Frugal Friday - Tell Your Story!

The summer of 2004 was one of the worst summers of my entire life. I got married (that wasn't bad) ;), but my husband left one week later for Iraq. My grandmother died, my 16 year old cat died, I got a job, I lost a job, I moved our entire household 20 miles across town... and my parents found out I'd racked up $13k on a credit card in my dad's name primarily. What. A. Summer. Husband returned late that fall, we enrolled in debt consolidation b/c we couldn't keep up. Flash forward... 2010/January. We are DEBT FREE. We have no credit card debt. We don't use cc's unless it's something that won't accept a debit card or we need to simply hold something (think hotel reservations). It has been a challenge. There have been screaming matches, tears, and slamming doors. But we are happier now & more secure in our relationship & more in LOVE than we've ever been. Financial stress can poison a relationship.

We implemented an allowance system last year, much like a teenager's. We each get $40 a week & from that comes eating out with friends, trips into a convenient store, and anything extra we want to buy. Want to buy something big? Save your allowance. Just like momma taught ya! Stick it in that piggy bank (jar, underwear drawer, jewelry box, etc) & save for something. It builds character. We have a budget for everything else 'household' including all bills, gas, and groceries. Included in groceries is the occassional household splurge like candles, home decor, etc.

December 23rd was my last day of work. I have a chronic autoimmune disease & the stress of working full time was too rough on my body. My disease spiraled into a flare & we had a hard decision to make. SINCE I stopped working we have actually put back MORE money into savings that we ever had while I was working.

Interesting how things work out, eh?

I'm stronger. He's stronger. WE are stronger. Life is not to be enjoyed 'beyond' our means. If only I'd realized that sooner. But, I have to say, the journey was worth it. Not that I'd do it again, but it was worth it. We are who we are today & we have the knowledge we have due to the trials of debt that we've overcome.

God Bless!

I come from a money-wise-desastrous family. My dad - he died almost six years ago - was the sweetest person on earth but he just wasn't able to handle money. He inherited his father's business (read: had to take it because "I have built up this business and you have to take it over and keep up our family's glory"), a small electrician's-business. He really worked his legs off for fourty years but never made ends meet. He died of cancer in 2004 and my mom was left with lots and lots of debt - of course, she had signed for the loans as well. At least, my two sisters and I were already grown up and independent. So for the past six years, we have been working hard to get my mom out of everything, to grieve our father's/husband's death, and to build a new existence for mom.
This summer, she moved into a cute remodeled house. Is debt-free and independent. Just as her three daughters.
We still grieve for our dad - he taught us that you don't have to have plenty of money in order to be a good person. But I believe his example also made us VERY cautious about money-issues.
So my experience is: be careful with your money. But never let it come between you and your loved ones.

My family has very little money. We are 200% below poverty level. But you would never know that. We dont have a huge savings but we do have a couple thousand. We paid of our loans and only buy things with cash. If we cant afford to pay with cash we dont really need it. It has been hard to really live on a thousand dollars a month but we are able to do it and noone really is without. It just comees down to priorities and who we trust. God has handles all our money and has provided way more than imaginable. My husband and i both came from families that could barely feed the kids and we refused to do that. So we just make sure we live within our means. Buy sales only, shop around before big purcahses, dont buy on loan or credit. We are 100% debt free- no more school loans, car loans, or house loans- becuase we have paid them all off. It was hard but well worth it.

PTL I can say that! What a burden lifted! I encourage everyone to strive to be debt free, and Dave has much wisdom on how to achieve it!

I graduated from college in May 2006. Of course I had a bit (not all of it due to scholarships) of the debt that went along with, plus car payments and credit card bills. When God moved me back to my home church to work as Children's Ministry Director/Women's Ministry Co-director I was able to participate in Finacial Peace University that Mr Ramsey has put out. I paid everything off within a year and a half. I have almost completed baby step 3 (3-6 month living expense) and have done so while even being able to be more giving towards various mission groups/projects. It has been great. There's such freedom in not having to answer to anyone about my bills. They're paid!

My husband & I have been married just over 1 1/2 years. When we were married, we both only had 1 part-time job each & no health insurance. Just after our 1-year anniversary, I became incredibly sick with an appendix rupture, about 3 weeks before we received the paper work since we were finally eligible for health insurance. We were both up to 2 part-time jobs at this point. I was away from work for 4 weeks & was very slow going back - I had a few complications after my appendectomy.

So there we were, with a healthy me, but a huge pile of bills to show for it. As much as we had been trusting in God for our finances, we'd never had to trust so much! My husband is a youth pastor & our church was a great source of support, both emotional & financial. They gifted us with a wonderful love offering while I worked to whittle our budget to the bare minimum so we could handle the payments that seemed impossible. Thankfully, God was already planning every little way he would help us out - from me leaving one job & earning more hours at another, where we would have full health insurance, to making more room in our budget than I could see.

