Our Last Christmas

...in debt. What a great thought! We are making this Christmas special although it's on a limited budget. We know that within a few months we will be debt-free and have decided to cut our spending now so we can make it to that goal sooner. Here are a few things that we did to keep our Christmas spending under control.

1. Make a budget and stick to it!!
In true Dave Ramsey fashion, we spent every Christmas dollar on paper before we spent it in real life. Chris and I sat down together and decided on how much we would spend on each other and how much we would spend on our extended family and friends. We also decided what we were going to buy before we went shopping. It was a great way to focus our spending and not buy things that weren't on the list!!

2. Get creative!
We looked for items on our Christmas list to go on sale. Because we knew exactly what we wanted to buy, we didn't have to buy unnecessary sale items- just the ones we had already budgeted for. 

We made gifts too! We made stovetop potpourri and cookies for our neighbors. We also made cookie jars and ornaments. We bought 30 yards of kraft paper for $5 to wrap presents. All these ideas and more came from…you guessed it -- Pinterest. 

I also did a "make and take" Christmas with 3 of my friends. Each of us picked a craft of some type and bought all the supplies for all 4 of us to make it. After that night, we walked away with some amazing quality time together and 4 handmade Christmas presents. I don't think any of us spent more than $15 total!


3. Practice Gratitude 
We have had such a thankful, stressless Christmas season so far because we are trying to keep our thoughts on how blessed we are. It's a choice, we aren't thankful naturally. We often jump to our default emotion of selfishness. It's a daily effort to change our thinking to being thankful for the ultimate gift of Jesus and how our giving should be a reflection of His gift.

4. Give More
The people we know have plenty…we have plenty. We don't need to keep adding more and more to our stockpile of stuff. We made sure to also budget money to spend on people who don't have plenty. We included Ethan in this practice too. He helped us pick out a gift to give to a child we don't know. We know this child is 18 months old and at that age, Ethan played endlessly with a drum that had shakers, a tambourine, bells, etc. We picked it out and Ethan was so excited about it. It did take a while for it to sink in that the drum wasn't for him though!! We found other reasons to give our money to people who are struggling to survive right now. We pray that they find the other side of the wilderness that they are in because they have found Jesus to lead them through. 

Merry Christmas!! 

2013 YTD Debt Pay-Off: $16,822.65

Total Debt Pay-Off: $54,822.65

Amount Left: $6,486.52

Fall is Here!

It's our favorite season for the weather, the leaves changing, and our anniversary! We are going to celebrate 6 years of marriage soon. It's pretty wild to realize that we have been working to become debt-free for almost five years of that time. (less than 6 months left though!!!) 

Now that we're so close to being finished, we can start realistically dreaming about what we want to do with our money once it's not going to debt. We decided a few weeks ago our first debt-free endeavor is going to be a family vacation. We've been dreaming about being "vacation people" since we started this debt-free journey. We've taken trips but they have been short and in near-by locations. This time…we're packing our bags and going to Disneyland for a few days and then visiting San Deigo too. This summer we will be taking our first MAJOR family vacation!! It's the light at the end of the tunnel. It's what keeps us going when we've been doing something so "weird" for so long! 

Ethan just started pre-school yesterday and we are so excited for this new chapter in his life. 


2013 YTD Debt Pay-0ff: $16,050.63

Amount Left: $7,240.96

Total Debt Pay-Off: $54,050.63

On Furlough...

Well...just from blogging. Unlike the US government we are in complete agreement about our budget and are gaining ground on our debt-free journey. We aren't feeling a single pain from the shutdown that is going on in Washington and all over our nation, we are planning for our soon to be debt-free days!!

Some updates since my (forever ago) last post:

• Ethan turned 3 and celebrated with some of his 3-4 yr old friends and then partied again with some church friends and family that night at Culvers.
• Chris was offered a different position in his store that will help his chances of getting a promotion  sometime soon. He just finished training for his new job last week and will start as soon as he trains his replacement.
• I have started my 9th year of teaching and things are in full swing now!

