Life has been so busy lately that we haven't had a chance to sit down and update everyone on our progress since the arrival of our sweet boy. For those of you reading this who don't already know, our precious bundle of joy, Max Danger Culbreath, joined us on June 14th, 2011 and we couldn't be more in love with him. We are adjusting to life with a baby, to include, but not limited to: learning to live with the lack of sleep, less time together as a couple, attempting to maintain our social lives, and balancing an entirely new, entirely different budget. And, for the record, I think we're doing pretty well in all of these areas, but that's not to say there's no room for improvement. Max is a pretty awesome baby and that helps us out a lot - he's been sleeping through the night since he was 2 weeks old, so there's really not much for us to be complaining about in this area. As for having less time together as a couple, we openly acknowledge to each other the fact that yes, we have less time together but we also strive to make that time count. Quality over quantity, people, and this can be applied to many instances in life. Socially, we still are getting out to spend time with our friends and having "game night" about once a week, even though it takes longer to get ourselves out the door and we're always late (ok, so we were late before we had a kid, but now it's just gotten worse...). And then there's the budget.
Remember that since January, I have been looking for a job? Countless applications resulting in few interviews and no jobs. Yet, somehow, we made it through until now. God provided us with the funds we needed, whether it was a bonus, a tax return, or a gift - we made it. John and I both knew that after Max was born, I needed to work to make this debt snowball work, so when Max was about 5 weeks old, I continued my search. One quiet Sunday evening I was sifting through posting after posting and finally found one I thought might be a good opportunity. So, I applied. The next morning (not even 12 hours later), I got a phone call to set up an interview. The day after that, I interviewed. The day after that, I got the job. Wow. After 7 months of nothing. AND, on that same day, my dear friend posted that she was looking for a new nanny gig and so I was able to snag her up right away! AND I got hired on as ECB (Emergency Call Back), which translates to I make my own hours and work only when I want to work. So my new schedule is this: three 12 hour shifts/week, Sunday, Thursday, and Saturday (sadly, I will be missing my favorite thing of all, College Football Saturdays, but it's not forever....sigh). This cuts down on any crazy childcare costs we might have incurred had I had to work a M-F, 9-5 job. I will say it again. Wow. AND I like my job. What? Yeah. It's not what I would want to do forever, but it sure is a great fit for this season of my life and totally meets our needs. So financially, where does this get us?
It gets us out and it gets us out FASTER. By our next paycheck, we should have our emergency fund back up and running and I can't even tell you what a great sense of security that brings. We are able to pay for things we need like medication, gas, dr.'s bills, etc., without worrying about having enough money left over at the end of the budget. In recent months, it's really been "there's too much month left at the end of the money". I feel the winds of change blowing through. I feel refreshed, motivated, and encouraged. And while it is SO hard to leave Max on the days that I do work, I know that he is in good hands and that this is temporary. I look at his sweet, angel baby face and know that I am providing for him and giving him a better life - a life free from the bondage that debt brings, free from being a borrower that is slave to the lender. Lord willing, this precious child (and any more we are blessed with) will not make the silly mistakes his parents made.
To continue to stay motivated, John and I have signed up to attend another Financial Peace University class, where we can share in the fellowship of others with the same goals and dreams of living a debt free life. We are winning every battle and we WILL win the war. We are able to breath more deeply and dream more vividly of the life we can't wait to experience. We are living like no one else so that one day SOON, we can live like no one else.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
"And the Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.' Then Moses said, 'Now show me your glory'".
Exodus 33:17-18
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Partnership
We're back!
It's been awhile since we blogged and we have been missing it - we love to encourage others (thank you to all of you who have sent us your stories and comments) and be encouraged at the same time! Blogging also helps keep us financially accountable. It's so great when people ask us how our journey is going and we can honestly tell them we stick to our plan and follow it. That being said, it IS a JOURNEY and the last time I checked, journeys aren't completed in one step. Sometimes the road is long and hard and you don't feel like you're getting anywhere. That's about how it's been for us this past month or so. We are slowly making headway, but not as fast as we'd like. Unexpected events have popped up here and there (read: life, it happens, deal with it) but we have been blessed enough to have an emergency fund to be able to pay for these things. Murphy's law, people - when something can go wrong, it will go wrong. So, be prepared with your savings and you'll never have to worry about Murphy again! Let's get down to the good stuff, now.
