It's hard to believe another year has gone by. I would think it was a mistake that 2013 was already here, if not for my children, ever growing reminders that time is indeed moving forward and my once toddler and baby boys will turn 5 and 7 years old this year, not to mention my sweet little three year old stepson who is now 10 years old- doesn't seem possible. But, it is. This is life. This is my life that I love. Seeing my boys growing, learning, pondering life, loving God and each other... This is what life is all about.
I am so thankful for another year with my family. I am intrigued watching my little boys play and come up with the most fascinating questions. I love their desire to learn. My four year old has decided that he wants to learn to read alongside his 6 year old brother, and I'm so amazed that he is doing it!
2012 was a big year for my family. I've written in depth about how we managed to climb out of debt and how Barry got his dream job. I know that pay increases will be coming and that will be an amazing blessing as we begin the search to buy our first home. Big things are in store for us and I am excited to see what 2013 may bring.
I am contemplating the idea of going back to college to finish my AA degree after taking a significant amount of time off to raise my young children. My youngest child starts kindergarten next Fall and I am hoping this will work out perfectly. Not sure where I'll go after that. It really is something that cannot be decided, but something God must orchestrate, so as my husband and I lean in to listen, please pray that we will make the right decisions and hear God's voice through it all.
2013 is the last year of my twenties. That alone, is sort of a big deal to me. I celebrated my 10 year high school reunion this past summer, and must add, had the time of my life dancing and reminiscing, but now it's onto a new chapter. I sort of love the anticipation, the not-knowing what's next. It's exciting. It's part of the reason I love my husband so much. We have always had an adventurous relationship and family life and I'm glad we are both okay with just seeing what happens sometimes.
Barry and I are planning to take a trip to Las Vegas in May to celebrate one of his best friends getting married. I am excited that we will finally get to leave the state, alone, and Barry will get his first real airplane experience. A weekend without the kids will be well earned for sure, although I'm sure we will talk about them the whole time and yes, miss them like crazy, but it will be so much fun to get away and enjoy some adult time!
This blog is a bit random and out of order, but it's just because I have so many thoughts running through my head right now, but I want to make sure I mention that yesterday Barry and I celebrated our 7 year dating anniversary! 5 years ago he asked me to marry him and we finally paid off the proposal dinner and my beautiful ring :) Barry was gone all day yesterday doing a job, but he brought me home an "anniversary burrito" from Taco Bell.. I love that man. He keeps me laughing, he's someone I can ALWAYS count on, and he believes in me, and in us. He's also a terrific daddy, a wonderful spiritual leader for our family, and so much more. I am so happy to be working on our 8th year together. Even in the worst of times, he's the only one I want beside me. Thanks honey for always loving me and being there.
I suppose the last thing I want to say about 2013 is that I really want to make sure I have my priorities in order and that we are following God's plan and not making a plan expecting God to help us with it. It's not always easy to figure out the right path, but I know it will be worth it as we wait on God.
To all my friends and blog followers, thank you for your love and support. You are all special to me!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Saturday, December 22, 2012
God Bless this Broken World
For the last week, I have struggled with my own emotions as I have tried to find the words to say how my life has been impacted by the tragic events that took place inside the walls of Sandy Hook Elementary School on the 14th of December.
As I watched the news on Friday and information started to pour out, I sat there, stood there, fell to my knees, and cried, grieving for the people of Sandy Hook and what they have lost.
Over the last week, I have found myself overwhelmed by sadness and empathy over and over again. I have cried, sobbed, prayed for strangers more than I ever have before, and I’ve at times felt guilty, that while 20 families lost their sweet first graders, my very own first grade boy lies sleeping in my bed, curled up with his best friend, his four year old little brother. I can’t imagine the pain of losing one of my children, and I can’t comprehend how you would explain that to a best friend sibling, yet, this is the reality across the country, and that just shatters my heart.
I was a high school student when the Columbine Shootings took place. I remember the fear as the facts unfolded on that day. I was 15 years old and the realization that someone could go into a high school similar to my own, and kill fellow students, was shocking to my naive self. As a community and a school, we processed the events together, and moved on, although never forgetting the terror felt that day from across the country.
9-11 was another shocking day, as I again sat in my high school classes, watching the news, while we saw the second plane crash live on air into the second tower. A wide range of emotions were felt that I never knew existed.
Last Friday, when I first heard the news of Sandy Hook, it hit me harder than I ever thought possible. As soon as I heard all 20 children were six and seven year olds, in their first grade classrooms, I immediately felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. These are not just Sandy Hook’s children, these are OUR children as a country, as a nation. These are OUR babies!
I have had a week now to process these events. On Wednesdays, I volunteer in my son’s first grade classroom, and this week, as I watched his teacher read to all the children at the end of the day, I thought about how blessed we are to have loving, protecting teachers, who will sacrifice their own lives for our children. I had to hold back tears as my son brought home a Christmas Card from his teacher and as I read one personally sent home to me, telling how much she enjoys my son, I felt so blessed to be
surrounded by such a loving community with amazing teachers. A community that resembles Newtown in so many ways, from it’s small town feel, where people move here because of our safe schools, to the beauty that surrounds our town.
I was moved once again on Thursday when I attended my 6 and 10 year old sons Christmas Concert at school. Each grade level took turns singing, from kindergarten through 5th grade. I could feel a special moment when our three classes of first graders stood up together and sang songs complete with homemade bell jinglers and snowflakes on a stick. How blessed we are to still have our 6 and 7 year olds here with us, and how extremely sad we are for those who are missing their sweet babies.
