What's it Worth to You?

Getting out of debt! What is that worth to you? What are you willing to do? What can you do? These are the questions we ask and are still asking ourselves weekly. What more can we do and are we truly doing enough?
I have to laugh at our craziness. We have a timeline on a bill that needs to be paid. We can't use credit, so we are left with cash. Well, we have no spare cash to put towards this. SO we once again looked around the house. What can we live without? Here's a reminder..... Everything we have is a material item. We need our beds so those stay. We need our kitchen table and appliances so those stay. We need the washer and dryer, stay. Couch? Hmmm! I think we can live without the couch. We do have two nice little chair things we can sit on that are already a part of the living room. So we agreed on a price and put the couch, actually a very GINORMOUS (complete understatement) sectional from the La-Z-Boy Furniture Gallery up for sale. I looked online and discovered the exact couch is new for 2,599. Yikes. That is over double what we pd. I then looked at the couch in detail and noted the things that were wrong with it and posted in on the local Craig's List. We had it sold, the people showed up after renting a uhaul and decided they didn't want it because it was not a solid brown. Downer. I was flooded with emails in response and hit the few that said "we want it no matter what. Have the cash and can pick up asap". So we went to the next and it was sold. Again. We delivered to them today and to my surprise they obviously did not measure like I said they needed to do. Sure enough the sectional was way to big for the living room there but they said they will make it work. LOL! So I walked away with the money for it. I was pleased.

Once you sell that first item it's easy to feel great and think, "Now what can I sell?" So we are selling our stationary bike and whatever else we find in storage that we have been living without for the past 7 months. I will keep you posted.
Just remember that if we can sit on the floor for a few months while watching tv, which we shouldn't be anyway, plus it's summer, than so can you. Well, I am not saying go sell your couch, but find things that you have around your house that you CAN LIVE WITHOUT. Sentimental things, heirlooms and those things passed down keep for obvious reasons. NO complaining until you have tried everything you can. Try your best to sell something before running to someone to borrow money. You will feel so empowered. Any feedback? Do I have any readers? I guess if you quit posting people quit reading. If I'm not suggesting realistic things for realistic people then there is no point in putting this out there. I will anyway, even if for one reader. If anything for my own documentation of our journey.

So what's it worth to us? Being debt free! Bottome line!

Have a great summer selling things on the Internet, at garage sales and however else you can. Clean house, less clutter and less debt. Go sell!!!!!

Sacrifices=Success

We went from this.... :)

To this!
The picture doesn't do justice. The truck looks way worse than this picture captures. :)

Never in a million years would I think we could pay off $14,000 in debt in a year, let alone 6 weeks. But we did it. We took all of our tax return and pd things off. 2 credit cards and 1 tire place, to be exact. We also decided to sell the Tahoe which kicked us over our goal. We haven't even had the paycheck this month where we get to roll our snowball, that is coming. SO this is very exciting. With 6 weeks under our belt and the big chunks being paid we know that our snowball will surely slow, but we made our goal for 2009 to pay off $14,000. RJ and I are in shock and so happy. We get to sit down this coming Tuesday and reevaluate our goal. Lovin it. Who would have thought that a little soul searching, faith, and following would have had this much benefit. We choose to "live like no one else, so later we can live like no one else".
These things are material anyway. We have been so blessed with money from God and it feels even more of a blessing to serve God with that money. To do as we are, be responsible and keep ourselves from living out of our means. Not from borrowing from companies, or worse yet family. I know that we are on the right track and I pray that we will keep on pressing towards the goal. I cannot wait to live like no one else.

I know I asked a few weeks ago what you are doing to help reduce debt or save money. Gym memberships and cable was a big one. Anything else?

Keep me posted. And remember you can comment anonymously. Would love to hear from you and be encouraged by you as well.

**My links are not working for some reason. Hope to resolve this soon.**

PRAISE GOD! Sold-Sold-Sold

It has been the song of the week. "Praise God from whom all blessings flow". I have seen God's hand in more things this past week than I have ever before. His timing, His presence, His guidance, His work, His faithfulness! We have had so many little things happen that I know it was in His timing or because He totally had his hand in it. Just today some big blessings:

1. I had a good Dr appt. I had little reason for concern to begin with but have a small anxiety issue when going to the dr. Not sure why. I've never had an unpleasant visit. So God had his hand in being with me at this visit without a doubt.