Something we want to talk about today is the importance of partnership (marriage) in our debt free marathon. If you're single and reading this, then you need to get yourself an accountability partner - someone who has the same financial visions and morals/values as you and who is not afraid to tell you NO. Many people say there are three important aspects you need to be in agreement on before you enter into a marriage: religion, whether or not you want children (and how many if you do), and finances. These things WILL make or break a marriage/relationship and you are only setting yourself up for failure (divorce, heartache) if you don't talk about them and get on the same page before you enter into this LIFELONG commitment and then CONTINUE to talk about them. I'm going to go ahead and tell you that this saved our marriage before it even started.
As part of our premarital counseling, my mother gave us the gift of going to see Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Live. From there, we decided that we would go on to take his class, Financial Peace University. It changed the way we viewed everything: money, life, you name it. It allowed us to see and talk about things eye to eye. Note: if you don't like this program, that's fine, I'm not trying to push anything on you, but please, PLEASE, have a solid financial plan and be in AGREEMENT on it BEFORE you get married. You put yourself at risk to be broke, taken advantage of and commit or be the victim of financial infidelity. You can't have a good marriage and hide things from one another; as my uncle says, "it will only end in tears, children."
A few things (there are more, of course) that are important (to us, at least) in having a marriage filled with financial peace: sharing a bank account, doing a budget together, write down your goals, and just keeping those lines of constant communication open. Sharing a bank account - this allows you both to see where every dollar goes and helps prevent financial infidelity or even the temptation of it. You and your spouse are more willing and able to hold each other accountable. There is no worse feeling than seeing or hearing that your spouse is disappointed in you and doesn't trust you. Ouch. Don't give them a reason to be. Share an account. Doing a budget together - putting down on paper where every dollar for the month is going and giving it a name. If it's not in the budget, you don't get to spend it. That's that. Both of you must agree before the month begins where to put the money and then DO IT. We do our budget and then both sign it at the bottom of the page to commit to each other to follow it. Write down your goals - how will you have a plan to get somewhere if you don't know where you're going in the first place? Devise a plan and follow it. Knowing what you both want, writing it down and saying it out loud to each other helps to make things more tangible and attainable, especially during times when you feel you're not making much progress. Which brings me to my last point - communicate, communicate, communicate. Hopefully, you already know this is important in any and every relationship, but especially in a marriage. We keep each other motivated by talking about our dreams of what we want to do when we become debt free - pay for our kids' college educations in cash, own our paid-for dream home, travel the world together...it's fun to do these things and it keeps us motivated and connected at the same time.
Be open and honest and willing to communicate with one another. Listen to each other and have a plan.
Lastly, we live by these words:
"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans."
Proverbs 16:3
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
It's been awhile since we blogged and we have been missing it - we love to encourage others (thank you to all of you who have sent us your stories and comments) and be encouraged at the same time! Blogging also helps keep us financially accountable. It's so great when people ask us how our journey is going and we can honestly tell them we stick to our plan and follow it. That being said, it IS a JOURNEY and the last time I checked, journeys aren't completed in one step. Sometimes the road is long and hard and you don't feel like you're getting anywhere. That's about how it's been for us this past month or so. We are slowly making headway, but not as fast as we'd like. Unexpected events have popped up here and there (read: life, it happens, deal with it) but we have been blessed enough to have an emergency fund to be able to pay for these things. Murphy's law, people - when something can go wrong, it will go wrong. So, be prepared with your savings and you'll never have to worry about Murphy again! Let's get down to the good stuff, now.
Something we want to talk about today is the importance of partnership (marriage) in our debt free marathon. If you're single and reading this, then you need to get yourself an accountability partner - someone who has the same financial visions and morals/values as you and who is not afraid to tell you NO. Many people say there are three important aspects you need to be in agreement on before you enter into a marriage: religion, whether or not you want children (and how many if you do), and finances. These things WILL make or break a marriage/relationship and you are only setting yourself up for failure (divorce, heartache) if you don't talk about them and get on the same page before you enter into this LIFELONG commitment and then CONTINUE to talk about them. I'm going to go ahead and tell you that this saved our marriage before it even started.