I do believe those babies are in a better place. They are undoubtedly in heaven, a place where there are no tears or sorrow, and a place where they will wait and be reunited again with their loved ones someday. My heart doesn’t hurt for those children who get to be with Jesus for Christmas this year, my heart is overjoyed for them! My heart hurts for those left behind, here on earth, who must figure out how to make sense of a life that no longer includes the presence of the ones who they lived for. I can’t imagine going on if I ever lost one of my children, especially to an act of cold blood murder. I can’t imagine ever being able to pick myself up off the floor from crying myself to sleep, and that is why I hurt so intensely for the families who lost their precious little ones, for they are stronger than I could ever be.
I pray daily for the families and friends left behind to grieve, that they will find comfort and peace, knowing their sweet babies are safe in the arms of Jesus and watching over them until the day they meet again in a sweet sweet reunion of joy. I pray that God moves mountains out of this tragedy and gives the citizens a Newtown a reason to move forward and the security and peace of mind they need to send their children back to school in two weeks.
I look forward to the day when Christ returns and all who believe will be with Him in paradise, where pain and sadness with cease to exist, where innocent children will not have to die, where families will not have to suffer. God, bless this broken world.
As I watched the news on Friday and information started to pour out, I sat there, stood there, fell to my knees, and cried, grieving for the people of Sandy Hook and what they have lost.
Over the last week, I have found myself overwhelmed by sadness and empathy over and over again. I have cried, sobbed, prayed for strangers more than I ever have before, and I’ve at times felt guilty, that while 20 families lost their sweet first graders, my very own first grade boy lies sleeping in my bed, curled up with his best friend, his four year old little brother. I can’t imagine the pain of losing one of my children, and I can’t comprehend how you would explain that to a best friend sibling, yet, this is the reality across the country, and that just shatters my heart.
I was a high school student when the Columbine Shootings took place. I remember the fear as the facts unfolded on that day. I was 15 years old and the realization that someone could go into a high school similar to my own, and kill fellow students, was shocking to my naive self. As a community and a school, we processed the events together, and moved on, although never forgetting the terror felt that day from across the country.
9-11 was another shocking day, as I again sat in my high school classes, watching the news, while we saw the second plane crash live on air into the second tower. A wide range of emotions were felt that I never knew existed.
Last Friday, when I first heard the news of Sandy Hook, it hit me harder than I ever thought possible. As soon as I heard all 20 children were six and seven year olds, in their first grade classrooms, I immediately felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. These are not just Sandy Hook’s children, these are OUR children as a country, as a nation. These are OUR babies!
I have had a week now to process these events. On Wednesdays, I volunteer in my son’s first grade classroom, and this week, as I watched his teacher read to all the children at the end of the day, I thought about how blessed we are to have loving, protecting teachers, who will sacrifice their own lives for our children. I had to hold back tears as my son brought home a Christmas Card from his teacher and as I read one personally sent home to me, telling how much she enjoys my son, I felt so blessed to be
surrounded by such a loving community with amazing teachers. A community that resembles Newtown in so many ways, from it’s small town feel, where people move here because of our safe schools, to the beauty that surrounds our town.
I was moved once again on Thursday when I attended my 6 and 10 year old sons Christmas Concert at school. Each grade level took turns singing, from kindergarten through 5th grade. I could feel a special moment when our three classes of first graders stood up together and sang songs complete with homemade bell jinglers and snowflakes on a stick. How blessed we are to still have our 6 and 7 year olds here with us, and how extremely sad we are for those who are missing their sweet babies.
I do believe those babies are in a better place. They are undoubtedly in heaven, a place where there are no tears or sorrow, and a place where they will wait and be reunited again with their loved ones someday. My heart doesn’t hurt for those children who get to be with Jesus for Christmas this year, my heart is overjoyed for them! My heart hurts for those left behind, here on earth, who must figure out how to make sense of a life that no longer includes the presence of the ones who they lived for. I can’t imagine going on if I ever lost one of my children, especially to an act of cold blood murder. I can’t imagine ever being able to pick myself up off the floor from crying myself to sleep, and that is why I hurt so intensely for the families who lost their precious little ones, for they are stronger than I could ever be.
I pray daily for the families and friends left behind to grieve, that they will find comfort and peace, knowing their sweet babies are safe in the arms of Jesus and watching over them until the day they meet again in a sweet sweet reunion of joy. I pray that God moves mountains out of this tragedy and gives the citizens a Newtown a reason to move forward and the security and peace of mind they need to send their children back to school in two weeks.
I look forward to the day when Christ returns and all who believe will be with Him in paradise, where pain and sadness with cease to exist, where innocent children will not have to die, where families will not have to suffer. God, bless this broken world.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Trusting God to avoid an overdraft charge!
I have to admit, it felt GREAT getting out of debt last month! Nothing could be more of a relief for our family than no longer being the own in the hole with our finances, but the reality is, we are starting over right now.
We have no savings account. Heck, we have $100 to last us until next Friday! I might as well get real with you folks! This blog is about honesty and see-through-ness (some might say "transparency"), and well, with us you get the real deal. We got a check this week that was unexpected and it helped with a bill that came out yesterday, so that puts us back at $100 to get through until next payday. It's sometimes a scary place to be in, but we know God is fully capable of getting us through another week. He's already gotten us this far and has never let us down, so why would we doubt him now?
Still, it can be hard to not have an extra buck to spend. We have to say no to ours kids when they want to do an extra activity and we can't drive very far or do anything out of the ordinary. We have to cross our fingers that we won't run out of milk (but really, if we do, our kids will survive!). We have to monitor every single penny that we spend.