2. I helped at the School Auction where my 3 girls attend. First the enrollment was down almost 50% this year from the last. Second, the donations were down. I helped make calls and it was tough to be turned down and know it is from the suffering times. Third, the giving within the community and people who attended was down as well. This was to be expected, but boy is God great. The out poor of prayer from family and friends and faithful supporters of the school was tremendous. People still gave, some gave generously the hard earned money they made, some I am sure gave just what they had. I believe that the auction was a great success. I cannot wait to find out the actual numbers.

3. I was able to help someone due to Gods perfect timing. On my way home from the auction I noticed a vehicle at a McDonald's that was being pushed through the drive thru. I instantly recognized the car, my DD Pre-k teacher, and was able to pull in and see if I could be of any help. Right before that I had dropped my sister off. We decided to chat for a bit. Isn't it amazing how 30 seconds sooner I would have missed them needing help getting jump started. God surely had his hand in that as well.

4. We finally sold the Tahoe. The drastic measure we have taken to help get ourselves out of debt have been followed by hurdles and unexpected trials. Through uncertainties, God, like always, remained faithful. WE knew without a doubt that the perfect person to buy this vehicle would be brought a long. It turns out that person came along today. A wonderful couple about our age, have four children just as us, and best of all, Believers in GOD! My husband spoke to them for quite a while and through conversation even a small friendship formed. They even gave credit to God in the sale and purchase of the Tahoe. God kept it in our possession until they found it. Isn't God great?? There is more to the conversations they had that I wish I had time to share. If you have time check out those two links (hurdles and unexpected trials) You will better understand how we see nothing but Gods perfect timing in all he is doing.

We feel so blessed to not only have all these things just today but that God has really opened our eyes to see these things at all. We have wasted so many hours and days of our lives not appreciating the fact that we can see God in ALL things, at any moment, yet we don't give him that credit. It's not that I purposefully didn't want to, I just never looked for it. Now I do all the time. Just wanted to share. When I know that the transactions are made I will excitingly see my little $ sign at the top of my page get a little closer to wear it needs to go. To ZERO!

Praise God for a successful and blessing filled day!

Thank You Emergency Fund

I must say that I am so grateful for our emergency fund. We had to have some work done on the truck for some electrical issues. Turns out that store gave us the wrong plug and it shorted everything. After many attempts, which would make for a great blog, we gave up and took it to a professional. It costs a pretty penny to fix it. We had to borrow from the E Fund. I was freaking out a little when RJ told me the final bill was $300. Eeek! We did have another few knick knacks done to it with the locks and window which we know now wasn't really a necessity. His paycheck on Tuesday was short his stipend pay too, Shoot! The last paycheck 2 weeks ago we got our budget to zero. Nothing to fall back on for the next two weeks. Frugal living for sure! RJ sweetly reminded me that we have the E Fund and that is why it is there. (Reminder that we cut all credit cards). I was so relieved and almost had forgotten about the fund. I literally had to go to the bank and draw the $ out. I can't wait for his next paycheck so we can replenish it. I feel like I'm going to go crazy now that there isn't that $1000 in there.

Also the vehicle is back up for sale. Lots of hits but no grabs yet. We are lowering the price a smidgen. Either way it should sell. It is just under KBB so a great deal, and for a nice vehicle (sigh). I'll miss it when it sells.

Have you had to dig into your E Fund? If so how did it make you feel and how quickly did you get it paid back?