As part of our premarital counseling, my mother gave us the gift of going to see Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Live. From there, we decided that we would go on to take his class, Financial Peace University. It changed the way we viewed everything: money, life, you name it. It allowed us to see and talk about things eye to eye. Note: if you don't like this program, that's fine, I'm not trying to push anything on you, but please, PLEASE, have a solid financial plan and be in AGREEMENT on it BEFORE you get married. You put yourself at risk to be broke, taken advantage of and commit or be the victim of financial infidelity. You can't have a good marriage and hide things from one another; as my uncle says, "it will only end in tears, children."
A few things (there are more, of course) that are important (to us, at least) in having a marriage filled with financial peace: sharing a bank account, doing a budget together, write down your goals, and just keeping those lines of constant communication open. Sharing a bank account - this allows you both to see where every dollar goes and helps prevent financial infidelity or even the temptation of it. You and your spouse are more willing and able to hold each other accountable. There is no worse feeling than seeing or hearing that your spouse is disappointed in you and doesn't trust you. Ouch. Don't give them a reason to be. Share an account. Doing a budget together - putting down on paper where every dollar for the month is going and giving it a name. If it's not in the budget, you don't get to spend it. That's that. Both of you must agree before the month begins where to put the money and then DO IT. We do our budget and then both sign it at the bottom of the page to commit to each other to follow it. Write down your goals - how will you have a plan to get somewhere if you don't know where you're going in the first place? Devise a plan and follow it. Knowing what you both want, writing it down and saying it out loud to each other helps to make things more tangible and attainable, especially during times when you feel you're not making much progress. Which brings me to my last point - communicate, communicate, communicate. Hopefully, you already know this is important in any and every relationship, but especially in a marriage. We keep each other motivated by talking about our dreams of what we want to do when we become debt free - pay for our kids' college educations in cash, own our paid-for dream home, travel the world together...it's fun to do these things and it keeps us motivated and connected at the same time.
Be open and honest and willing to communicate with one another. Listen to each other and have a plan.
Lastly, we live by these words:
"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans."
Proverbs 16:3
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
Sunday, March 20, 2011
VICTORY!
VICTORY is the word of the week! Today we sold John's beloved Nissan 350Z. I just want to note here how proud of him I am for giving up his car to help pay down our debt so that we, as a family, will have a better and more solid financial future. We had the car (along with mine) listed on Craigslist and also parked in front of his brother's office (thanks, Jay and Steph), so it would be seen as much as possible. We put it there not even one week ago and today received a phone call from someone who wanted to test drive it and ended up buying it! We sold it under market value but still managed to make a couple hundred dollars along the way - so we didn't take a loss on it and tomorrow we will head to the bank and pay this baby off! To add to the goodness, they are paying IN CASH, which makes our lives that much simpler. Total amount of debt paid off in one month (including cc, student loans, cars, etc.) since starting our debt free marathon: $9929.17! A small chunk of our grand total but a huge victory, nonetheless. We also had the joy today of finding out we will be getting a refund on our taxes this year instead of having to pay the IRS. This is HUGE, as last year, we had to write them some big, fat checks! I digress. Tonight, we update our whiteboard by our bedside and get to pull out that permanent red marker (hooray!) to draw a line straight through that car loan. And on to the next goal on the board, Nelnet (student loan) or my car, whichever comes first. Look out, this debt snowball is gathering momentum! Thank you for sharing our excitement in this victory and we hope we will celebrate another one shortly!
"The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty."
Proverbs 21:5
Faithfully and VICTORIOUSLY,
The Culbreaths
"The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty."
Proverbs 21:5
Faithfully and VICTORIOUSLY,
The Culbreaths
Monday, March 14, 2011
Keep Attacking - by John
For us guys, it's hard to understand the feelings of insecurity about money. But I have been thinking about debt a lot lately and I feel it's a great battle. It's a battle where you just have to keep kicking, throwing punches, and staying on the offensive side of things, hoping that you just land one hit, one strike, etc. This has finally happened for us!