But you know, instead of seeing this as a burden, I like to look at it as a game! How far can we stretch the remaining money in our bank account? How much can we have left over next week? How little can we drive (Gas is a killer for us, even though we don't have to fill up THAT often). When I decide to take $20 to buy groceries, how far can I make it go? What will happen when our weekly tithe comes out?
Being frugal, and having a deep faith in God is what gets us through, every single hour of every single day. And laughing. Don't forget to marry someone who makes you laugh.
We have no savings account. Heck, we have $100 to last us until next Friday! I might as well get real with you folks! This blog is about honesty and see-through-ness (some might say "transparency"), and well, with us you get the real deal. We got a check this week that was unexpected and it helped with a bill that came out yesterday, so that puts us back at $100 to get through until next payday. It's sometimes a scary place to be in, but we know God is fully capable of getting us through another week. He's already gotten us this far and has never let us down, so why would we doubt him now?
Still, it can be hard to not have an extra buck to spend. We have to say no to ours kids when they want to do an extra activity and we can't drive very far or do anything out of the ordinary. We have to cross our fingers that we won't run out of milk (but really, if we do, our kids will survive!). We have to monitor every single penny that we spend.
But you know, instead of seeing this as a burden, I like to look at it as a game! How far can we stretch the remaining money in our bank account? How much can we have left over next week? How little can we drive (Gas is a killer for us, even though we don't have to fill up THAT often). When I decide to take $20 to buy groceries, how far can I make it go? What will happen when our weekly tithe comes out?
Being frugal, and having a deep faith in God is what gets us through, every single hour of every single day. And laughing. Don't forget to marry someone who makes you laugh.
How to pay bills without stress!
Over the last 6 months, I've been using a website called mint.com to manage our finances. When I finally agreed to go full blast into this, my husband was ecstatic! He had been trying to get me to use mint for quite awhile, but I am always hesitant with electronic things I haven't used before. It's the same with programs on my phone. Trying new things is scary, because what if I don't understand it or totally screw something up? Well, have no fear, mint is an incredible tool that links directly to your bank account providing up to date account information. It tells you how much debt you have, what you've saved, and where every penny is going.
Okay, I admit, It can be somewhat intimidating, but you will love it, I promise! Once you really start being able to make budgets and stick to them, it is so beyond rewarding!
Here's the next thing I did after finding my love with mint. I set ALL of my bills to "auto payment." At this time, that includes Water, Garbage, Peninsula Light, Puget Sound Energy, Internet, Insurance, and also our smaller payments for the newspaper (coupons!), a computer site my husband uses, and a few random things. We even have our church tithe automatically deducted every week (and it's great because I rarely have to write checks anymore for anything!). The only thing we still pay is our rent payment, because let's face it folks, it takes an entire paycheck so I have to make sure we actually have the money in our account before I send it in!
I used to stress out about bills. My light and energy bills were always a month (or more) behind and I would get that dreaded letter threatening to turn off my power. Since automating everything, I no longer have to avoid opening these bills, or trying to pay off 2 or 3 months of them at a time when there is no way we can afford it! It makes life so much simpler and I highly recommend that you do the same. It is a huge stress relief to no longer have to worry about writing checks or logging into accounts (or those dreaded phone calls!).
And, you really should start using mint!
Okay, I admit, It can be somewhat intimidating, but you will love it, I promise! Once you really start being able to make budgets and stick to them, it is so beyond rewarding!
Here's the next thing I did after finding my love with mint. I set ALL of my bills to "auto payment." At this time, that includes Water, Garbage, Peninsula Light, Puget Sound Energy, Internet, Insurance, and also our smaller payments for the newspaper (coupons!), a computer site my husband uses, and a few random things. We even have our church tithe automatically deducted every week (and it's great because I rarely have to write checks anymore for anything!). The only thing we still pay is our rent payment, because let's face it folks, it takes an entire paycheck so I have to make sure we actually have the money in our account before I send it in!
I used to stress out about bills. My light and energy bills were always a month (or more) behind and I would get that dreaded letter threatening to turn off my power. Since automating everything, I no longer have to avoid opening these bills, or trying to pay off 2 or 3 months of them at a time when there is no way we can afford it! It makes life so much simpler and I highly recommend that you do the same. It is a huge stress relief to no longer have to worry about writing checks or logging into accounts (or those dreaded phone calls!).
And, you really should start using mint!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The mysterious $1,000
So, I must explain the $1,000 difference in my blog post stating we actually paid back $31,000! On black Friday 2010, Barry and I bought brand new front loading washer/dryer sets. We knew this was something we needed and it was a justifiable expense. I think we paid closer to $800 for this set. We got a Sears card with 0% APR for one year and we made minimum payments, then paid off the remaining $650 before our year was up so we were able to get the set interest free! This is the RIGHT way to use a credit card because it always helped us build up a little credit in the meantime!
What's next for the Taylor family? Finding creative ways to build up our credit! If you have some secrets or advice, please let me know. I love researching! Barry's credit score is pretty good, mine needs some repair but in the next couple months it should be looking much better. We are on a mission to a wiser life!
What's next for the Taylor family? Finding creative ways to build up our credit! If you have some secrets or advice, please let me know. I love researching! Barry's credit score is pretty good, mine needs some repair but in the next couple months it should be looking much better. We are on a mission to a wiser life!
Monday, November 26, 2012
How we paid off $30,000 in 3 1/2 years!