Hurdles

Of course I am sitting here with hesitation to even writing. Yesterday was the day we were going to finally be able to meet the buyer of our vehicle, hand over those keys and wohoo, be a step closer to our goal. As we all know, God sometimes has other plans. A lot of times I think I have it planned out, worked out and went over all the details in between. Yesterday on my way home from doing childcare at a local Bible study, I got into an accident. In the car we were about to sell. It WAS sold. It had been sold for four days. We had tried to get it all transferred over on Saturday but time didn't permit. Unbelievable! Of course after the adrenaline past it was a very emotional day. Once I realized that both parties were involved were okay, I was devastated. I instantly said, Okay God. I am not sure where this is going but I KNOW that you had a reason. Maybe it was a lesson, maybe it was in his plan to have us in the large vehicle and not the small car that day. Maybe it is Satan's way of trying to discourage us in our journey. I choose to look at the positive. I know that there will be many things that will come up. Ron and I are calling them "hurdles". We have had some little ones already but this was a big one. For the time being it is big.

We have also learned over the past week that we are going to need to budget more or something into that extra fund. We have had a few things come up that were not scheduled and have taken some cash. So that is something that we get to reevaluate. We are patiently waiting for the next paycheck so we can pay down debt.

~Trying to be good stewards!~

~Patience~

I think that will be a word I will remind myself of many times through this journey. Patience as it will seem like forever between paychecks. Patience as it will not happen over night. Patience as I am criticized for putting our personal finances out there. Patience as we make tough decisions that only WE understand. Patience as we follow God's voice. And patience to discern between all that it takes to be debt free.

We also are learning to be patient as we did not get to hand over our vehicle to the man who bought it. The bank was closed before we could both get there to get all the nitty gritty done. So, we are looking at tomorrow as being the day that we give up our beautiful family vehicle and pick up our "new" truck. I am dying to post picture of it. I will share the story behind knowing that God brought us that truck over the minivans we were looking at and test drove.

We have gone from desperately waiting for the next paycheck so we can pay a bill, to anxiously waiting for the next paycheck so we know exactly how much we get to pay towards a bill.

Thank you for reading but more importantly thank you for supporting us on our journey!

Baby Steps or Crazy Steps

As I sat here at home with a sort of empty feeling I felt I ought to just spill my thoughts and feelings. Part of this whole journey is to document how we are doing this debt reduction. I mean, debt FREEDOM. We are not reducing debt, we are getting rid of it. It is by far the hardest thing my most favorite man and I have ever done. We love our kids and our future too much to just throw our money away in interest and on unnecessary things.

As I write I am overwhelmed, yet relieved. We have been selling many things as I stated before. As of today, we have gone as extreme as selling our main, nice vehicle. I have just a few hours before we hand over the keys and title. I feel so good and excited, yet sad all in one. I did bring two of my babies home from the hospital in the car. We have gone camping packing the car to the rim with stuff. We have gone to the snow and had our first family trip to get a Christmas tree in this car. It is nice, it runs great, it looks good too. You may be asking, "why sell it then?" Because we are doing everything that we can to get debt free. And as quickly as possible. That car payment each month will now be gone. That $430 will be used and carried over to the next thing we are working on. We did take a hit however, on selling it. We will owe a couple thousand more but we did just eliminate our debt by $9,000. WOW! When you look at that it makes it all worth it. Plus the previous monthly payment we had on it goes ALL towards things owed. We will see a pretty big snowball going on really quick! I truly believe that we will see and exceed our $14,000 goal for 2009. And we ahve only been on this plan since January 30 THIS YEAR. I honestly think we may get to reevaluate it really soon.

There is one bad thing though. We now are in need of a vehicle and fast. We have been looking but it is hard to find what will work for us and in the price range we have. We are now going from "looking" to "extreme need". Now is not the time to be picky. If it runs well and gets us where we need to go, then it will be just fine. I may be a little embarrassed to drive it but it is temporary. Few years right? I sure hope so.

Many people that have done this program continue to live very simple after becoming debt free. They just add to that savings. They save for a small amount of time and pay cash for their things. What a beautiful thing. That is where my thoughts need to be as I say good-bye to a silly ole material item.

I will leave with one last thought. It has carried me through this past three weeks and will be one of the only things to keep me going some days.....

When people start questioning what you are doing in this plan, you know that you are doing the right thing! So keep on doing!!!!

I am going to attempt to make homemeade laundry soap sometime in the near future. This should be good, and interesting. So stay tuned.