- This is a post from my old personal blog from 2/13/12. I can now say that we have paid off all our debt except for our mortgage. I did got a part time job in between to help pay off the debt. Now that the debt is gone ‘Im back to being home full time with my 2 beautiful children! Oh and we went 6 months without t.v. Now we have Netflix. And that’s why I’m doing this money saving blog! You can pay off your debt too!
No smart phones, no cable, home made this, home made that… Not how I would have pictured my lifestyle 8 years ago when I just started college and was set on being a ” career woman.” The funny thing is I think I get more excited seeing my grocery bill go from $80 to $25 with coupons, then seeing my name published with an article I wrote… It’s interesting how these things happen.
This morning was different. We took our cable box in to Time Warner last night. A couple weeks ago we decided to get rid of Verizon and go with Straight Talk. These decisions are not because we are so strapped for cash they are because we are trying to pay off debt. Debt that wasn’t because we just went on a shopping binge, the whole student loans, car loans not having a real savings kind of stuff. My husband has been listening to Dave Ramsey on his way home from work and we have been putting forth much more effort into disciplining ourselves. Before Dave Ramsey we got rid of all our credit card debt, now with Dave Ramsey we are on a mission to pay off student loans, car loan, and our HOUSE! Which is crazy to me, but the truth is, we do not own this house… we are in debt to the bank… ugh…
We’ve done pretty good I must say so far in the last year especially with me not working.. but to get debt paid off we decided to go without the wants in life.
So what if I drop this phone the whole thing falls apart, or I can’t talk to my mom while I’m walking around in Walmart, or the fact that I can’t be connected to the Internet on it or I have to sort of keep an eye on how many texts I’m sending…
It’s all WORTH it! We are saving $80 a month with our phone, that’s $960 a year! We were spending $1,680 a year just on our phones with Verizon and they were not even smart phones…
Couponing, I can not begin to tell you how much we are saving on our grocery bill. I can’t believe how I walked into Walmart today and glanced at some of their prices and felt like it was so much compared to Tops sales matched with coupons.. I actually went to Aldi the other day and spent more money there than with my coupons… I make a menu for the week and only use what is in our cupboards or what is on sale. Than I stick to my budget for my groceries each week. When that grocery money is gone, we look to the cupboards! I have started looking at pre packaged foods and asking myself is this something I can make at home? So many things you can make at home and it’s cheaper and healthier! ( more posts on this to come!)
Now we are saving $360 a year by not having cable. Which is not going to be easy but it’s not forever and it’s worth it and already I think this is gonna have an amazing positive impact on my family.
This morning was weird when I wanted to watch the news while I drank my coffee and Riley reads her books… But instead I drank my coffee and read books with Riley.
Last night the three of us were hanging out after dinner and it was routine to turn on the tv. Not because there was a show we wanted to watch just to have it on.
Today when I stopped to eat lunch I wanted to put the tv on.. but not because i wanted to watch something in particular I just wanted something to do while I ate.
Last night not having the tv on I felt so much closer to my husband. I think that I was using the tv to relax and kinda be in my own world, but now I feel like I can be relax and just be with my husband.
Im excited to see what’s gonna happen without cable. Im also excited to know I can still watch all my shows ( except Master Chef! I gotta get Hulu Plus ( which soon we probably will for $7.99)
It’s an interesting thought to think we can get so many things from one source isn’t?
It’s an interesting thought to think we can get all we need from our one creator…
I’ll leave ya with a couple of verses
“Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives this victory. ” 1 John 5:4
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 3:3
I want to add that now in 2015 we are completely debt free I am staying home and we have another child! Haven’t gone back to cable, don’t think we ever will. We have internet for $14.99 and are able to put money into savings! It was an adjustment at first but in just a few years we have financial freedom!
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