Here are the latest debt pay-off numbers:

2013 YTD Debt Pay-off: $14,957.03

Amount Left to Pay-off: $8,343.67

Total Debt Pay-off: $52,957.03

Coming October 18th...we should be opening another envelope!! :)

$50,000 Richer

We made it to a HUGE milestone in our debt pay-off. We've officially paid off more than $50,000 of debt. With about $11,000 to go, we are well on our way to becoming debt-free. 

So if you are like us, when we started this whole Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University/Total Money Make-Over thing we just wanted to stop living pay check to pay check. We felt broke all the time. After we got ahold of our spending and stopped living strapped all the time, we realized we were so incredibly wasteful in our spending and we had nothing to show for it. That's when we started using our excess each month (never had excess before!) to pay our debt down. We thought we could do more if we had less going out in payments each month. 

After paying down some debt we realized how much of our money was going to interest. It increased our dislike and intensified our mission. Then that transformed into the realization that if something happened to our income or for some crazy reason all of our loans were called, we were in a heap of trouble! Those thoughts motivated us to high-tail it out of debt. We were under the illusion that if we can make the payment, we could afford it. The truth is, as hard as it is to admit, we couldn't afford anything we had debt on like furniture, a computer, a car, and STUDENT LOANS. Now our excess is a large sum of money each month and we are making big plans on how we want to spend that money once we are debt-free. That's my favorite part!!

2013 YTD Debt Pay-Off: $12,299.35

Amount Left to Pay-Off: $10,888.55

Total Debt Pay-Off: $50,299.35

Going Bargain Hunting

We are bargain hunters at our house! I started looking around our apartment and realized almost everything we have was free or on sale. I thought I would share what we've done to save a few bucks here and there. Now we can’t just buy things because they are on super sale otherwise we would be broke. So we thoughtfully purchased these items because we had the money and the desire/need to buy them. It’s a good idea to have someone in your life who can keep you in check in this area if you know it’s a struggle.

 

 

1.       Bookcases- we bought 2 matching bookcases at target for $12 each.

 

*Tip: If you notice Target has a large number of an item on clearance at 30%, there is a very good chance you can buy that item cheaper if you wait for it to go 50% or 70% off. Since Chris works at Target we get a 10% employee discount and we use our Target debit card which gets us another 5% off.

2. Bedside table/dresser- dumpster dive! Not kidding, I found this sitting out by the dumpster at my old apartment complex and swiped it. It’s a cute little touch to our bedroom.

3. Tall Bookshelf- this was another Target buy. It was clearance and a display model (they take more off for that too) and Chris bought it for $25.

4. Sony Flat Screen TV- this one is a good one! So sometimes store employees mess up. This worked well in our favor. This TV was taken out of the box to be put on display. After it was taken out, they realized they already had one just like it on display and they had to sell it at display model price even though it had never been hanging on display. Chris saw it and we had to act fast to be the first to buy it. We paid $250 and it was originally priced around $375.

 

5. Duvet Cover- We have had the same comforter our whole marriage and it was getting blah. We didn’t want to spend the money to buy a whole new set yet. So we found this duvet cover on sale at Target for $35 (which was 50% off). We decided to wait it out to see if it would go to 70% off and it did. It did and we bought it for $21 before our own 15% discount rang in.

*Not pictured: the same day we bought the duvet cover, we bought curtains for our bedroom and Ethan’s bedroom. They were originally $18/panel and we found them on clearance for $5/panel and bought 4 right then!

Tip: Not every Target has the same things on sale or the same clearance schedule, if the item you want is on sale at one it doesn’t mean it’s the same price at another Target. Get to know your area’s Targets and check them all for the item you want. One store might have the item on 50% or 70% off while another store has it full price.