The first hit was us getting tired of watching our hard earned money fly out the door. You could call this "first punch" an attitude change. Dave says there's a turning point where you're so mad and fed up that you just can't live the way your were living anymore. This change has invigorated us - it has given us a feeling of power and confidence in our finances. We know this fight will be a long one, but this new attitude has set a fire in us to see our debt come to an end.
The second punch we landed was devising a plan. Our plan is Financial Peace University (FPU). Even though this is our third time through, this time it seems different. We have laid out our list of debts, deciding to attack it one at a time. We have a white board with this list by our bedside and we see it morning, noon, and night to keep our anger from smoldering. Once we conquer the first debt on the list, we will purchase a permanent red marker to cross it out. This board is forever changing our lives. We will keep it FOREVER! Our budget is tight and our debit cards have been screaming for use, but we use cash for everything these days. As the old saying goes, "One who doesn't plan plans for disaster."
The most recent strike has been figuring out what is a need and what is a want. We have given up our wondrous cable, our intelligent IPhones, and, finally, our luxurious vehicles. If we find something else that is not a need, we'll be getting rid of that, too!
I know this will be a long and arduous journey but I can't give up hope or my faith - we just have to keep swinging, and little by little, we will be able to beat debt down. I don't know when our next small victory will come - it could be a job, extra money coming in - but all I know is I have to keep swinging, keep attacking.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
P.S. - Keep your swords sharp, my friends.
The first hit was us getting tired of watching our hard earned money fly out the door. You could call this "first punch" an attitude change. Dave says there's a turning point where you're so mad and fed up that you just can't live the way your were living anymore. This change has invigorated us - it has given us a feeling of power and confidence in our finances. We know this fight will be a long one, but this new attitude has set a fire in us to see our debt come to an end.
The second punch we landed was devising a plan. Our plan is Financial Peace University (FPU). Even though this is our third time through, this time it seems different. We have laid out our list of debts, deciding to attack it one at a time. We have a white board with this list by our bedside and we see it morning, noon, and night to keep our anger from smoldering. Once we conquer the first debt on the list, we will purchase a permanent red marker to cross it out. This board is forever changing our lives. We will keep it FOREVER! Our budget is tight and our debit cards have been screaming for use, but we use cash for everything these days. As the old saying goes, "One who doesn't plan plans for disaster."
The most recent strike has been figuring out what is a need and what is a want. We have given up our wondrous cable, our intelligent IPhones, and, finally, our luxurious vehicles. If we find something else that is not a need, we'll be getting rid of that, too!
I know this will be a long and arduous journey but I can't give up hope or my faith - we just have to keep swinging, and little by little, we will be able to beat debt down. I don't know when our next small victory will come - it could be a job, extra money coming in - but all I know is I have to keep swinging, keep attacking.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
P.S. - Keep your swords sharp, my friends.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Maxed Out
Tonight, John and I watched a documentary on Netflix entitled "Maxed Out." I'm sure you can guess from the name of it that it was about credit cards - how Americans have gone overboard and kind of lost their minds charging everything to high heaven and borrowing WAY beyond their means! I can honestly say it really broke my heart.
There were so many people who owed so much because of poor decisions and no education on what they were getting themselves into. There was one mother who was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (her family had no idea) and when the collectors started calling, she ran away and killed herself. In another instance, two mothers were interviewed about their children; one had a son, one had a daughter. Both of these "kids" went off to college and racked up thousands upon thousands of dollars in credit card debt - and both of them saw no way out other than to kill themselves. How tragic is this? Killing yourself over money?
All the while, the movie flashed back and forth between the lives of American people and the United States government (don't get me started), who, as you can imagine, doesn't give a rat's behind about any of it (and even allows some major credit card lenders to right bills for them!). These people need help! I wish I could go out and educate them on the dangers of credit cards and borrowing money at such high interest rates that they'll be dead before they pay anything off. They need hope and they need a plan.
While I've never felt like killing myself over finances, I know what it's like to be neck deep and higher in debt - it sucks! But I have hope. God gave my husband and I hope through Dave Ramsey. We don't use credit cards or really even our debit card. We pay cash so we can see where our money is going. And we REFUSE to take out loans! There's no excuse for living beyond your means - NONE. Period.
