Do
you like to pop bubble wrap?
It's
one of those fun things to do. In fact, check out this link play bubble wrapgame. Seriously check it out, but remember to come back...
Bubble
wrap is fun to pop.
Last
week, I asked you to share your “why” you want to get out of
debt. It's your “why” that will continue to motivate you as your
get out of debt. Focusing on your “why” will help as you start to
make tough changes in your lifestyle. I
think society has brainwashed people into believing that we
deserve everything that we
want is a valid need. Getting
out of debt means learning how to live with what you need vs. what
you want, there is a difference.
Want
vs. Need
In
1992 I went to Jamaica on
a mission trip to build homes for unwed mothers on the streets of
inner city Kingston. Before I left, I constantly complained that my
couch was really old and dilapidated. So old that three of the legs
were cans of creamed corn and I don't even like creamed corn. I
thought I needed a new couch.
When
I returned home, I was truly grateful to have a couch at all AND
three cans of creamed corn. I
understand that I simply wanted a new couch.
When
you are making a commitment to become debt free, you have to be
willing to give up short time fun to make this happen.
I like challenging myself (and others). I once took a challenge (2012) where I was only allowed to spend $250 for one month. It was a very eye opening experience. After pre-paying the monthly bills (which we were allowed to do).
I like challenging myself (and others). I once took a challenge (2012) where I was only allowed to spend $250 for one month. It was a very eye opening experience. After pre-paying the monthly bills (which we were allowed to do).
What
I learned from this challenge, was that there was a LOT of extraneous
spending in my life. For example, I ate out several times a week that
was just one area I could curtail my spending.
I
challenge you to really assess where you are currently spending your
money. Track
everything for a month. For
some this will be affirming, for others I hope that you have a
revelation of where your
money is actually
going. Get
receipts and put them in an envelope. At the end get out your credit
card statements, print out you bank statement and list out exactly
what you bought.
If
you are one of those people who want to get out of debt give this a
try.
During
the first post Nancy Thomann shared her thoughts on one of the
principles I firmly espouse.
STOP
LIVING ABOVE YOUR MEANS
It helped that we had always paid cash for our cars (a new car every 8~10) years, you can save that much in 3 years time if you don't have a car payment. We made enough off the sale of the last one to pay cash for this one and sock quite a bit away. Tip number one, and most just do not want to hear it...STOP LIVING ABOVE YOUR MEANS. Do you have that mc mansion to impress others or because you "need" it?? Our friends love us just as much in our 1100 sq foot "old" house as they did in our 3400sq foot custom built...
It helped that we had always paid cash for our cars (a new car every 8~10) years, you can save that much in 3 years time if you don't have a car payment. We made enough off the sale of the last one to pay cash for this one and sock quite a bit away. Tip number one, and most just do not want to hear it...STOP LIVING ABOVE YOUR MEANS. Do you have that mc mansion to impress others or because you "need" it?? Our friends love us just as much in our 1100 sq foot "old" house as they did in our 3400sq foot custom built...
Romans
13: 8 Let
no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one
another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (NIV) note
that the previous chapter is talking about actually paying what our
owe.
10/10/14
I am currently adding more blogs posts to explain a little more in
detail about how we got to this point in our journey. These posts are
listed here under"Financial".
Next
week, I will talk about a not so smart way to pay off credit cards &
a better way...
Thank you, once again, for an outstanding post. We are debt-free, except for the normal electrical bill, phone, etc. bills. We don't live above our means, grow our own veggies and can our food. We found a property that we want to move to (provides the land needed to raise livestock so we can become self-sufficient. Unfortunately we live on less than $2,000 a year (totally dependent on Social Security) so we can't qualify for financing, even though we both have 826 credit scores. Our income does not meet the required ratio to debt (or something like that). We have managed to save $9,000 but that is not enough for a down payment. The property we are looking at is an old 1950 house but the land is 20 acres with an old barn (both house and barn need a lot of work, but that's okay, we can do the work ourselves), it has a gorgeous creek (more like a river in size) with grand-fathered water rights. All irrigation pipes are included along with the pumps needed PLUS the electrical is already in and set up for said pumps. This is an estate sale. They accepted our offer contingent upon financing approved by this Friday (Oct 17th). We could use a hard money lender to purchase the property but we refuse to put ourselves in danger due to liens they add to our home and the new place. Our next step is to amend the original offer to "contingent upon our house selling." I doubt they will accept this offer and am just heart-broken knowing we can't purchase this land. Our home is a 4-bedroom/2-bath home so we would actually be downsizing our living space (we don't care about the size of the home because we are always outside working in the veggie gardens (we have 2 huge greenhouses, a huge shop, garden sheds, etc). So this move is basically for the land, not the old 1950 house, although we both think it's charming.
ReplyDeleteBut you mentioned, "do we NEED this or do we WANT this?" I can honestly say BOTH. The new property would greatly lower or property taxes (currently we pay $2,237 per year; the property for sale property tax is $412 per year) which amounts to a huge savings. Our land is 1.29 acres; property for sale is almost 21 acres, beautiful pasture grounds for livestock PLUS over $30,000 in timber; so we could use the income from the timber to make most of the necessary improvements (fencing, barn roof repairs, etc.).
We don't buy new, my car is a 1996 and runs great, husband has an older truck, we never go out to eat, etc.
It's so sad to watch this property slip through our hands, but I guess it wasn't meant to be because we refuse to go the dangerous route with a hard money lender to purchase.
I won't put our house up for sale if the Seller doesn't accept our amended offer. I'll keep your post near and dear to my heart as encouragement. I know we are going to be feeling blue, but sometimes we just don't get what we want in life and this is a good example.
I will continue to count my blessings and keep moving forward. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your wisdom and strength and for sharing your knowledge, life experiences and inspiration with others.
I hope that they accept your amended offer. Perhaps if you write a heart felt letter about how you would love and honor the property?? But if they dont, and you dont get this property, maybe it will be because something better at another time is in your future. Keep true to your principles, and continue to save.
DeleteForgot to mention how much I enjoy following your blog.
ReplyDeleteBobbie,
ReplyDeleteI pray that they accept you contingency. But you are right in sticking to your guns. We looked for almost a year and this one just "appeared". Thank you for your faithfulness in following. You are the reason I do this. ~Perky~
Good News: They accepted our offer but there are two other Brokers looking at it. If one or the other get their inspections done and approved by the lender(s) before we sell, we are bumped to the back. We listed our home today, so hopefully, if this journey is meant to be, we won't have to wait long to sell it. If the deal falls through, I agree with you, it wasn't meant to be for whatever reason.
ReplyDeleteWith this said, I'm a nervous wreck yet excited at the same time. What a journey this will be for us if everything works out.
Thanks for your prayers and comforting words. I'll keep you posted - hopefully with some exciting news.
Happy Weekend to You - Bobbie
Continued prayers.
ReplyDelete