My previous blog explained how my husband and I racked up $30,000 in debt in only three years. But I'm sure you are wondering, how in the world did we pay it off 18 months EARLY? Please sit tight and follow me through the last three years of our life! I hope we can be an inspiration to you!
August 2009. This was the month we could no longer hide from the ugly truth that our debt was ruining our life. We were constantly fighting over money (or lack thereof) and always stressed out and worried. We had to borrow money to pay bills, and sometimes even gas! We needed to stop letting money control us and find a way to be the boss of the bills!
When we got approved for the 5-year payoff plan, Barry and I sat down together and seriously talked about what this meant for us. We decided we would no longer buy things that we didn't need and/or have the money to purchase. This meant declining going out with friends, eating out, going on trips, seeing movies, and canceling our YMCA membership (that we rarely used).
Things were going somewhat smoothly until March 2011, when my husband lost his job of 5 years. He hadn't been happy at work and wasn't appreciated for all the hard work he put in, so we really saw it as a blessing in disguise. However, the next year proved to be the most challenging and faith based year of our life (thank you God!).
After Barry lost his job, we started a home computer repair business. Barry got into a program where he would attend classes learning information about small businesses while getting unemployment. This was a great opportunity however this put our income back at about $400 a week or $1600 a month. Well, our rent was $1100/month, and with almost $600 going to debt, $200 cell phone bill, and more.... You get the picture. There was no possible way we could pay all of our bills based on our unemployment alone. Yet, every single month, our bills were all paid. We are 100% confidant that God has provided for us beyond our needs. Every Single Month. God made a way for us to pay everything we needed. Throughout the next year, we would get random checks in the mail (not kidding) that would show up and would be the exact amount of money we needed to get by. This is also the year we really started tithing, and trusting God to provide. And boy, did he ever!
God tells us to tithe and to test him on it. He says to just give it a shot. And to trust. God is faithful. He does provide. He doesn't let us down! He keeps his promises! I could write hundreds of blog posts on the ways God has shown himself to us over the past year and a half especially. He is more real to us than he has ever been and our faith was put to the test in a huge way and I am so happy to say that I think we passed! (Of course, we still have the rest of our lives to keep on living and trusting in God).
Barry made some money from his home business and it was always enough to supplement his unemployment checks. I picked up random babysitting jobs that always came just at the moment we needed them.
Another fun part of this story is that three months before Barry lost his job, I became an avid couponer. We had watched an episode of "Extreme Couponing" and both Barry and I realized that I could do that! So, for the three months before Barry lost his job, I had been stockpiling food and personal items. Once Barry was out of work, we literally lived off our stockpile for the next 15 months. It got down to almost nothing by that time. What a huge blessing and again, something only God could have orchestrated! I also taught a few couponing classes and made extra money that way throughout 2011.
When I say we are frugal, let me explain a little of what I mean. I asked my 6 year old son recently when mommy and daddy go out on dates! "All the time, Mom!" he exclaimed, "You go out to dinner every year on the day you got married!" Haha, yes. My son thinks that once a year is "all the time". Okay, so maybe he's exaggerating a little bit, but not much. We really only went out to dinner a couple times a year, not even once a month, and our trips consisted of camping in the summer. This past Spring we did break our rule of not spending money and went to Oregon on Spring Break with all three of our kids for 5 days and spent about $500 that we had saved from our computer business, but this was the first time we'd ever sprung like that (It was well worth it by the way!) Otherwise, being frugal really has meant saying no to everything that costs money
We've done a lot of free things, so please don't think our children sit crying in their rooms with no toys! We go to free movies, and we love the summer sounds at Skansie. We enjoy the library, playing at the park (in the summer), hiking/camping, and mostly, just spending time with those that we love! I make my own laundry detergent and recently learned how to make my own dishwasher detergent. We buy all of our clothes used either at Goodwill or local buy/sell/trade groups or on super clearance at Target (and I'm talking FREE after coupons!).
Our kids have WAY too many toys and I go through their things and sell stuff they no longer play with to make room for toys they will be able to enjoy more.
Last year I started going through our whole house and selling everything we didn't need or had lying around. I made about $1000 just selling random "stuff". I put this money in a savings account for an emergency fund. It sat there for about 6 months. Every so often I thought about pulling some out, but something told me not to, so I just let it.
If you are looking for another "God is faithful story", well, here it is!
The exact month that my husband's unemployment ran out, we were short exactly $1000 to pay rent. Gee, guess who had $1000 sitting in a savings account waiting for a moment like this? Again, something only God could orchestrate. He gets all the glory for this one. I'll take a pat on the back for listening to him and not touching the money! It's these little stories that all add up one by one that reassures us everyday that God is SO REAL and ALIVE in our lives today!
Let's back up a few months before this took place to May 2012, Barry and I realized that as much as we loved having our own business, it would be better to run it on the side and for Barry to get a job with stable pay and hours. He needed something he could count on to be the best he could be. I had randomly posted on facebook a year before that Barry was starting up a computer business and an old friend from high school told me to have my husband message him. Barry did so and immediately formed a friendship with this guy (let's just call him Rob).
"Rob" talked to Barry almost every day for the next year about business and computer related issues. They problem solved together, helped each other fix computers, and became friends. Fast forward one year, Barry was telling "Rob" that he didn't know what he was going to do because his unemployment was about to run out and he wasn't making enough on his own to survive and support a family of 5. "Rob" convinced Barry to come into his office and to send in a resume. Somewhat reluctantly, Barry agreed. He didn't think he wanted to work for someone or that they could pay him what he was worth, but he figured he didn't have much to lose. This turned out to be one of the best decisions Barry EVER made. He started working part time immediately and came home every day with a smile on his face. After 2 1/2 months, Barry went full time. This is the part where the $1000 comes in. The exact day Barry started working full time is the day we had to pay rent with our money from our savings account. This meant, that the next time we would need to pay rent, Barry would have had his first check or two from his full time job. God thing? Heck yeah! Again, God provided for us before we even needed it! He is SO good!