I'm not even sure what I want to say the point of this post is....but I do want to say if you're in a place where you're drowning in debt, don't give up. Have hope. There is a way out. It's not fast - in all likely hood, you didn't get into this situation quickly in the first place and you certainly aren't getting out of it that way, either. So start over. It's never too late. I know it's hard and I know it's overwhelming, but with hard work, patience, faith, hope, and a plan, you'll get there! We see the light at the end of the tunnel and it only makes us want it more!
Hoping this offers a word of encouragement to you tonight, and remember...
"The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is SLAVE to the lender."
Proverbs 22:7
Wise words to live by.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
There were so many people who owed so much because of poor decisions and no education on what they were getting themselves into. There was one mother who was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (her family had no idea) and when the collectors started calling, she ran away and killed herself. In another instance, two mothers were interviewed about their children; one had a son, one had a daughter. Both of these "kids" went off to college and racked up thousands upon thousands of dollars in credit card debt - and both of them saw no way out other than to kill themselves. How tragic is this? Killing yourself over money?
All the while, the movie flashed back and forth between the lives of American people and the United States government (don't get me started), who, as you can imagine, doesn't give a rat's behind about any of it (and even allows some major credit card lenders to right bills for them!). These people need help! I wish I could go out and educate them on the dangers of credit cards and borrowing money at such high interest rates that they'll be dead before they pay anything off. They need hope and they need a plan.
While I've never felt like killing myself over finances, I know what it's like to be neck deep and higher in debt - it sucks! But I have hope. God gave my husband and I hope through Dave Ramsey. We don't use credit cards or really even our debit card. We pay cash so we can see where our money is going. And we REFUSE to take out loans! There's no excuse for living beyond your means - NONE. Period.
I'm not even sure what I want to say the point of this post is....but I do want to say if you're in a place where you're drowning in debt, don't give up. Have hope. There is a way out. It's not fast - in all likely hood, you didn't get into this situation quickly in the first place and you certainly aren't getting out of it that way, either. So start over. It's never too late. I know it's hard and I know it's overwhelming, but with hard work, patience, faith, hope, and a plan, you'll get there! We see the light at the end of the tunnel and it only makes us want it more!
Hoping this offers a word of encouragement to you tonight, and remember...
"The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is SLAVE to the lender."
Proverbs 22:7
Wise words to live by.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
"Stuffitis"
I've been thinking lately that we have a lot of "stuff." Stuff that we want(ed) but that we don't really need. And then, lo and behold, the next chapter we were assigned to read in our FPU class was about "stuffitis" - something I feel has become rampant in our society as of late. Now I'm not saying that stuff is bad - stuff can be fun! It's more the idolatry of it and the "I need, I need, I need" frame of mind that gets us (note: me) into trouble (translation: debt). If you have the money and the means to pay for it, by all means, get it. But if you have to have it because all your neighbors have one and you want to go bigger and better, so you decide to finance because you got the wonderful "90 days same as cash!" deal, you might want to rethink things. And we all know that the majority of the time, this won't be paid off in 90 days and then you're stuck with a payment plus 24% interest on something you bought to impress and one-up someone. Yeah, enjoy your stuff!
We certainly are well provided for and taken care of, but we could stand to do better in managing our assets and not being overcome by stuffitis. There are so many things we've bought that we don't really need at this time in our lives - things that we can make payments on for a million years but we wouldn't be able to go on vacations and do things during those years because we had to have that one item. Kind of like being "house poor" - we are "stuff poor." So we've decided to make some major changes to help turn ourselves around in getting out of debt and getting into a new frame of mind and out of stuffitis.
One of the first things we decided to do was cut costs wherever we could. We got rid of cable (saved $100+/month). We stopped eating out so much and I've been cooking A LOT (saved countless dollars here - we eat out about once a week with our friends for gamenight). Then, last week, while we were out to dinner, we decided that we didn't really need our fancy phones to play on anymore. So we headed over to AT&T and dropped all of our data plans and replaced our phones with the cheapest thing they had (yea for go-phones!). Hooray for saving $80/month on phone bills! We still have our iphones and now they are glorified ipod touches that we can still operate apps with on wifi. How nice! And now, we come to the big ticket items.....our cars.