Now, we have one set of bills completely paid off & are well on our way to paying off the rest early. How he provides! It was also immensely helpful to be proactive about paying our bills - calling our debtors & letting them know our situation to work out payment plans. God was so encouraging to us through our friends, family, even a few strangers, who helped us through in a thousand different ways. We are working to finish paying off the last bill this year, a full 8 months early. Praise the Lord!

I've always been a saver, which I consider a blessing. I have been so encouraged to read the testimonies over the past month or two regarding folks coming out of debt and giving God all the glory. It reminds me that we are to count it a joy when we go through trials (James 1:2). These testimonies, although about money, have encouraged me in the area where I do struggle - food/fitness, etc. Through the trial will be a powerful testimony and blessing! Thanks, Rachel Anne and P.

Amber

The Lord really began to show me how all the money in the world is His, and being in debt is a place the enemy can really attack. I cut up those credit cards!! Over the past 2 years, I have basically lived on only what was necessary to pay the bills. I debt snowballed credit cards and each month pay more on my car and student loans that is required. Slowly, I am seeing progress on those larger loans!! It was a HUGE celebration day when those credit cards were paid off, and I realized how much my debt was being reduced each month. Once I paid off those credit cards, I began taking that money and putting it towards my other loans. It really does work!!!

I'm so thankful that my debt has been greatly, greatly reduced. I am now on staff with a ministry, and everything is completely faith based. We never know when we will get a full paycheck. The Lord has proven Himself over and over to supply ALL our NEEDS. Those credit cards were definitely not a need... and I'm so grateful they are gone!!

Continuing to press in to one day be debt FREE!!!...
Zarah

I have been out of college for quite a few years and the student loan debt has totally been weighing on me. I've never gone through Dave Ramsey's resources (tho I'd like to) but a friend told me about the snow ball effect that he talks about. So I started to work on that. I paid off my smallest loan and got rid of that, and have added the amount I paid on that loan to the next smallest amount of debt I have. It's a great feeling to pay off debt!! AND I have actually started to make a plan on how to pay it off. Though I know it will still take a few years...Im on my way.

Through this though, I have been finding ways to save money. For instance, I just heard about couponing and love it!! I just started a few months ago, but it's been awewsome. Why pay so much more for something (especially food) when you can get it for less!

Anyway, thanks for encouraging us to be debt free by providing these resources!

I don't have a great story or a big ah-ha moment to share, but I just had to say that I have always been so proud of my husband and I for living within our means. We have never made much money, and even when we were both working our combined salaries only amounted to what one person makes on average. But, no matter how much we were earning, we always lived within our means. We bought our cars with cash, and we don't have hardly any of the luxury items that our friends and family have because we just can't afford them (we haven't had cable for almost 10 years). When we do make large purchases, take vacations or do something "fun" that is out of our normal budget, we save our allowances ($20/month) and sell items we already have to pay for it. We never use credit cards unless we know we can pay them off completely each month. (yay credit card rewards!) As a result, we have no debt other than our mortgage and one small balance on a credit card that we had to use in an emergency. It is getting paid off quickly though, and I expect us to be debt free (with the exception of the mortgage) very soon.

I never pay full price for luxury items; I shop the sales, use coupons and work some for trade. In the past 2 years, the economy has affected my husband's job to the point that he has taken a more than 30% pay cut. Our finances are tighter now than they have ever been. But, we continue to tithe and trust that God will provide for us, and as I am sure you can guess, He has been faithful!

Dawn

Originally written Feb 26, 2007.

This is the story of our family. We are starting our journey toward Financial PEACE! In our past, we've been hanging onto the edge of the cliff by the very tips of our fingernails and only by the grace of God had we not fallen over completely.

We are looking to take our family from walking on the rocky roads of financial insecurity to gliding down the golden streets of financial peace.

Let me start at the beginning. I worked as a teen, but I never saved. I spent my money (some on myself, some on my brothers - I enjoyed buying them things). I really wish that I had been taught to give, save, spend...in that order. But I wasn't. Coming out of college, I had credit card debt. I went to work as a high school math teacher (making a whopping $20,000 a year). I was stupid with money. I financed a couch and bed (stupid, stupid, stupid). My husband (boyfriend at the time) also had credit card debt and really no income. When we married (at the age of 23), we both had debt, I had a small income, and he was starting his business (i.e. negative income). We were desperate. So, we went to CCCS. Actually, I am grateful for that experience. We paid off about $30K in debt and we were forced to live with no credit (no debt). It was very difficult, but we did it.

