Our Story

My husband and I were married in 2006. Financially my husband brought to our marriage about $6,000 of school debt and a rather poor history of forgetting to pay off debt. It wasn't that he was trying to scam the card companies or businesses...he's just not good at money management, would move, and when the bill didn't come completely forget it existed.

I brought to the marriage about $45,000 in school debt, and when we met about $7,000 in credit card debt from helping with a friends wedding, plane tickets home (half way across the country) and a transmission. I also had a car payment.

Together we added about $6,000 to that debt in purchasing a new car (that new transmission didn't help much on the old one), getting married (around $2,000) and buying things for our new home.

Neither of us grew up in homes where money was managed well. My husbands family didn't have much money so they just scraped by and there was little left to manage. My family probably had enough but had large medical bills and a business. They charged everything for home and work to credit cards, didn't pay taxes for a few years, had no budget or plan, and declared bankruptcy when I was in high school.

Going into our marriage we talked a lot about money and came up with two foundational points. First, we agreed that neither of us knew how to properly manage our finances. Second, we wholeheartedly agreed that we wanted to learn and not follow the path of either of our families. I think that was probably the best place we could have started.

The challenge then came in how to learn to manage our money together. It is easy to find resources on investments and retirement planning...but to find info on how to make a realistic budget? It seemed impossible!

We began to pray for wisdom. Paychecks came in and we paid the bills but had no idea if we were doing a good job or not. We tried asking friends, but they just agreed that we should do a good job taking care of our finances. We went to several banks asking for help but never found any. For us the beginning of this journey really began with a trip to the library. I was browsing through all the aisles and happened upon the financial management section (which I had never known existed!).

I checked out a few books, one of which was Debt Proof Living by Mary Hunt. I read it and understood it! I saw in her writing a simple plan we could put into place that if we followed would lead us down the path to freedom! After checking it out the second or third time we purchased a copy for ourselves. Her plan has become our plan. I'm not saying here that her way of financial management is for everyone; just that it is what has propelled us onto a solid financial road.

At the writing of this blog it has been two years since we were married. We have a spreadsheet in excel that logs our debt and records our financial plan (sounds better than "budget," huh!). When we were first married my husband was laid off and we wondered, "can we make it?" We had no savings and no idea of what we could change in our financial circumstances to save money. A few months ago my husband was laid off again. This time we had a meager savings and a plan! We adjusted our plan and didn't have those same overwhelming feelings. Concern certainly, but not confusion on top of the concern.

This blog begins where we are at today and will move forward with us. Our goals are:

1. Not add to our current debt load. No charging anything on credit cards! At all!
   
2. Pay off all our debt, especially the stupid stuff (i.e. credit card debt!)
   
3. Purchase a farm. Our dream is to own a hobby farm/retreat center.
   

We think it will take five to seven years to pay off our debt, and then a few years after that to get enough for a down payment on a house and land, but we'll see. The Lord moves in mysterious ways!