Now, let me just say here how much I love my car. I LOVE my car. It's the most amazing vehicle I've ever had, period. It has all the bells and whistles I could ever want or imagine. I love this car. But as we were sitting in class the other night, I kept thinking, I don't need this car right now. I really, really want it but I don't need it. My husband had already offered up his to sell so we could go down to a one-car family and so what was stopping me from doing the same? God has really changed my heart in the past week about this - and I've been able to detach myself from that idolatry so easily, it's not even funny. I look at our white board by our bed and our payment plans and I'm just so MAD at all of this debt that I am willing to do whatever it takes to kick it to the curb as quickly as possible. I. Want. OUT! So, with all that being said, we are selling our cars. Both of them. And we will buy a "beater." I completely realize that in a couple of years, I can have this car again - without the payments and the stress of being buried by the debt it carries! It just is going to take some time, some patience, and some (lots) of sacrifices (that we are more than willing to make). It's a relief to me to just have been able to make that decision. I literally feel like a one ton weight has been lifted off my shoulders and my hope has continued to be restored that we WILL get out of debt and we WILL do it in 2 years.
Our hearts have been transformed, our hope is renewed and we are pumped (Dave calls this "gazelle intensity")! We will leave you today with a word of encouragement from the Lord and from Larry Burkett (to be found in Chapter 10, Pile up Plunder, from DR's Financial Peace Revisited).
"In the house of the wise are stores of food, choice, and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."
Proverbs 21:20
"Attitude is the only difference between saving and hoarding."
Larry Burkett
We hope that you will be encouraged today and remember it's never too late to start where you are.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
We certainly are well provided for and taken care of, but we could stand to do better in managing our assets and not being overcome by stuffitis. There are so many things we've bought that we don't really need at this time in our lives - things that we can make payments on for a million years but we wouldn't be able to go on vacations and do things during those years because we had to have that one item. Kind of like being "house poor" - we are "stuff poor." So we've decided to make some major changes to help turn ourselves around in getting out of debt and getting into a new frame of mind and out of stuffitis.
One of the first things we decided to do was cut costs wherever we could. We got rid of cable (saved $100+/month). We stopped eating out so much and I've been cooking A LOT (saved countless dollars here - we eat out about once a week with our friends for gamenight). Then, last week, while we were out to dinner, we decided that we didn't really need our fancy phones to play on anymore. So we headed over to AT&T and dropped all of our data plans and replaced our phones with the cheapest thing they had (yea for go-phones!). Hooray for saving $80/month on phone bills! We still have our iphones and now they are glorified ipod touches that we can still operate apps with on wifi. How nice! And now, we come to the big ticket items.....our cars.
Now, let me just say here how much I love my car. I LOVE my car. It's the most amazing vehicle I've ever had, period. It has all the bells and whistles I could ever want or imagine. I love this car. But as we were sitting in class the other night, I kept thinking, I don't need this car right now. I really, really want it but I don't need it. My husband had already offered up his to sell so we could go down to a one-car family and so what was stopping me from doing the same? God has really changed my heart in the past week about this - and I've been able to detach myself from that idolatry so easily, it's not even funny. I look at our white board by our bed and our payment plans and I'm just so MAD at all of this debt that I am willing to do whatever it takes to kick it to the curb as quickly as possible. I. Want. OUT! So, with all that being said, we are selling our cars. Both of them. And we will buy a "beater." I completely realize that in a couple of years, I can have this car again - without the payments and the stress of being buried by the debt it carries! It just is going to take some time, some patience, and some (lots) of sacrifices (that we are more than willing to make). It's a relief to me to just have been able to make that decision. I literally feel like a one ton weight has been lifted off my shoulders and my hope has continued to be restored that we WILL get out of debt and we WILL do it in 2 years.
Our hearts have been transformed, our hope is renewed and we are pumped (Dave calls this "gazelle intensity")! We will leave you today with a word of encouragement from the Lord and from Larry Burkett (to be found in Chapter 10, Pile up Plunder, from DR's Financial Peace Revisited).
"In the house of the wise are stores of food, choice, and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."
Proverbs 21:20
"Attitude is the only difference between saving and hoarding."
Larry Burkett
We hope that you will be encouraged today and remember it's never too late to start where you are.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Today We Begin Our Journey (Again)!
