Erik and I have been going through a ton of exciting changes lately and couldn't be more excited about them! :)
To start off the new year, dear husband and I decided to shed the uh...marriage weight have accumulated! So on came the diet with about 150lbs between the two of us that we aspire to lose. Yikes! But less than two weeks into it we are doing well! 25lbs cumulatively! Woohoo! Thank you, South Beach diet!
So there is the beginning of us saying no. No thank you, we would not like to grab some pizza after the game. No self, you do not need those tasty looking dinner rolls. No I do not like those vegetables...what else on this blasted diet can I eat?!
Whole big bunch of no.
But honestly that isn't the most difficult no we have been faced with. So here comes the second big change!
We are getting out of debt! I know that isn't the most exciting news...but it is for us! We came to the very sobering realization that we were limiting the blessings that God could provide if we were constantly struggling trying to pay off things that should have been taken care of LONG ago! So it is our goal to pay off everything we owe (with the exception of our house...we don't make nearly that much!) over the course of the next year. Which it will definitely be a challenge -- we have cut back our budget to only the bare minimum. Bye bye cable! But we are so excited about it that it feels more like an adventure than a burden.
But that brings us to the difficult part of the 'no' process. Saying it to other people. Erik and I have gotten pretty good about telling ourselves no...but when it comes to saying to other people, "No, we just really can't afford it" it seems like we are having trouble. It isn't because we are embarrased to say it...I really don't care what people think...lol. But it is the dissapointment that is becoming so hard to deal with. Somehow it is offensive to people that we are choosing to buckle down for a year. A year. I mean we aren't being so crazy as to run around like bandits snatching lightbulbs from their sockets in an effort so save money on our electric bill and no we aren't sitting in the dark. We aren't abiding by the philosophy that showering every third day is a viable option to free up some extra cash. Neither are we forsaking our obligation to Tithe or cut any money from the giving that we enjoy so much. But somehow...when we say "no, we can't go the movies" or "no, we can't afford to go out to dinner" it is coming across as insulting to the recipient of said phrase. I so hate dissapointing people. But I really wish there were more people that were excited for us and could understand that just because we can't go out and blow the equivalent of a weeks worth of groceries on one meal doesn't mean that we don't want to spend time with them. When did the world become so that you can't spend time together unless it costs? Hm. Something to ponder.
I know that it is not everyones conviction to spend less and save/pay off more. But it is ours. How could God possibly bless us with a child (through adoption or biological means) or the ability to move to a new home if we can't even work with what we have now? So we are clearing a path. :)
And hopefully by next year, we will be a clean slate for God to open up all kinds of opportunity for us! For the very first time I am so over joyed about the possible changes to come rather than being reserved about it. So yay!
Prayers on all "no" fronts would be appreciated!
I didn't know you had a blog too, yay! I'm exciting about keeping up with you better :))
ReplyDeleteWe went through a debt diet (we did it Dave Ramsey style) a few years ago and it definitely changed our lives for the better. At the time Eric and I were both teachers so we had a good income to make it happen. It took a couple years but we got everything paid off except our house and our student loans, and we piled up about $12,000 in savings.
Because we did this early in our marriage, I was able to stay home with our kids instead of working, which was something he hadn't planned on AT ALL. This wouldn't have been possible at all without all the sacrifice to get those bills and cars paid off!
So, it WILL be worth it, I promise. But, no matter how much money you have or don't have, it will always be somewhat of a struggle and paying off debt won't answer EVERYTHING. In other words, we still struggle......but we also live on one income!
Telling people no is so hard, still is. We have found that it's easier to say we have something else going or something like that instead of , "No thanks, we're saving our money." For some reason people end up thinking that you just don't want to when you say you can't because of money!
Goodness, what you wrote just meant the world to me. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is so nice to hear from someone who understands. Getting out of debt sooo is not the popular thing in my family right now.
We are trying to get set up to have a nice future. We both want me to have the availability to stay home when we have kids (we would like to homeschool) and living paycheck to paycheck with not a penny in savings because of this stinkin debt is not the way to do that!
We are also choosing the Dave Ramsey method! We saw him live last weekend as our "Valentines Day Date" (Last minute 50% off tickets from Groupon since $40/ticket just wasn't in the budget!) and we are so excited about going through the steps. It was so much fun to see him live and gave us a lot of information! Hoping to be out of debt before kids happen which is definitely doable if the biology portion works out like we are wanting. :) But either way, this is something we need to do!
It is amazing (and sickening!) how much debt two people can get into!