to be. I was doing research on A Walt Disney vacation and was brought to your site. You are extremely helpful. I have already applied for a quote thru The Magic for Less. Best of luck. Keep sharing your knowledge!
Hooray! Great company and great vacation! 🙂
My husband and I have been on Dave’s baby steps plan since we got married in April 2009. In June 2012 we became debt free and last month we finished our fully funded emergency fund. We’re now saving for the down payment on a house. We’re really excited about the progress we are making and very hopeful about our future. But what I would really love to hear about from you and Stacy, is how do you handle relationships with close family who you see making bad money choices? Both sets of our parents and each of our younger brothers are constantly struggling with money and making poor money choices. They all know how we feel about debt and budgeting and dealing with money and are impressed with our money progress but continue down their own paths. So, I know we can’t change their behavior. We can only share what has helped us and then let them make their own decisions. So when those decisions continue to be bad, how do you emotionally and relationally deal with that? Debt free living is so freeing it hurts to see our family in bondage with no desire for freedom. How can we accept this without living under a cloud of sadness because of their wasted potential?
Congratulations on becoming debt free!!! Way to go! I would love to say I have a good answer for your question of convincing others to make good money choices, but I don’t. For years, I watched many of my family members make extremely poor money choices and only recently, after seeing Stacy and I pay cash for this house and my father’s death, have a few of them started to ask me for input. I wrote about this a little using Dave Ramsey’s term for it: Powdered Butt Syndrome (http://www.stacymakescents.com/powdered-butt-syndrome). So take heart – when I wrote that post a little less than two years ago, I thought it was hopeless that my parents (or anyone in the family) would listen to my input about money. But over time, I’m seeing that change. Remember this: it isn’t your responsibility to change them, but know they’re watching. When you live a life that displays financial success (without boasting), people will pay attention.
Stacy and Barry,
I would like to thank you for your championing of this lifestyle! This post is perfectly timed for us. My husband and I are so excited about the strides we have made toward being debt free, but unfortunately those closest to us are struggling right now so it is not something we feel we can talk about too often. This month we will make our last payment on our furniture and we started paying extra on my car. We hope to have the car paid off in May leaving us with just two sources of debt, his motorcycle and our home. The car and the motorcycle were foolish debt acquired before we met…oops 😉 We received a copy of Dave Ramsey’s book as a wedding present when we were married in June of last year and almost immediately started changing our ways. We are learning how to work together with our money instead of letting it become a sore subject in our marriage and we couldn’t be happier. Not having many mentors in this area around us, I come here and gain hope from your posts and comments. Thank you guys! And congratulations on living your life in all the ways you feel are best! God bless!
I love reading comments like these. You can do it!
We are in the first year of attempting to be debt free. We were always careful about living “on a budget” but honestly we thought living on a budget meant being able to pay all the bills (virtually NO savings) and not using credit cards.
Our eye-opening moment – we simply realized we never had any money to do what we WANTED to do because it was all wrapped up in bills. My husband and I together make 6 figures but it’s never enough; there’s always something we don’t have the money for (in 18 years of marriage we have never had enough money to take a vacation). We don’t live elaborately (expensive cars, jewelry, watches, clothes, etc…) and we don’t buy everything we want; literally our money is wrapped up in necessities – food, shelter, utilities, cars, insurance, childcare.
We are 40-ish. We both work full-time. We have two children, both in daycare/after-school care, I have $40K in student loan debt, our morgage is $218K, we have 2 car payments (each at $350/mth), we tithe, we buy health insurance, we pay for life insurance, and we both have retirement savings through work.
We are making strides (we have “freed-up” $400 each month), but it honestly doesn’t feel like we will ever be debt free within our lifetime. I am tryly envious of those of you that have been able to accomplish this!
We are following Dave Ramsey and we have taken advantage of some free personal finance courses offered by Wells Fargo. In three years, both of our children will be in school and we will have approximately $1000 to re-distribute – any advice on small changes with big gains until then?