The marathon to freedom from debt has, once again, begun. We have, in the past, started our journey and stalled out. However, this time, it feels different. Maybe it's the baby that's coming - maybe it's wanting to change our family tree so that our children don't have to struggle with the issues we're struggling with now (cough, cough, SALLIEMAE). Whatever the reason, this time, we really feel the fire burning. We hope and pray we can keep it burning intensely day in and day out for the rest of our lives. This blog will be about our journey to financial freedom: freedom from debt, no longer being a slave to money (having our money own us), and learning to spend, give, and manage our finances with wisdom from the Lord. Of course, this is an extremely personal and sensitive subject - but John and I have thought about this and really feel the desire to share our story, hoping that in doing so, we will be encouraged and encourage others as well. So, here goes!
The beginning, a very good place to start
A little (financial) background on the both of us to fill you in. John and I are both college graduates from OU. John, graduating in 5 years (2006) and myself graduating in 8 (2007). We didn't plan ahead for school, or at least the part where you pay for it, and both came out with, yes, you guessed it, student loans. John's were less than mine (do the math, people, 5 years vs. 8) and he was able to pay for some of his schooling outright with jobs and help from his family. I, on the other hand, never wrote one check to a school until AFTER I graduated. I did, however, receive a few Pell grants along the way. Let's just say, I was NOT smart with money. Did I mention I attended 4 different schools? Yikes, that's a lot of money! When I did get my loans, they were never enough to cover me for the semester and this resulted in my turning to private loans to fulfill the remaining tuition costs and money to just live. Additionally, I had family helping me pay my rent and feed me. And I had a job (except for the last couple of years). It's how I managed what I did have available to me that makes me sick. While I wasn't one of those students who went out and bought a house with her student loans (yes, people really do this), I did buy so many frivolous things in that 8 year time span. Talk about regret! I never looked far enough down the road. Not that people didn't warn me, more that I just didn't listen. And, wow, I really hope my kids won't be as stupid as I was! I won't disclose the exact amount we owe, but I will say that it is a 6-figure number. Shocked? We were! I knew it was going to be bad when I graduated, I just had not imagined it to this extent. And you can imagine the salary of a nurse doesn't make up for all those years I took out loans to get that BSN. Add these loans, plus our cars, plus the credit card balance that never seems to budge, plus a house, and it's a big fat mess! Oh, and did I mention we're expecting our first child in June? Things HAVE to change. Living paycheck to paycheck is no longer and option (and should never have been in the first place, by the way). So, how do we go about changing the way we handle and view our money? How do we become these responsible adults our parents always wanted us to be?
We have a budget. We have a plan. And we have Dave Ramsey (actually, we have the first two because of Dave Ramsey). We are currently working through his program, Financial Peace University. We've done this before and it has helped us in the past, but we decided we really needed a refresher to get us back on track where we need to be with our finances. It's so discouraging when you do your taxes and see that you've made all of this money and.....where did it go?? We start by giving every dollar a name and telling it where to go. Owning our money and not letting our money own us. Another thing we've started doing is paying cash for everything. Gas, food, you name it. If we don't have the cash set aside for it, we can't have it. One reason for this is paying in cash HURTS! It's so easy to swipe a card and lose track of how much you've spent in an hour, day, week, etc. It's also a great visual for you to actually see where your money is going. Do I really need that extra (-)? More often than not, the answer is "no", you don't need it. You may really, really want it. But odds are you'll be just fine without whatever "it" is. Nobody really WANTS to be on a budget, but they want the results of being on one - a nice house, a nice car you can pay for in cash, other fun "toys", great vacations. Think of it like a diet. You want the results but no one actually wants to diet. You know it's good for you and you feel better when you do it and incorporate it, making it a lifestyle change instead of a momentary change. So why is it so hard? Dave says it's a "dessert first" mentality that we've adapted - we love to microwave things and have what we want right then, consequences be damned! This has gotten us all into a lot of trouble! No, you don't deserve that new car, but you get it anyway because, well, you can get a loan for it, so why not? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life owing other people your hard earned money? I sure hope not. We don't. Another one of my favorite quotes by DR is "Children do what feels good; adults devise a plan and follow it". How many of us live by this, I wonder? I'm sure by the end of this blog, you'll be tired of my talking about Dave Ramsey this and Dave Ramsey that. But it helps me. It helps us.
