Now, I look at the old car(a stable and safe car) we drive as a badge of honor and wisdom gained. We have no car payments and no debt except the mortgage (we will have John’s school debt, which we plan to pay off ASAP).
Recently, I found out that my sister and brother and their families would be taking a trip to St. Louis at Easter. This is something I would love to do. This is something that I cannot do though, without having the money saved for a trip like this. No amount of coaxing or subtle guilt trips should persuade one into doing something that financially would cause a family instability. And we do not want to borrow money from family for a trip. When I have the cash—and I said CASH—no credit card charges, I will go in a couple of months.
I encourage all those sticking to a budget (a necessity) that you owe no apologies or explanations to anyone for the choices you make for the financial well-being of your family.
For great practical and common sense tips on getting out of debt, check out Dave Ramsey's site and his Seven Baby Steps.
5 comments:
Amen to that! I was just talking to the kids at lunch about the realities of a trip to Florida. The kids really want to go & we really want to make that wish/dream of theirs come true. Oh, we had all the excuses/necessities all lined up, but the fact of the matter is we just don't have the money to do it without some kind of debt to someone. The kids were great & understood perfectly that we can all make a decision to not be sad or hang our heads low. We will be the better as a family for making that sacrifice, foregoing a much-needed vacation, and sticking close to home. Thanks for the encouragement...I think I was having more of a problem with our decision until I read your post!:) Thanks for that!
Jenny, hear you my friend. Keep trying to tell myself all of this while we replace broken parts on our old and worn cars. I have always admired how you and John are debt-free....something we are working towards and hoping will happen one day! Jason listened to all the Dave Ramsey CDs a couple times these past couple of weeks....so hopefully some good advice. Hard decisions but good rewards. Keep it up my friend. I would love to chat to you about how you dont use your credit card at all....right now we use ours like a debit almost (I transfer money right away) because we get airline miles and seems to be the only way we can afford to travel back to VA to see family....
Thanks, Grace and Erin for your comments. We have not always been debt free b/c of silly mistakes earlier on. And like I said, we're trying to pay what we can on John's school now, but with my salary, it's a very small payment. So, we'll beat it down as soon as we can when he has a PT job.
We used to use our American Airlines credit card a lot, but it seemed that we ended up spending a lot more. I think Dave Ramsey talked about this, b/c he got calls from people asking about airline miles credit cards. Will have to look that up.
Erin, your and Jason's perseverance is inspiring. And Grace, your, Paul and the kids' good attitude is awesome!
Thanks for posting this, Jenny. It's funny timing 'cause a coworker just invited us to a local Dave Ramsey event. (Was it the envelopes or the hail-totaled car I drive that clued him in? haha) A local manufacturer is selling a lot of $16,000 bicycles, even in this economy. Nothing like realizing one bike is worth 10-20 of our cars! :) So I'm very glad for the encouragement.
Good for you all for getting this figured out at a young age.
As I keep telling our sons - what you see in our home and what we have is not due to your dad and I having bought everything our hearts desired. It was through discipline of finances and making sounds financial choices.
Of course, every one should dream about what they will do with their money once it is earned - what you thought you may have wanted may end up being something you absolutely do not want six months down the road.
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