So, in August 2012, we had ZERO dollars in our savings account and still owed about $8,000 on our credit card (we really did make those $370 payments every single month!) and pretty much had no social life, haha, it was worth it. This was the first month we were able to pay all of our bills without wondering where in the world the money would come from (Thank you God!). Once we started making enough to live, we decided to get serious about paying off our debt EARLY. Barry and I both agreed that would could pay off our debt entirely by March 2013. Then, I said "To heck with it! Let's pay it off by the end of Dec 2012!" I love making goals. I also love making lists. Barry convinced me to sign up for mint.com and start budgeting. I'm not going to lie, looking at our budget through August was sad! We were negative, in the hole, every month until then (we were able to see the months prior), but I am HAPPY to say that for the first time, we were up and out of the hole for Sept/Oct/Nov! This means, we were finally living on less than we were making! Wonderful news!
Barry and I sat and brainstormed. We were already being as frugal as we thought we could, but we found ways to cut a few more ties. We got a reduced rate (again) through Comcast, we dropped needless bills, and we even went from two garbage cans to one and started recycling more. I forgot to mention that we had been able to eliminate our car payements a few months prior with help from our 2012 tax return. Another huge burden lifted at that moment!
Just last week we cashed out Barry's 401k through his old job and that brought us about $1200, then tonight we were finally able to sell our Jeep which we've listed several times over the last few months. The total, along with what we've saved up the last few months from selling everything we don't need, is exactly enough to completely, 100%, pay off our credit card tomorrow morning. This means... we are debt free! No more debt. None. Nada.
We owe NOTHING to NOBODY!
Well, except for God, and to him we owe all the GLORY! He really did make this possible. He has let us be stewards of HIS money. We have given more money to the church this year than ever before and we've even made additional donations when we've felt called, which is new for us. AND, we still got out of debt 18 months before our pay-off! If you don't believe in God's perfect timing and craftsmanship, maybe you should read my story again. Or ask me. I've got more God stories to knock your socks off!
So, to sum it up, God is awesome and He is in control, but we must take what he gives us and use it wisely. We must make good decisions and remember that our money is not ours, but it is God's and we should do what He wants us to do with it.
How thankful I am that Barry and I did not buy a house the few times we looked and that we didn't get the house we put an offer on a few years ago. We would be nowhere near out of debt if we had jumped the gun on that one instead of waiting for God's perfect timing. It really is amazing to look back and see that He is good!
We are blessed by our journey to a debt free life. We have learned so much! I am proud to say that on Friday I turn 29 and my husband turns 30 and we are doing it DEBT FREE!
And we will never again screw up with our money! Next up, continuing the frugality, with a little celebration of course, then, saving up a nice chunk of change so we can buy a house and actually afford to fix anything that happens to it!
Thank you for reading! If you made it this far- You've done well! Cheers to a debt free life!
August 2009. This was the month we could no longer hide from the ugly truth that our debt was ruining our life. We were constantly fighting over money (or lack thereof) and always stressed out and worried. We had to borrow money to pay bills, and sometimes even gas! We needed to stop letting money control us and find a way to be the boss of the bills!
When we got approved for the 5-year payoff plan, Barry and I sat down together and seriously talked about what this meant for us. We decided we would no longer buy things that we didn't need and/or have the money to purchase. This meant declining going out with friends, eating out, going on trips, seeing movies, and canceling our YMCA membership (that we rarely used).
Things were going somewhat smoothly until March 2011, when my husband lost his job of 5 years. He hadn't been happy at work and wasn't appreciated for all the hard work he put in, so we really saw it as a blessing in disguise. However, the next year proved to be the most challenging and faith based year of our life (thank you God!).
After Barry lost his job, we started a home computer repair business. Barry got into a program where he would attend classes learning information about small businesses while getting unemployment. This was a great opportunity however this put our income back at about $400 a week or $1600 a month. Well, our rent was $1100/month, and with almost $600 going to debt, $200 cell phone bill, and more.... You get the picture. There was no possible way we could pay all of our bills based on our unemployment alone. Yet, every single month, our bills were all paid. We are 100% confidant that God has provided for us beyond our needs. Every Single Month. God made a way for us to pay everything we needed. Throughout the next year, we would get random checks in the mail (not kidding) that would show up and would be the exact amount of money we needed to get by. This is also the year we really started tithing, and trusting God to provide. And boy, did he ever!
God tells us to tithe and to test him on it. He says to just give it a shot. And to trust. God is faithful. He does provide. He doesn't let us down! He keeps his promises! I could write hundreds of blog posts on the ways God has shown himself to us over the past year and a half especially. He is more real to us than he has ever been and our faith was put to the test in a huge way and I am so happy to say that I think we passed! (Of course, we still have the rest of our lives to keep on living and trusting in God).
Barry made some money from his home business and it was always enough to supplement his unemployment checks. I picked up random babysitting jobs that always came just at the moment we needed them.
Another fun part of this story is that three months before Barry lost his job, I became an avid couponer. We had watched an episode of "Extreme Couponing" and both Barry and I realized that I could do that! So, for the three months before Barry lost his job, I had been stockpiling food and personal items. Once Barry was out of work, we literally lived off our stockpile for the next 15 months. It got down to almost nothing by that time. What a huge blessing and again, something only God could have orchestrated! I also taught a few couponing classes and made extra money that way throughout 2011.