6. TV stand- Another Target purchase…Chris found this one and paid $40 for it. It was a display model.

7.  Plaid oversized chair- FREE! Chris’ sister was getting rid of the chair and gave it to us! Can’t beat that!

8. 24x32 Picture and Frame- This is a family picture of ours. We had it made into an engineer print at the UPS store for $2.50. Next we were in search for a frame. We went to a couple of frame places with no luck- we didn’t want to spend $100+ on a frame when we only spent $2.50 for the print. So we went to a store that sells expensive art and frames. My husband went in and asked if she had any clearance frames. She said she only had a frame that was a little beat up and was actually going to throw it away. So she gave it to us for free and it is the perfect frame for the picture! I used a sharpie to touch up a few scratches and it works great!

9. Dresser- This was originally white with wooden knobs. We started it in Ethan’s room but decided to paint an older dresser for him and put the white one in ours. The color didn’t really fit though. So we bought some dark brown paint and silver knobs and here’s the finished product. Chris bought it clearance and we paid maybe $20 for it. (We can’t remember exactly what we paid!!)

 

2013 YTD Debt Pay-Off: $11,048.29

**NEW** Amount Left to Pay-Off: $12,138.65

Total Debt Pay-off: $49,048.29  ß Almost to $50K!!

Attention All Teachers!!!

I have to talk about what just happened to our debt-pay-off! I found out about this sweet little program for teachers who work in low-income (Title 1) schools. In short, teachers who work in qualified districts for 5 years can get $5,000 in student loans forgiven. Hot Dog!! I sent in the paperwork a couple months ago and I was notified last week that my application was approved and processed. I now owe $5,000 less on my student loans. Yeeeessss!!!

For more info about the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program- click here

Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application -- click here 

In other news:

• Chris and I are in the middle of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University Class again. (Third time...still learning!!)
• I started working summer school (beef up the debt snowball)
• Today is Chris' 27th Birthday!! He's working! :(
• We're headed to St. Louis soon for Chris and Ethan's first Cardinals game!!

2013 Debt Pay-Off: $9,525.90
Total Debt Pay-Off: $47,525.90

The Move

It's been a busy last few weeks because we are moving back to the apartment complex we were in a year ago. Our lease is up at the end of the month and we decided that this isn't the place we want to spend the next 3 or so years as we become debt-free and save for a house. We've not had good experience with the management here and there are some problems with our apartment (mold!) that helped up make the decision to walk away from it. When we considered the outlandish amount we were paying in utilities here too...it clinched it for us.

So one year later, we are packing up again. Over the last few weeks we've made time to go through our things and really decide what things we need to keep and what things need to go. It's been really freeing to get rid of, sell, and donate things that we no longer have a use for. We want to enter our new place with a minimalist mindset. So here we go!!


Here are our latest stats:
2013 Debt Pay-off: $2,802.74
Total Debt Pay-off: $40,802.74 <---- Two-thirds of the way done!

Breathing Room

Inhale............Exhale..........(Repeat as much as necessary!)

I have to share about this recent ah-ha moment. It came from an Andy Stanley sermon series called Breathing Room. (Listen to the full series here or find North Point Church in Atlanta on itunes and subscribe to their podcast)

He speaks about living a life with margin or breathing room. This can apply to your schedule, relationships, and finances. What would margin in those areas look like for you?

I started thinking about how much breathing room I was allowing in my life. At one point, we were living with little to no breathing room in our finances. Our spending pace was right on top of our spending limit. The changes we made financially felt even better than that deep breath you took at the beginning of this post. We have space between our current pace and our financial limit.

Because I know how freeing it is financially, I want to create that same space in my time. Andy Stanley described how creating breathing room with how I spend my time is a life changer, because my time is my life!
                   "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12 NIV


I encourage you to write down 4 different things about your time, finances, and/or relationships.

1. Write down what you need to add
2. Write down what you need to subtract (get rid of something completely)
3. Write down what you need to do more of
4. Write down what you need to do less of (not completely get rid of but reduce)

Now try those things and breathe in the freedom of space in your life!


