The start of our journey to become financially free: Well, we have always tried to live on a budget and stay out of debt. When Dave went through school we didn't do loans we just did our best to save for it and pay it off each semester. We tried to have a budget but it seemed like our money always went every which way. Well, before Gordon was born we felt like we needed a bigger car to fit three kids in then our lumina. So we upgraded to a mini van, maybe a too big up an upgrade cause we went into debt. I just HATE debt.
Well, we paid the payments and wasn't working after Gordon was born. So Dave worked an extra job to pay for things. Then I was blessed with an AWESOME job! Which has been such a blessing! Well, I was stressing at the end of the summer about being in debt, what we should do with the van. Maybe we should sell it, but we decided to stay with our choose of buying it and paying it off. Well, in September Mark and Mary came into town. Kristi and I started to talk to Mary about finances and She started to talk about Dave Ramsey and his 7 step program, and how much they believe in it and how they soon will be paying off there house. Well, we talked about ways to start getting out of debt and the different steps. And she gave us some advice, which for me it was an answer to a prayer. Mark came in to see what all the talk was about, and they said that they believed in his principles so much that would send us his book. We said yes, and in October we started our Money Makeover.
It has become such a blessing in our marriage to be on the same page financially and to be so intense or Gazelle as Dave Ramsey puts it, to not spend money when we really don't have it!
Well, we really put our budget into a working one. So that we will actually have a nice Christmas cause we have saved all year for it, saving for clothes so when the need comes then we can use the money that is set aside. It is a no brainier for some, but for us those little things have really helped us! We had step one, our 1000 dollar emergency fund, already. So onto step two onto chipping away at the debt (and saving for a new roof). We worked really hard to buy things that was only on our budget. I started to pick up lots of on call shifts, we made signs to remind us our goal, and when we wanted to something we shouldn't we would remind ourselves that we were GAZELLE! Well, we had our goal set of September that we would be out of debt. That is what we looked for. Well, we found out that we were expecting and things in my mind started to stress about how we would work on our 3rd step making our 3-6 month of expenses in savings. Well, at the same time We started going to some finances classes in the stake. I felt that we were doing what we were suppose to be doing with have our family when the Lord wanted us to, that it would work out. Well, I believed that but it didn't really help. I knew taxes were coming and last year we had to pay. I just worried and stressed. Well, about a month ago I was cleaning (the kids were at preschool, and Gordon was sleeping), and had this impress come out of nowhere "It will be alright, I will take care of it". It was so reassuring, and I started thinking about ways that we were blessed with Jonathan when we couldn't really afford it and how we had AFLAC and he was in the NICU and it paid for the entire delivery of his and mine. I KNEW that the Lord would take care of us as we continued our plan of staying financially free. Well, two weeks later my brother, who was doing our taxes, texted me the amount of return that we were going to get back. I couldn't believe it, it was almost to the dollar of how much to owed on our van. I KNEW that Heavenly Father was indeed taking care of us as he told me he would! It feels so good to start on step 3, so that we will have a little savings before the baby comes! I feel so blessed in so many ways! I had lots of ideas of what I wanted with our finances, like trying to pay off our house, but Dave Ramsey helps you make that reality when you have all your ducks in a row! Thank you Mark and Mary for being an answer to my prayers!
4 comments:
That's super fun and so exciting! Congratulations, I am really proud of you both! That takes so much hard work and self control and can be applied to many other areas of your life. Fantastic! Dave Ramsey's Financial Freedom seminar is also what the Duggar's use by the way!
I have always had savings and been a good saver. With my job now, I have to be really careful because my income is down for months and then up really high for one month. I have a lot in savings, but I feel like I have a lot of overhead with my job, expenses I don't really think about, and I'll get to the end of the month and see how much money I need to pay that month and freak out because it has to come out of my savings. I have the savings, but the thing with savings is once you use it, it's gone. So I'm always so worried I won't ever get paid again (in my life! lol) and won't be able to replenish my savings. Happens every month. I soooo wish I had a regular job so I didn't have to go through that every month! So I can always pay my bills, but I'm always paying myself back, but with no regular paycheck, what else do you do?
ugh.
This story helped Ryan and I decide to pay off our van with our tax return too. So thanks for sharing the great idea and testimony!
Good for you! It's always neat to recognize an answer to prayer. Obviously you're doing everything you can to get out of debt and still have kids and everything, and sometimes we just have to leave it in the Lord's hands--and it's so neat that that worked out!
This is an awesome post and testimonial! Keep up the hard work! I especially enjoyed reading how you used the power of prayer and exercised faith in your process. Great life lessons!
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