When I say we are frugal, let me explain a little of what I mean. I asked my 6 year old son recently when mommy and daddy go out on dates! "All the time, Mom!" he exclaimed, "You go out to dinner every year on the day you got married!" Haha, yes. My son thinks that once a year is "all the time". Okay, so maybe he's exaggerating a little bit, but not much. We really only went out to dinner a couple times a year, not even once a month, and our trips consisted of camping in the summer. This past Spring we did break our rule of not spending money and went to Oregon on Spring Break with all three of our kids for 5 days and spent about $500 that we had saved from our computer business, but this was the first time we'd ever sprung like that (It was well worth it by the way!) Otherwise, being frugal really has meant saying no to everything that costs money
We've done a lot of free things, so please don't think our children sit crying in their rooms with no toys! We go to free movies, and we love the summer sounds at Skansie. We enjoy the library, playing at the park (in the summer), hiking/camping, and mostly, just spending time with those that we love! I make my own laundry detergent and recently learned how to make my own dishwasher detergent. We buy all of our clothes used either at Goodwill or local buy/sell/trade groups or on super clearance at Target (and I'm talking FREE after coupons!).
Our kids have WAY too many toys and I go through their things and sell stuff they no longer play with to make room for toys they will be able to enjoy more.
Last year I started going through our whole house and selling everything we didn't need or had lying around. I made about $1000 just selling random "stuff". I put this money in a savings account for an emergency fund. It sat there for about 6 months. Every so often I thought about pulling some out, but something told me not to, so I just let it.
If you are looking for another "God is faithful story", well, here it is!
The exact month that my husband's unemployment ran out, we were short exactly $1000 to pay rent. Gee, guess who had $1000 sitting in a savings account waiting for a moment like this? Again, something only God could orchestrate. He gets all the glory for this one. I'll take a pat on the back for listening to him and not touching the money! It's these little stories that all add up one by one that reassures us everyday that God is SO REAL and ALIVE in our lives today!
Let's back up a few months before this took place to May 2012, Barry and I realized that as much as we loved having our own business, it would be better to run it on the side and for Barry to get a job with stable pay and hours. He needed something he could count on to be the best he could be. I had randomly posted on facebook a year before that Barry was starting up a computer business and an old friend from high school told me to have my husband message him. Barry did so and immediately formed a friendship with this guy (let's just call him Rob).
"Rob" talked to Barry almost every day for the next year about business and computer related issues. They problem solved together, helped each other fix computers, and became friends. Fast forward one year, Barry was telling "Rob" that he didn't know what he was going to do because his unemployment was about to run out and he wasn't making enough on his own to survive and support a family of 5. "Rob" convinced Barry to come into his office and to send in a resume. Somewhat reluctantly, Barry agreed. He didn't think he wanted to work for someone or that they could pay him what he was worth, but he figured he didn't have much to lose. This turned out to be one of the best decisions Barry EVER made. He started working part time immediately and came home every day with a smile on his face. After 2 1/2 months, Barry went full time. This is the part where the $1000 comes in. The exact day Barry started working full time is the day we had to pay rent with our money from our savings account. This meant, that the next time we would need to pay rent, Barry would have had his first check or two from his full time job. God thing? Heck yeah! Again, God provided for us before we even needed it! He is SO good!
So, in August 2012, we had ZERO dollars in our savings account and still owed about $8,000 on our credit card (we really did make those $370 payments every single month!) and pretty much had no social life, haha, it was worth it. This was the first month we were able to pay all of our bills without wondering where in the world the money would come from (Thank you God!). Once we started making enough to live, we decided to get serious about paying off our debt EARLY. Barry and I both agreed that would could pay off our debt entirely by March 2013. Then, I said "To heck with it! Let's pay it off by the end of Dec 2012!" I love making goals. I also love making lists. Barry convinced me to sign up for mint.com and start budgeting. I'm not going to lie, looking at our budget through August was sad! We were negative, in the hole, every month until then (we were able to see the months prior), but I am HAPPY to say that for the first time, we were up and out of the hole for Sept/Oct/Nov! This means, we were finally living on less than we were making! Wonderful news!
Barry and I sat and brainstormed. We were already being as frugal as we thought we could, but we found ways to cut a few more ties. We got a reduced rate (again) through Comcast, we dropped needless bills, and we even went from two garbage cans to one and started recycling more. I forgot to mention that we had been able to eliminate our car payements a few months prior with help from our 2012 tax return. Another huge burden lifted at that moment!
Just last week we cashed out Barry's 401k through his old job and that brought us about $1200, then tonight we were finally able to sell our Jeep which we've listed several times over the last few months. The total, along with what we've saved up the last few months from selling everything we don't need, is exactly enough to completely, 100%, pay off our credit card tomorrow morning. This means... we are debt free! No more debt. None. Nada.
We owe NOTHING to NOBODY!
Well, except for God, and to him we owe all the GLORY! He really did make this possible. He has let us be stewards of HIS money. We have given more money to the church this year than ever before and we've even made additional donations when we've felt called, which is new for us. AND, we still got out of debt 18 months before our pay-off! If you don't believe in God's perfect timing and craftsmanship, maybe you should read my story again. Or ask me. I've got more God stories to knock your socks off!
So, to sum it up, God is awesome and He is in control, but we must take what he gives us and use it wisely. We must make good decisions and remember that our money is not ours, but it is God's and we should do what He wants us to do with it.
