I got a great question in my comments this morning asking us if we’ll be debt free by, well, today! As was our original goal when we set out on our debt free journey in January 2008.
I’ve been updating through out the last year and a half as our goals have changed with the changes in our lives. In thinking back, if we’d both been working full time these past two school years and Nathan hadn’t decided to go back to school, we probably could have swung that original goal! But, things change! We both got half-time jobs, Nate went back to school, and we are having a baby! Now we are preparing to pay for a move across the state and live off of one income as a family of 3!
So, not much of our debt has been paid off in the year 2009, which is a bit sad to me… However, we have not accumulated any MORE debt because we paid for seminary in cash and everything else as well. We are hoping to be able to pay off our smallest student loan soon, but due to the upcoming move, we are stashing money in savings to cover any possible expenses there first. Hopefully, we will still be able to pay it off and pay for the move, but we will see.
Honestly, I think we could be doing a bit better. We haven’t been as “hard core” in the frugal department as being pregnant knocks the wind out of you! We don’t coupon very much, we eat out more than we should, and we have been taking advantage of opportunities to go out with family that live here before we move to make the most of our remaining time here.
I also spend too much on groceries because I want/need to have certain kinds of foods for the pregnancy. I’m low on iron, so we have had to buy more red meat=more than we’d like to spend. I need more fresh produce=expensive. We switched to organics in certain foods to help with the digestive issues I was having=very expensive. Having said that, we still could be doing better, much better, and we actually had a great talk about that today.
Its easy to blame financial laziness on circumstances, and we admit that sometimes, we have been lazy. The Lord gave us a bit of a wake up call today when we spilled red Kool-Aide all over Nate’s white Nike shorts and I told him as I frantically tried to save the carpet to go rinse out his shorts in cold water. Well, he forgot his cell phone was in his pocket. Ooops. Now we have a cell phone to replace.
The good news is that the carpet is okay, and the shorts are going to make it! But really, we both were humbled that we need to step up our stewardship. If we hadn’t spent on this and that and this, we could replace it no problem. But, we did spend on this an that and this, so, we are going to have to make some sacrifices, take from our moving fund, or wait until next month and see…
ANYWAY! What a long winded answer to a short little question! There is so much to say about our debt journey! We really have no idea now how long it’ll take us to pay off our student loans now. We no longer qualify for forgiveness programs as we are no longer teachers, AND our income is being reduced by a career change, AND we have an addition coming any day now!
We will probably have a better idea at the start of the year, 2010 of when we will be able to pay it off. Right now, Nathan says by the time he’s 30, which is a little less than 5 years from now. I’m not sure how realistic that is at this point, but it sounds good! 30 and debt free, I could go for that! 
Its in the Lord’s hands and we’ve confessed our laziness to Him. Thank goodness for grace!
3 Comments
July 5, 2009 at 1:28 am
Before you give up on the cell phone, google and see if you can dry it out. My daughter’s iPod Nano made it through a full washing machine cycle. Sometimes they can be saved. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
But yes, thank Goodness for grace!
July 5, 2009 at 1:59 am
Don’t feel bad! We all have seasons when we are less frugal than the most we can be. We’ve all just gotta do our best, ya know?
You’re doing well with all of your circumstances, from what I can tell, and I’m confident that you’ll be debt-free sooner than you think!
July 6, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Your post actually made me laugh! Why? We went through exactly the same thing before our twins were born! It was so easy to get takeout and the treats I ‘needed’ because I was on partial bedrest and hubby was running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to take care of everything (plus working 60 hours a week!) so I could rest.
The good news is, we actually found it EASIER once we had the twins, even though we had diapers and formula to buy on top of all our other regular expenses. It was because we wanted to be good examples for the kids, give them what they need, and to have a reserve so we didn’t add more debt while doing all that. Not to mention we were too tired to want to go out and do anything and had been given a TON of stuff for the kids plus a bunch of meals so we didn’t need to go shopping either!
By the time that died down, we were into a new set of habits.
In 3 years (since we jumped on the debt-free bandwagon) we’ve paid off 1 car and 1 minivan, our credit card debt, taken a chunk out of our mortgage, and saved just over $23000 for some much needed home repairs (the contractor gave us a discount becuase we paid cash!) and another $15000 for school tuition for me and hubby.
God is good and his grace is never failing! Don’t be too hard on yourself – you’ll get there. Just enjoy this time getting ready for your little one and all the changes in your life. You can think about being more vigilant after everything settles into a new routine – and you get caught up on your sleep.
God Bless!
Lea