Hey Mary,
Way to go on committing to live debt free! It will be a tough road but you can do it – I promise! Dave Ramsey’s stuff is always good material, so keep using it. I also wrote a book, which I’ve sent you via .pdf as a small way I can hopefully provide some encouragement and help. Beyond that, the tried and true methods to boost your debt reduction will apply. They include: doing a strict budget that “spends every dollar on paper” before you get paid, discussing every expense as a couple and eliminating and/or reducing all possible, selling a car and driving cheaper for a while, maximizing your income by reducing deductions and minimizing retirement savings TEMPORARILY (very short-term), and using cash for any of those budget categories that are struggles for you (places where you overspend). In my book I spend a lot of time on these and hope that will give you some direction. Feel free to reply to the email I just sent with any questions you might have. YOU CAN DO IT!
Four years ago, we were at a point in our financial disaster that we were 2 weeks away from loosing EVERYTHING. I had been hurt at work, my husband (who owned his own truck and trailer), never came home, because he was trying his best to stay ahead of the banks. During this time I was struggling with physio therepy and learning to walk pretty much all over again. Once I literally got my feet under me it took 1 hour to walk 1 mile. Yes, I was moving on my own. I then got to the point that I was speed walking, I would not call my efforts heroic, but down right stubborn. I was ready to go to work and I packed up my stuff, boarded a plane and went 5,500 Kilometers from home, not knowing when I would see my hard working husband, and went to the Northwest Territories for work. Three months later, my husband appeared out of nowhere. I was making more than he was, he was working just as hard, so he sold truck and trailer and joined me. In just over a year, we got rid of $40,000.00 of debt, put a whole roof on the house, bought a 2nd vehicle with cash and we now have only 7 more payments left on the first one. Its really comical, when we were struggling, the banks didnt want to help, now they do. Go figure. Its wonderful being almost to the point that we are debt free. And to think that this started with listening to Dave Ramsey. It is possible to be thrifty and live a wonderful life.
Hard work, Debbie. You should be VERY proud of yourself….God blessed your efforts, indeed!
Stacy, I’m glad that you and Barry do such a good job at encouraging others to be debt free. I don’t think of it as being weird but that’s the result of having made the changes some years ago and living a debt-free lifestyle for some time now. It truly is liberating. It really is about the mindset and becomes a way of life. There are three households in my immediate family within a 7 mile radius and we all live debt-free so there’s a lot of reinforcement on a daily basis. My grandson’s favorite store is the Salvation Army thrift shop. He’s 3 1/2 yrs old and knows where all the “departments” are in the store 🙂
I had an experience today at Home Depot that reminded me of how our mindset is so different from most folks. I was looking for a lighting solution to a badly lit bathroom. I found sconce lights that would work but are overpriced because they’re from the decorative line that carries a famous person’s name. I was looking to spend in the area of $19-24 each but these lights are $59.97 each… argh!! When I said the lights were nice but the price was out of my budget, the salesman started explaining to me how they’re worth the investment and I should consider putting them “on the card” and paying them off over the next 3-6 months, and since I wouldn’t have to pay now, I could add the $99 installation that they could provide. Wow! What a deal… NOT
I started to tell him that I don’t make those kind of financial decisions because I choose to live debt-free. He told me that he’s heard about that and he doesn’t see the sense in it. I could have purchased the lights for cash today if I chose to go off my budget but that’s not how I do things. Oh, well. My bad lighting doesn’t have a solution yet but I’m still smiling and will be watching for a good lighting sale!! After all, the money within my control is a blessing from God. It’s not my money, it’s His and it’s my responsibility to be a good steward of the funds.
For all those working to get debt-free, Yes – it’s worth the effort and you’ll feel great and be so glad when you get there.
That’s funny! When we go to Lowes and Home Depot, we’re always looking at the clearance section! LOL
For us, the key to getting out of debt has been to put the focus on God, and the fact that our money is part of His kingdom resources. It’s not really even about how good it feels to be debt free…it’s about realizing we were selfishly tying up all of His resources that would have come through us to our children and to others. It has been such a great joy and a blessing to be able to finally help others and bless our children. We don’t take it for granted and give all the credit to our amazing God, who has helped two very selfish people gain control over spending and show some self-control at long last! If we can do it – with 6 kids, 2 of whom went through private school and now 4 in college at one time, and two layoffs in 5 years – anyone, with God’s help, can do it’ too. To God be the glory!