How thankful I am that Barry and I did not buy a house the few times we looked and that we didn't get the house we put an offer on a few years ago. We would be nowhere near out of debt if we had jumped the gun on that one instead of waiting for God's perfect timing. It really is amazing to look back and see that He is good!
We are blessed by our journey to a debt free life. We have learned so much! I am proud to say that on Friday I turn 29 and my husband turns 30 and we are doing it DEBT FREE!
And we will never again screw up with our money! Next up, continuing the frugality, with a little celebration of course, then, saving up a nice chunk of change so we can buy a house and actually afford to fix anything that happens to it!
Thank you for reading! If you made it this far- You've done well! Cheers to a debt free life!
How we racked up $30,000 in debt in 3 years!
Wow. Talk about a title! This is one of my proudest moments! It right up there with childbirth and marriage, I tell ya (okay, the title originally said: How we paid off $31,000 of debt in three years, then I changed it. Doesn't make as much sense now- Haha! How does one go from owing $31,000 to being completely, 100% Debt Free?! It was not a quick and easy process, let me tell you, but one ultimately joyful to be at the end looking back!
To get the full story, I'll have to back up to January 2006. Barry and I had just recently started dating and had moved in together. He owed about $3,000 on a credit card due to buying a car and a big screen television. Barry was working at a computer store in Tacoma as a sales guy and was making $9.75/hr. I had just relocated from Ellensburg where I was working as a waitress making a decent amount of money. Suddenly, I had ZERO income so Barry and I created a joint bank account and he added me onto his credit card. We had three people (my stepson included who was 3 at the time) living in an 850sq/ft apartment making about $1600/month BEFORE taxes were taken out. Subtract a couple hundred dollars and we were probably living off $1400/month or less. (Correction, he was only working 32 hours a week so we actually took home closer to $1100/month!) Have I mentioned that I was 4 months pregnant when I moved to Tacoma? Yep, not only three people living on this income, but that includes an expectant mother (gotta love those pregnancy cravings, right?).
During the next few months, I took a job as a child care site leader through the YMCA. I had to get up at 5am, work for a few hours watching kids in kindergarten through 5th grade, then drive back in the afternoon for a few hours of after school care. It was absolutely HORRIBLE trying to wake up that early while pregnant (I have never been a morning person) but I stuck with it until June when I was a couple weeks away from giving birth to my now 6 year old son.
Once my son was born, I became a stay at home mom for the next ten months. During this time, Barry got a job at an appliance store in Tacoma and his income went down to $8 plus commission (I just asked him how much he was making, WOW! I can't believe we lived off that!). He only worked this job for a couple months and pretty much hated every second of it.
When Kaiden was just over a month old, Barry got a new job working at a sign company in Tacoma (programming a CNC router table). He started off making $12.50 an hour which was a huge jump for us! We could finally afford to move out of our 850/sq/ft apartment into a 1400sq/ft apartment! A bigger place always costs more and we had to pay for water, garbage, heating, etc, but it was such a blessing to be somewhere we could all fit comfortably (especially with a 3 year old and a newborn baby).
For the next few months, we bought more items than we should have and were always browsing the clearance aisle at Target and picking up things that we didn't need. We went out to dinner when we couldn't afford it and put way more on the credit card than we should have. During this time, we sold our second car (I think we got like $500 for it) and most likely threw that money away instead of putting it somewhere substantial (I really don't remember WHAT we did with it).
Finally, I got a job at a daycare center close to home and worked in the baby room for the next year so I could still be with Kaiden. I made minimum wage ($8.64/hr) but had to pay $30/day half the week when Calvin came to work with me (luckily Kaiden got to go for free). The money I was making helped us pay all of our bills and also helped us to buy a used car. We financed a Jeep for around $9,000 and started making monthly payments in excess of $200.
In December of 2007, I quit my job at the daycare and quickly started nannying for a toddler in my home. This gave me around $600-$700 of monthly income to add and again, was enough to cover our car payment and expenses around the house.
In March 2008, our youngest son, Corbin, was born. I took a little bit of time off from nannying and when Corbin was two weeks old, I resumed. For the next 3 years I nannied for two different families and the paychecks I earned helped us get by. This same month, we moved to Gig Harbor, to a more expensive duplex in a great area of town to let our kids go to a great school (Calvin was about to start Kindergarten).
Barry finally got a few raises and was making a decent amount of money to support our family of 5 but still we weren't careful with our money management and were very impulsive. Throw a diamond ring and expensive engagement dinner into the mix followed by paying for a wedding and buying a brand new television, and you've got a nice amount of debt! I don't know how much debt we had at that point, but I can tell you that in 2009 we hit rock bottom!
2009 is the year we realized we had dug a hole that we didn't think we could get out of. We had missed a credit card payment or two and were constantly getting calls from the bank. Our interest rate had soared to over 26% (maybe higher?) and we realized for the first time that we had absolutely NO ABILITY to make the payments needed and EVER get our debt paid off. Our final credit card balance was $21,000. That included 900 of charges for being over our limit.
Barry, my superhero, started calling our bank. Over and over and over yet again. He called and called until he finally got someone to help us. Barry told the bank that we knew it was our debt and we wanted to pay it, but they needed to work with us to make it possible or we'd have to file bankruptcy because we were completely unable to fork over the amount they wanted. We admitted that we messed up but wanted to make things right but that we needed help getting to that point.