We didn't quite learn the whole lesson. We still weren't saving and we accumulated some debt, but we were better at living within our means (not great, but better). The best lesson was the way we now see money/debt/credit. Because of all that mess (and the struggle since), we are completely open to Dave Ramsey's ideas and we know that if we focus and put those steps into action, they will work.

Now, we have 2 children, a mortgage, debt, a business of our own, and the desire to live our lives debt-free and be charitable.

I don't know when I first heard of Dave Ramsey, but I know that it was me and not my husband...I'm the numbers nerd, he's the free spirit. We started FPU last night at our church. We actually signed up a week ago, Sunday (Feb 18th). Then, the enemy attacked. Tuesday morning we received a call that cancelled my husband's work for that day (and every Tuesday after that). The man that employed my husband on Tuesdays was having to liquidate everything because the bank called in his note (sound familiar, Mr. Ramsey???). In one phone call, we lost a minimum of $1000 in profit a month. Plus, we on this same Tuesday, we took another financial hit that is going to cost us approximately $1000 a month for at least a year. Talk about some stress. Let's just say that we are both glad that we are taking this class and we will now be in control of the money rather than letting the money control us.

The emotions I feel right now, I need to write down. If my focus isn't as intense as it needs to be, I need to remember our starting point. I'm already all kinds of mad at credit card companies and finance companies. I take my share of the responsibility, but I think it's immoral to do business the way they do and to entice people the way they do. I am MAD!

I am also scared. We have no safety net...at least not yet. We are having a yard sale this weekend to kickstart our emergency fund.

It' 3 years later and we've eliminated 3/4 of our debt. It's been a long, hard road. I believe that we've built character and learned some hard lessons. There are still areas that we struggle with, but we WON'T give up! It has been so worth it! And God has blessed us immensely!

I'm in the middle of readjusting my priorities when it comes to spending. I'm paying God first, me second, and everyone else third. Nearly one month into it and I'm struggling like crazy, but I'm making it. Barely. There's not a lot left, and my cabinets have been emptied to try to save on grocery bills, but I think we are adjusting to the theory of less is more. I haven't had an online impulse buy or gone to dinner just for the heck of it in this time. For me, that is huge. But it's teaching me self-discipline like you wouldn't believe. It's actually kind of a game for me now. It has it's days when it's not very fun, but at the same time I know that I will soon have a nest egg in case of an emergency. And that sense of security in this economy is priceless.

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Blessings,

e-Mom @ Chrysalis

We have been debt free since the first year of our marriage PTL. We have always tried to live below our means and give above our means(if that makes sense). I have been home with our girls for about 5 years now and it has been very hard. I have learned to shop very differently than before and was able to lower our food budget quite a bit with the help of a lady at our church. Thanks for the continual encouragement to live on less!

Lord bless,
Crissy

We're currently aiming for my husband to finish graduate school without taking out any student loans. We paid my student loans off about a year ago and have no car loans either. It has seemed an impossible feat--to have a husband in graduate school for two and a half years and opt for me stay home with our three young children. Yet miraculously, I haven't had to take a regular job to PHT (Put Hubby Through) while he earns his Ph.D. My husband works extremely hard to make it happen. I'm grateful for his dedication and for the generosity of others who have helped meet our needs.

We're not debt-free yet, but we've been working on it! Since we've dedicated our budget to getting out of debt we've paid off our credit card, paid off hospital bills and are weeks away from paying off our car (two and a half years early!). We'll finally be able to realistically afford (debt-free) a second car that will be able to seat our growing family! We're thrilled!

My husband and i have had some difficult times and poor decisions the past year. we are missionaries and because of visa problems we had to return home last fall/winter and were without real income for 5 months (except a few odd jobs) and we used all of our savings and built up some credit card debt. Plus, with the dollar going down the way it did, our tight paycheck was just not meeting the way we were living. At the worst our 2 cards had over $1,700 on them. Not a whole lot by some standards, but our monthly income is just under $1,200.
I'm the saver and I would nag and nag and nag to get us on a budget. i made a new budget every moth or so that my husband agreed to just to make me shut up and then promptly ignored.
The retreat center we work at hosted a crown seminar last fall and since it was being presented in English and translated we decided to attend. Since then, we started tithing seriously and have been making all the cuts we could to pay off our credit cards. We're living on a budget and even got some financial counseling.
God has been beyond faithful. Over the past months, we were able to make some bigger payments on our credit cards because of our cuts and Christmas gifts of money. I just payed off the card with the lower balance this week and a friend offered to pay the $550 or so remaining on our higher balance card!!! Now we just need to really attack the student loans....