BALANCE AND JOY THROUGH INTENTIONAL LIVING
How we manage our finances day to day and the financial goals we are aiming to acheive.
Operation crush debt is well underway and we have really gone over our budget with a fine-tooth comb. We’ve just about shaved all that we can shave, for now, and some categories more than others. One of our big savings categories is food. Here are 5 ways to cut your food budget in half!
Continue reading “5 Ways To Quickly Cut Your Food Budget in Half!”
To keep or not to keep the credit cards, that is the question. A very polarizing question. If you follow Dave Ramsey, then you know he is all about cutting up the credit cards and never using credit ever again, as long as you shall live. Bring out the Bible. The only exception is a 15-year mortgage. We follow Dave Ramsey’s plan – mostly. The zero-based budget, debt snowball, and gazelle intensity are game-changers. I subscribe to them. I live and breathe them and I believe they are our quickest route to debt freedom. BUT! And there’s a big but. We have credit cards. And I guess that makes us Dave-ish. Here are 3 reasons why we are keeping our credit cards.
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Each month we will share a monthly debt update to document our progress and use it as a way to reflect and keep us accountable and motivated.
This was another frustrating month. We continue to have household expenses that are derailing the debt payoff. Between roof and floor repairs this month (a long story for another time), we have been stretched so thin that we’ve made hardly any progress. Murphy’s Law is hard at play but he won’t win. He doesn’t even stand a chance.
Though we are frustrated, we have to be intentional and remind ourselves to be grateful. We were able to cover the issues with our emergency fund, but now we have to put the debt pay-off on hold even longer so that we can re-build it.
All couples have a unique way of managing money. What works for some may not or will not work for others, and sometimes it’s a combination of practices that ends up being ideal. We have a hybrid model but when we got married our bank accounts got married too. And merging our bank accounts was the best decision for us.
Some couples keep separate bank accounts and one joint account where they each place their contribution to the monthly bills. But the majority of earnings are kept separate. Others don’t have any accounts together and they decide which bill each person covers. It’s really a personal choice. Ultimately your decision should result in positive financial outcomes for the family and not just one individual.
Continue reading “Merging Our Bank Accounts Was The Best Decision For Us”
We will be sharing monthly debt summaries to show our progress and use it as a way to reflect and keep us accountable and motivated. This month we paid off less than expected. A bit disappointing but we had some extra expenses. Hopefully, we can make it up in the coming months. Let’s get into it. Below is our monthly debt update.
Continue reading “Monthly Debt Update: October 2020”
Now that we have shared our debt summary, it’s time to set the plan in motion. The past few months we’ve been attacking the debt with gazelle intensity. We want to keep the intensity up and sharing our plans here will help us do so. Let’s cut straight to the chase. Here’s our simple plan to pay off almost $400k of debt.
Continue reading “Our Simple Plan to Pay off Almost $400k of Debt”
Halloween is right around the corner but we aren’t afraid of goons and goblins. What we are afraid of is debt. There is something so unsettling about debt and the only thing in life that’s for certain is that there are things out of our control. Hello pandemic!
If you are considering a debt-free journey and you are having trouble getting started, calculate the interest you will pay over the life of the loan. We don’t think you’ll need much more motivation than that.
There are several reasons we want to get rid of debt but it all comes down to living a simpler life. Debt freedom will give us more options to live the life we desire. We also want to set our future generations up for financial success because generational wealth is important to us.
I came to the marriage debt-free and had paid off almost 90k in 4 years – most of which were student loans. I made a lot of missteps as I transitioned from high school to college and graduate school. If I could do it over, I would have been more intentional in finding smarter ways to get through school with little to no debt. But I learned valuable lessons that I now share with others and we will be passing these lessons on to the kids.
Sean had very little debt when we got married – kudos to him! We quickly paid it off shortly after the honeymoon and that left us with just a small mortgage that we were comfortably paying month to month. But we weren’t intentional at paying it down quickly.