WE'RE DEBT FREE! How We Paid Off $55,000 in 23 months- Part 1
Flashback to 6.5 years ago:
***I stood in the Kroger grocery store line, glancing around nervously, hoping no one I knew would see my WIC food vouchers. I watched the cashier ringing up the food and held my breath- hoping, praying- the number would not more than we had in our account.
"That will be $200, ma'am," the cashier says.
"But, but, I don't have that much money...can I put some things back?"
The line is long behind me and I'm sweating nervously. I hate this.***
And then I wake up. It's just a dream- actually my recurring nightmare about not having enough money in our account for groceries.
Except it's not all a dream, really. We did use WIC checks (government assistance for food) when I was pregnant with Patrick. I really did sweat and hold my breath in the grocery line, praying the number would be low. Much of our furniture and clothing and other goods have come from second hand shops. But for the first time in our 10 1/2 years of marriage, we are now debt free.
When Behn and I first got married- each with a load of student loan debt and some credit card debt- we did not have a very clear sense of financial direction. We both had full time (low paying) jobs, and so we entitled ourselves to some nonsense. Not TOO much nonsense, but the 'normal' amount. Taking trips we could not afford, a used-but-expensive-and-unnecessary SUV. Date nights out. We even financed a $400 chair because WE DID NOT HAVE $400. Because we were raised by frugal parents, we did have some sense. We did not buy the latest technological gadgets, we stayed in budget hotels if we traveled, and neither of us are big retail spenders...but we were truly a mess financially and had no idea of how to move forward.
Enter kids. My greatest dream was to be a stay-at-home mom. I hardly made enough money at my job to pay for daycare anyway, so I prayed for a way to be home with my very-wanted little bundle of boy. God opened the door for me to babysit another child full-time. It was the perfect number to cover rent. And so I spent the first year and half of motherhood home with G and working both full time and part time (another job I found on the weekends). Behn worked hard at his library manager job, while also in grad school rocking 4.0's to get his Master's Degree. Our spending was low and we were very, very careful at this point. Still, we had no plan or direction financially. And yet...these were sweet days in little Lexington with our baby. I can say with certainty that money does not equal joy. Meanwhile, over and over God provided for our young family. Our landlord kept rent low. In the winter when we had a big heating bill to pay, someone at church handed me an envelope of money. Every time our dryer broke, we found another one second-hand. Family was generous at holidays and other times.
Patrick came along, at the same time as Behn's graduation with his fresh Master's Degree. He applied for bunches of jobs, but funny thing- he ended up getting the job my Grandma spotted in her local newspaper at an audiobook company. We were moving to Southern Maryland with fresh student loans. Behn's salary was nearly doubling though, so everything would finally be ok in the money department....
...except it wasn't.
To be continued.
***I stood in the Kroger grocery store line, glancing around nervously, hoping no one I knew would see my WIC food vouchers. I watched the cashier ringing up the food and held my breath- hoping, praying- the number would not more than we had in our account.
"That will be $200, ma'am," the cashier says.
"But, but, I don't have that much money...can I put some things back?"
The line is long behind me and I'm sweating nervously. I hate this.***
And then I wake up. It's just a dream- actually my recurring nightmare about not having enough money in our account for groceries.
Except it's not all a dream, really. We did use WIC checks (government assistance for food) when I was pregnant with Patrick. I really did sweat and hold my breath in the grocery line, praying the number would be low. Much of our furniture and clothing and other goods have come from second hand shops. But for the first time in our 10 1/2 years of marriage, we are now debt free.
When Behn and I first got married- each with a load of student loan debt and some credit card debt- we did not have a very clear sense of financial direction. We both had full time (low paying) jobs, and so we entitled ourselves to some nonsense. Not TOO much nonsense, but the 'normal' amount. Taking trips we could not afford, a used-but-expensive-and-unnecessary SUV. Date nights out. We even financed a $400 chair because WE DID NOT HAVE $400. Because we were raised by frugal parents, we did have some sense. We did not buy the latest technological gadgets, we stayed in budget hotels if we traveled, and neither of us are big retail spenders...but we were truly a mess financially and had no idea of how to move forward.
Enter kids. My greatest dream was to be a stay-at-home mom. I hardly made enough money at my job to pay for daycare anyway, so I prayed for a way to be home with my very-wanted little bundle of boy. God opened the door for me to babysit another child full-time. It was the perfect number to cover rent. And so I spent the first year and half of motherhood home with G and working both full time and part time (another job I found on the weekends). Behn worked hard at his library manager job, while also in grad school rocking 4.0's to get his Master's Degree. Our spending was low and we were very, very careful at this point. Still, we had no plan or direction financially. And yet...these were sweet days in little Lexington with our baby. I can say with certainty that money does not equal joy. Meanwhile, over and over God provided for our young family. Our landlord kept rent low. In the winter when we had a big heating bill to pay, someone at church handed me an envelope of money. Every time our dryer broke, we found another one second-hand. Family was generous at holidays and other times.
Patrick came along, at the same time as Behn's graduation with his fresh Master's Degree. He applied for bunches of jobs, but funny thing- he ended up getting the job my Grandma spotted in her local newspaper at an audiobook company. We were moving to Southern Maryland with fresh student loans. Behn's salary was nearly doubling though, so everything would finally be ok in the money department....
...except it wasn't.
To be continued.
Yay! This is a great story meg
ReplyDelete