For some time now I’ve been eager to share on my blog about the many different ways my husband and I employ money saving strategies. For us the desire to reassess our financial situation and start planning for the future came after a bible study at our church. Journey into Debt Free Living by Tommy Higle encouraged us to alter our perspective on debt and work towards financial freedom in our lives.
This journey hasn’t been easy of course. We’ve applied a hodgepodge of various debt reducing and money saving methods to our marriage and we’ve found a system that works well for us. Some personal finance tips are odd and unusual and force you to take frugal to new limits. Others are painful and require you to relinquish former “needs” and learn a new appreciation for honest necessities.
Along the way we’ve learned that making do with what you have creates gratefulness. We’ve discovered how much free time (and extra money) we have, by not having television. We have a better understanding of how to be persistent for our goals as a couple, that sacrifice and compromise are vital. (Like the time my husband humbly sold his “dream car” so that we could continue with our dream to pay off our debt.)
We gained insight into how far we can push ourselves and how little we can make it by on. We are okay with having dumb-phones with no internet or apps. I’m proud to say my phone doesn’t interfere with all my social interactions. We remember the months we had so little, and praise God for the days we’ve been so blessed. We’ll never forget the mistakes we made in the early days of our naive and young money choices, instead we’ll use those as important lessons and bullet points on our roadway to financial freedom.
Being debt free is a monumental and crucial goal for many families. For us the motivation is easy – God didn’t want us to live this way.
Just as the rich rule the poor,
so the borrower is servant to the lender.
Proverbs 22:7
To not pay stupid interest to a bank the rest of my life on student loans, car loans, personal loans, or a mortgage. To one day merely have the option of staying home to raise children. To have enough saved for big emergency’s that it makes them feel like minor inconveniences. To pursue my dream of traveling, to one day see Christopher have his “dream car” again. To give our future children a better (not spoiled) life than the ones we had. To be able to give graciously to those in need, to the church, and to give the glory all to God. That is why.
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