AND WOW! Being nice paid off! Barry found the right person to talk to (see- sometimes all you need is a LOT of persistence) and we were put on a government program to help people get out of debt. We had to close our credit card and we were put on a 5-year payoff program. Our interest rate was lowered to 4.25% and our only condition was that we would not miss a payment, or the whole thing would be void. Our payments were still high, a whopping $370/month, but we knew this was the bill we'd have to pay first if we ever wanted to climb out of this deep hole we'd created. Let me remind you that we were still paying over $200 a month for our car payment, so close to $600 in debt repayment ALONE was a huge amount of money.
....... This is just the beginning of our story, basically this gets you up to the point of us making a huge change in our lifestyle to finally pay off the debt. Read my next blog to see how we paid off our debt!
To get the full story, I'll have to back up to January 2006. Barry and I had just recently started dating and had moved in together. He owed about $3,000 on a credit card due to buying a car and a big screen television. Barry was working at a computer store in Tacoma as a sales guy and was making $9.75/hr. I had just relocated from Ellensburg where I was working as a waitress making a decent amount of money. Suddenly, I had ZERO income so Barry and I created a joint bank account and he added me onto his credit card. We had three people (my stepson included who was 3 at the time) living in an 850sq/ft apartment making about $1600/month BEFORE taxes were taken out. Subtract a couple hundred dollars and we were probably living off $1400/month or less. (Correction, he was only working 32 hours a week so we actually took home closer to $1100/month!) Have I mentioned that I was 4 months pregnant when I moved to Tacoma? Yep, not only three people living on this income, but that includes an expectant mother (gotta love those pregnancy cravings, right?).
During the next few months, I took a job as a child care site leader through the YMCA. I had to get up at 5am, work for a few hours watching kids in kindergarten through 5th grade, then drive back in the afternoon for a few hours of after school care. It was absolutely HORRIBLE trying to wake up that early while pregnant (I have never been a morning person) but I stuck with it until June when I was a couple weeks away from giving birth to my now 6 year old son.
Once my son was born, I became a stay at home mom for the next ten months. During this time, Barry got a job at an appliance store in Tacoma and his income went down to $8 plus commission (I just asked him how much he was making, WOW! I can't believe we lived off that!). He only worked this job for a couple months and pretty much hated every second of it.
When Kaiden was just over a month old, Barry got a new job working at a sign company in Tacoma (programming a CNC router table). He started off making $12.50 an hour which was a huge jump for us! We could finally afford to move out of our 850/sq/ft apartment into a 1400sq/ft apartment! A bigger place always costs more and we had to pay for water, garbage, heating, etc, but it was such a blessing to be somewhere we could all fit comfortably (especially with a 3 year old and a newborn baby).
For the next few months, we bought more items than we should have and were always browsing the clearance aisle at Target and picking up things that we didn't need. We went out to dinner when we couldn't afford it and put way more on the credit card than we should have. During this time, we sold our second car (I think we got like $500 for it) and most likely threw that money away instead of putting it somewhere substantial (I really don't remember WHAT we did with it).
Finally, I got a job at a daycare center close to home and worked in the baby room for the next year so I could still be with Kaiden. I made minimum wage ($8.64/hr) but had to pay $30/day half the week when Calvin came to work with me (luckily Kaiden got to go for free). The money I was making helped us pay all of our bills and also helped us to buy a used car. We financed a Jeep for around $9,000 and started making monthly payments in excess of $200.
In December of 2007, I quit my job at the daycare and quickly started nannying for a toddler in my home. This gave me around $600-$700 of monthly income to add and again, was enough to cover our car payment and expenses around the house.
In March 2008, our youngest son, Corbin, was born. I took a little bit of time off from nannying and when Corbin was two weeks old, I resumed. For the next 3 years I nannied for two different families and the paychecks I earned helped us get by. This same month, we moved to Gig Harbor, to a more expensive duplex in a great area of town to let our kids go to a great school (Calvin was about to start Kindergarten).
Barry finally got a few raises and was making a decent amount of money to support our family of 5 but still we weren't careful with our money management and were very impulsive. Throw a diamond ring and expensive engagement dinner into the mix followed by paying for a wedding and buying a brand new television, and you've got a nice amount of debt! I don't know how much debt we had at that point, but I can tell you that in 2009 we hit rock bottom!
2009 is the year we realized we had dug a hole that we didn't think we could get out of. We had missed a credit card payment or two and were constantly getting calls from the bank. Our interest rate had soared to over 26% (maybe higher?) and we realized for the first time that we had absolutely NO ABILITY to make the payments needed and EVER get our debt paid off. Our final credit card balance was $21,000. That included 900 of charges for being over our limit.
Barry, my superhero, started calling our bank. Over and over and over yet again. He called and called until he finally got someone to help us. Barry told the bank that we knew it was our debt and we wanted to pay it, but they needed to work with us to make it possible or we'd have to file bankruptcy because we were completely unable to fork over the amount they wanted. We admitted that we messed up but wanted to make things right but that we needed help getting to that point.
AND WOW! Being nice paid off! Barry found the right person to talk to (see- sometimes all you need is a LOT of persistence) and we were put on a government program to help people get out of debt. We had to close our credit card and we were put on a 5-year payoff program. Our interest rate was lowered to 4.25% and our only condition was that we would not miss a payment, or the whole thing would be void. Our payments were still high, a whopping $370/month, but we knew this was the bill we'd have to pay first if we ever wanted to climb out of this deep hole we'd created. Let me remind you that we were still paying over $200 a month for our car payment, so close to $600 in debt repayment ALONE was a huge amount of money.
....... This is just the beginning of our story, basically this gets you up to the point of us making a huge change in our lifestyle to finally pay off the debt. Read my next blog to see how we paid off our debt!
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