In my last installment, I explained how we converted our monthly expenses to a cash system. Now we’re to the really juicy part of our story – deciding to pay off all our credit cards in 2010!
We have a significant amount of debt that we accumulated in a relatively short time period. We traveled a lot when we first got married and had a lot of fun, ate out all the time, and didn’t pay too much attention to what we were spending. Looking back on that now, I don’t regret it because we had such a wonderful time, but I am just shocked at how willingly we spent more than we made! We certainly were not faithful stewards of what we were given – we were throwing it away without thought.
We have grown significantly in our financial maturity in the past year. It was about one year ago that I started budgeting and couponing, but as I explained here we were still overspending like crazy. Then a few months ago God really impressed upon me the need for us to set a goal and stick to it, to get rid of our debt.
When I approached Andy with this idea, he thought I was crazy. Looking at the numbers, it simply does not work without some divine intervention! But I had faith and slowly he came on board with the idea. And you know what? God has already shown us that He’s helping us through this. I’ll go into more detail about that in a later post, but let’s say we’ve definitely been unexpectedly blessed so far!
So now we have the framework of our plan – living like no one else so we can live like no one else. We are using the envelope system for our cash, we have stopped using credit cards, and have committed to pay off all our credit card debt in 2010.
Next, I’ll go into more detail about the trials we have faced with this new way of life, and later I’ll explain how God has shown He’s there for us and how He has blessed us already!
Since we’re sticking to only buying produce and dairy this month when possible, this weekend’s shopping didn’t require a whole lot of preparation. I sent Andy and Katie to the store with a small list and they did great!
We went slightly over our $20 budget this week, but I planned to because we had a few extra dollars from a few weeks ago and we needed baby stuff.
I did take the girls to the farmers market this weekend and we got some great produce, and even tried Swiss Chard for the first time!
At Publix, we got Mylicon for Emma and vitamins for Katie, along with milk and cheese. Light trip, but we have everything we need!
Well, we have one week under our belts and we’re doing great! We stuck to the meal plan and really enjoyed each meal. If Andy hadn’t known we were doing this challenge he would not have been able to tell, which I deem a success!
I was even able to stretch Saturday’s spaghetti in to two more freezer meals. I combined homemade marinara (from the freezer) with a bag of frozen Italian veggies, a package of mild Italian Sausage and a can of crushed tomatoes with basil (we had used half the marinara on our pizza the night before so we didn’t have quite enough for the spaghetti, hence the crushed tomatoes). I mixed a pound of whole wheat angel hair pasta with all of this and we ate like kings. We had so much left over that I was able to make an odd lasagna – I layered the pasta mixture with cheese in two 8 x 8 baking pans (we had a couple bags of almost empty shredded cheese, so I was able to get rid of those) and stuck them in the freezer. Each of these will give us two dinners easily, since Katie doesn’t eat a whole lot!
I was also able to freeze two portions of the chili and cheese mixture I made for our chili cheese dogs, so we’ve got a couple more easy chili cheese dog nights in our future!
We had a busy weekend and I haven’t had time to sit down and make this week’s meal plan, so I’m doing that today. I do know that today is leftovers for me and Katie, since Andy is going his Cleanse Day today.
As March begins and we embark on our first Eat From the Pantry Challenge, I am reminded of just how blessed we are. Having to be a little creative in our meal planning and grocery shopping for a month is nothing compared to the hardships so many people are facing. We have been incredibly blessed by God and I feel that my work to make the most of the money we have been given pleases Him.
With so many people suffering around the world, especially those who have been impacted by the devastating earthquakes recently, I am forced to put our situation into perspective. I could be upset with the financial position we are in, beating myself up over allowing it to happen. Instead, I am grateful for the nonmaterial blessings that are a direct result of the difficulties we find ourselves in.
By staying home to eat in lieu of eating out, our family has become closer than ever (and we didn’t think it was possible to be closer than we were!) and sharing these hardships has allowed us to bond in a way we had not previously. Our relationship with and faith in the Lord has grown exponentially – we have given our worries and stress up to Him and are focusing on bettering our situation instead of dwelling on our mistakes.