With our financial breathing room, Chris and I recently celebrated paying off a student loan by taking a weekend vacation. I wanted to share some highlights! :)

I got a manicure and pedicure while Chris spent some time at Guitar Center- both of us got pampered!!

We stayed at a hotel on the Plaza- they delivered fruit to our room!!

We both bought new books and on Sunday and Monday morning we spent some time reading. We also listened to a podcast sermon on marriage while sipping our coffee at Starbucks. (headphone jack splitter!!)

My yummy stuffed (with brie, lump crab, and shrimp) salmon at McCormick and Schmick's (Chris' fish and chips wasn't as photogenic!)

Sunday night we went to a Kari Jobe and Chris Tomlin concert- highlight of the weekend!

Step Away From the Panic Button!!

Did you hear it? Did you hear the celebration when we made our final payment to another student loan this morning? If you've been following our blog this last year, you know this is very exciting news! We started 2012 with 3 final debts, all three of those debts were student loans. We paid off the first of those 3 loans in April 2012.

Our attack strategy is called the Debt Snowball. Here's the jist...we make minimum payments on all of our debts except the smallest balance. The debt with the smallest balance gets all of the extra money we can scrape up and we pile it on until it's paid off! (Need extra money? Check out how to make a zero-based budget) Then you take all the extra money and minimum payment from the smallest debt (which is gone now!!) and put it on the next smallest balance and BAM you've got a debt snowball! So in May 2012 we did just that and started chipping away at the next student loan balance and paid it off today. ONE MORE LOAN LEFT!!!

Because we were getting so close to our goal, naturally, something had to go wrong! So far this month, we have had some "planned emergencies" and found out we needed to set enough money aside to get the fuel injectors replaced in one of our cars and save money for Chris to get some dental work done. Next, I guess we needed a "spontaneous emergency," our same sick car needed a new battery today. So glad we don't have the debt we did four years ago or we wouldn't have the ability to put as much money into life happening than we were able to this week. Sorry no panic button today!

2013 Debt Pay-Off: 1,606.49

Total Debt Pay-Off: 39,606.49 <--- even closer to $40,000!! :)

You Snooze, You Lose!

We just opened our first envelope of 2013. We also just hit the four year mark since we started the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class. At times, four years has felt like a really long time to be chipping away at the same goal. I get discouraged some days because I just want it to be finished.

Leave it to God's word to pull me out of my small-minded thinking. Obviously His timing is perfect, He will not delay. This Old Testament book reads more like our current time and culture than Old Testament living.

So if you feel stuck in a rut, ask God for a vision-something to make your days on earth make a greater impact. He desires purposeful living not aimless meandering for our lives. Our financial life isn't the only thing we have been intentional about. We've grown up in our marriage and faith in the last four years too. We don't even feel like the same people we were 4 years ago; for the better, most certainly!

This year I decided to start one new thing that would help me be more intentional. It's monumental- get ready....in 2013 I, Teresa Brown, will wake up when my alarm goes off. So far (except for the morning I pushed snooze in my sleep) it has happened. Something about hitting the snooze button used to start my day off the wrong way and it led to other lazy decision-making. I've had time each morning to read while I drink my coffee- which is such a great way for me to start the day.

**What is one thing you can start today?

2013 Debt Pay-off: $1,075.90

Total Debt Pay-off: $39,075.90  <-- So close to $40,000!!

2013 Here we Come...$1,000 at a Time!

Happy New Year!! One year ago we started the super snowball to pay-off our student loan debt. It has been a great year! It was so great...we want to do it again! Stay tuned to find out how!

In 2012...

• We paid off one of our three student loans
• We paid off $14,000 to make our debt pay-off total $38,000!! That's 14 envelopes!!
• We bought a replacement car when Chris' car broke down
• We made a monthly budget to follow
• We made goals for 2013 to make it even more intentional than 2012!