To God be the glory, great things He hath done! 🙂
It’s really hard to start a budget when you have absolutely no control over spending-ie buying coffee, soda, chips etc every time you stop for gas rather than doing a little prep work and bringing your own. Once I made the adjustment of my thinking I was deprived since I would have to do the prep work, it was actually fun to find ways to still include my splurges as cheaply as possible because I knew that everywhere I saved money, I could put towards something else I really wanted and would enjoy far longer than that coffee, etc. For the first time ever, we were able to get our kids a big ticket gift (a beautiful wooden playhouse/swingset-rather than a bunch of little gifts) that they really enjoy and that feeling of happiness as a parent is worth every little sacrifice that we made to be able to do that! By managing our money, it’s actually enabled us to spend more in other areas and still stay on budget. I was surprised by that. If you can stick with a budget for just one month, I promise that you will see the benefits. You will be astounded at how much “extra” money you actually have that you can find a much better way to spend. Oh, and still pay down on debt in the process. It doesn’t have to mean every penny goes to pay off debt, but once you get started it is addicting.
You’re absolutely right – it is all about mindset. Once you decide to change (and don’t just “think about it”), it is MUCH easier after that.
My much younger cousin got debt free following Dave Ramsey. We have been working on it for 2 years. The first year our HVAC had to be replaced so that set us back and still has a payment for another year. We did however pay off 2 high amount monthly bills. We took a 6 month break and will get back on it the first of the year after we find out how much our taxes and healthcare will cost. It feels great to have a couple bills paid off so we cant wait to see how it feels to be debt free with the exception of our mortgage.
You can do it! If you need any encouragement to become debt free, this is the place for you.
Thank you for posting this. We are on the same path, only closer to the beginning part. I wouldn’t call us weird (other people do, but I don’t haha) I would call us counter-cultural. Personally, I think it’s weird to consistantly spend more than you make to buy things that you don’t need, and deal with the stress EVERY day and think it’s normal. Society (who are “they” anyway??) has us believing that we deserve to get more “stuff” to be happy. What not so long ago was considered a luxury (like a tv with more than a couple channels) is now considered a necessity. We wonder why our kids appreciate nothing-because they have everything by the age of 6! I’ve watched birthdays and holidays turn into major shopping sprees where parents buy gifts with only their kids’ “happiness” in mind but no budget. I know, I used to be one of them. A budget has freed us from guilt purchases because if we buy something now on impulse, we do so knowing that it will mean cutting back somewhere else. Even though it’s hard work and can be viewed as tedious, it’s MUCH better than dealing with the mess of not being able to pay our bills. We still worry about that due to just being in the beginning of getting out of debt, but we aren’t adding to the problem and that has enabled us to begin paying down our debt. Yes it’s hard work, but so is anything else worth having. I only wish we would’ve learned this earlier but we are raising our kids with this way of thinking. Never to early to begin that, kids are bombarded every day with toy commercials and start to think they “need” these toys to be happy. I refuse to let them grow up in such a way that they would never know contentment. C’mon, swim upstream with us! It’s very rewarding once you get started.
Good encouragement for us all. People tell me how hard it will be if they have to live on a budget and how they won’t get to buy any good stuff any more. My response is usually along the lines of a discourse on how much fun it is to sleep at night knowing you don’t have a collector after you and that you can buy all the fun stuff you want…as long as you can pay for it. A Ferrari is not evil, just expensive. ;0)
Mark and I got married pretty young and the biggest issue we had with our immaturity (I in no way think it was a mistake to get married young, but yes, we were immature) was in money. We choose not to seek advice, I had a REALLY warped view on submission, and neither of us had ever even handled money (or been taught/learned the first thing about it). We bought a 20,000 car- thinking about the really good job Mark was /about/ to start.
I feel blessed to have learned about the words “security” and “debt”, and look forward to teaching them to anyone who will listen. First though, I really want to get rid of the debt (long story how virtually none of it is gone right now) because I think our story is only beginning.
Also, we now know that handling finances will a major part of teaching our children at home!
We were VERY blessed to see good examples of handling money and we hope Annie and Andy grow up as weird as we are!
That is our dream too- just more focused on OUR kids of course. Already planning ways to actively teach them about money.
I hope we can take Christopher to the store today so he can buy his first ever item with money he has earned. It will have to be about a $0.15 piece of candy…