In the weeks and months to come, We hope to share more with you about our journey toward freedom from debt and the bumps along the way. We're in a valley right now, as Dave's wife, Sharon, says, but on the other side, there's a beautiful mountain and sunshine.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
The beginning, a very good place to start
A little (financial) background on the both of us to fill you in. John and I are both college graduates from OU. John, graduating in 5 years (2006) and myself graduating in 8 (2007). We didn't plan ahead for school, or at least the part where you pay for it, and both came out with, yes, you guessed it, student loans. John's were less than mine (do the math, people, 5 years vs. 8) and he was able to pay for some of his schooling outright with jobs and help from his family. I, on the other hand, never wrote one check to a school until AFTER I graduated. I did, however, receive a few Pell grants along the way. Let's just say, I was NOT smart with money. Did I mention I attended 4 different schools? Yikes, that's a lot of money! When I did get my loans, they were never enough to cover me for the semester and this resulted in my turning to private loans to fulfill the remaining tuition costs and money to just live. Additionally, I had family helping me pay my rent and feed me. And I had a job (except for the last couple of years). It's how I managed what I did have available to me that makes me sick. While I wasn't one of those students who went out and bought a house with her student loans (yes, people really do this), I did buy so many frivolous things in that 8 year time span. Talk about regret! I never looked far enough down the road. Not that people didn't warn me, more that I just didn't listen. And, wow, I really hope my kids won't be as stupid as I was! I won't disclose the exact amount we owe, but I will say that it is a 6-figure number. Shocked? We were! I knew it was going to be bad when I graduated, I just had not imagined it to this extent. And you can imagine the salary of a nurse doesn't make up for all those years I took out loans to get that BSN. Add these loans, plus our cars, plus the credit card balance that never seems to budge, plus a house, and it's a big fat mess! Oh, and did I mention we're expecting our first child in June? Things HAVE to change. Living paycheck to paycheck is no longer and option (and should never have been in the first place, by the way). So, how do we go about changing the way we handle and view our money? How do we become these responsible adults our parents always wanted us to be?
We have a budget. We have a plan. And we have Dave Ramsey (actually, we have the first two because of Dave Ramsey). We are currently working through his program, Financial Peace University. We've done this before and it has helped us in the past, but we decided we really needed a refresher to get us back on track where we need to be with our finances. It's so discouraging when you do your taxes and see that you've made all of this money and.....where did it go?? We start by giving every dollar a name and telling it where to go. Owning our money and not letting our money own us. Another thing we've started doing is paying cash for everything. Gas, food, you name it. If we don't have the cash set aside for it, we can't have it. One reason for this is paying in cash HURTS! It's so easy to swipe a card and lose track of how much you've spent in an hour, day, week, etc. It's also a great visual for you to actually see where your money is going. Do I really need that extra (-)? More often than not, the answer is "no", you don't need it. You may really, really want it. But odds are you'll be just fine without whatever "it" is. Nobody really WANTS to be on a budget, but they want the results of being on one - a nice house, a nice car you can pay for in cash, other fun "toys", great vacations. Think of it like a diet. You want the results but no one actually wants to diet. You know it's good for you and you feel better when you do it and incorporate it, making it a lifestyle change instead of a momentary change. So why is it so hard? Dave says it's a "dessert first" mentality that we've adapted - we love to microwave things and have what we want right then, consequences be damned! This has gotten us all into a lot of trouble! No, you don't deserve that new car, but you get it anyway because, well, you can get a loan for it, so why not? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life owing other people your hard earned money? I sure hope not. We don't. Another one of my favorite quotes by DR is "Children do what feels good; adults devise a plan and follow it". How many of us live by this, I wonder? I'm sure by the end of this blog, you'll be tired of my talking about Dave Ramsey this and Dave Ramsey that. But it helps me. It helps us.
In the weeks and months to come, We hope to share more with you about our journey toward freedom from debt and the bumps along the way. We're in a valley right now, as Dave's wife, Sharon, says, but on the other side, there's a beautiful mountain and sunshine.
Faithfully,
The Culbreaths
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