We are also forced to find creative ways to spend time with the people we care about. No longer can we just go out to eat with friends on a whim. Now, we either have friends over or go to their houses, for the most part. And I have to say, laughing and talking over a good home cooked meal while our kids play together is so much fun! I find that I’m able to focus on our friends and the conversation rather than making sure Katie’s not trying to climb out of her restaurant high chair or chew on the table. In one of our homes, we are all more comfortable and this allows us to make the most of our time together.
I am convinced that we are in this position as part of His plan for us, and I am determined to make the best of this season of our lives. We are by no means suffering and we’re lucky for that! So join me as I do minimal grocery shopping and creative meal planning, facing this challenge head on!
Last weekend, I posted how we decided to go to a cash system on our monthly budget. The ease with which we transitioned really inspired me to take it a step further. Since we were no longer overspending on groceries and eating out, I thought it was time to step it up a notch.
When we read Dave Ramsey’s book last year, we decided to start on our debt snowball. It didn’t work out so well. Because we hadn’t yet gone to the envelope system, we were still overspending and not putting any extra money on credit cards. I had gotten a handle on seeing where our money was going, but was still failing at spending less, which meant still not paying down debt. And we were still using our credit cards. Big no-no.
If you know me, you know that I’m not a big New Year’s Resolution person. I stopped making them because I never stick with them. This year, the timing of our decisions about our financial future coincided with the New Year but I decided that these are for-life resolutions. We really needed to make major changes, especially with me quitting my job to stay home with the girls.
This brings us to the next big change we made. Stop using credit cards. No matter what. This is a big deal for us because we like to travel, so we always put our plane tickets on a card. Or if we thought something might not fit into the budget for that month, we’d just put it on a card.
No more safety net. We have our emergency fund to fall back on, and we are trusting that God will provide. We have been tested on this, but we’re sticking to it.
So we’ve converted to the envelope system and made a commitment to stop using credit cards completely. Huge steps for us. Next week I’ll explain the next step in our financial makeover, the biggest one yet!
A couple days ago I announced we are adhering to Dave Ramsey’s plan to pay off our credit cards in 2010. Today I’ll start to explain what led to this decision and what has happened since. So we start with…CASH!
One of the blogs I frequent posted an update to her quest to purchase a house with 100% down. I was really inspired by their success and set out to find out more about how they did it and what I could learn from them. Turns out it’s not as daunting and complicated as it sounds!
As I dug deeper into the money saving blogs I frequent, I noticed one theme popping up again and again – paying cash instead of using debit or credit cards. Common sense, right? Not so much for us. I was firmly set in the idea that it would be easier for me to budget if we used our debit card for everything, so I could just log on to the bank site and enter everything into our budget. Saves time and clutter because we don’t have to save receipts! Yeah, not so much. We still spent much more than we should every week. I took comfort in the fact that I was couponing and saving money that way, but we still spent. And spent, and spent.
So we did the unthinkable. The truly crazy. We decided to go to an all cash system. Crazy, I tell you! I mean, what happens if it’s the middle of the month and we run out of cash? What if the gas envelope gets low and we have a week left in the month? What if there are too many good grocery store deals and not enough cash? The what ifs just kept adding up. Then it clicked – we simply put our faith in God and stop spending. Simple, yet spending is something we really seem to struggle with.
I really felt led by God that this is the right direction for us to be going in. And the ease with which we transitioned confirmed this for me. Once we made the decision to go to the envelope system, I felt such a burden lifted off of me. I was even able to make pretty envelopes for a very small price so I didn’t get discouraged looking at those boring white envelopes. Handling the family’s finances is a great responsibility – one I am proud to have. And I’m happy to say that I’ve managed to make it much less stressful!
This brings us through the first step towards our financial freedom. It seems like a small step, but it’s been huge for us. Next time, we’ll explore how this step led me to dream big about the rest of our financial life!
Some time last summer, Andy and I bought Dave Ramsey’s book, Total Money Makeover. It really inspired us to get budgeting, and over the past 6 or 7 months I have really figured out what works for us when it comes to budgeting. One thing that doesn’t work – nixing cash. I’m not sure what I was thinking, going against all common sense that says it’s so much easier to spend too much money when you’re using a card. So we kept on spending too much, and for the time being I felt it was okay because at least I was keeping track of what we were spending! That leads us into 2010…
Over the next few days I’ll be telling the story of how we came to the decision to put our full faith in God and do the unthinkable – PAY OFF ALL OUR CREDIT CARDS IN 2010!
