As you may know, we started this debt free journey with $288,000 of debt, most of which was Student loans. But we have been focused and working hard and have made some serious progress! We are now down to $191,000 in student loan debt! WOOHOO! I know we still have a long, long way to go. But I have to take a moment to celebrate that we have paid off almost 100K in a little over 2.5 years. It has been a hard road but so worth while! Find out why we decided to do this here!
5 Tips to help you Reach your Goals
1. Increase your Income in Big or Small Ways
My husband is an Optometrist and so he has been able to do fill-in work on the weekends and that has been huge. Furthermore, he is a Rockstar (figuratively speaking)! Due to his networking skills, received an opportunity to work as at a prison as the Optometrist there. It will help us out so much!
What Do I do? I have been babysitting for the past 2.5 years and it has been great. I love the two kiddos I watch and they have become great friends to my kids. It hasn’t always been piece of cake but it has made a difference in our debt free journey for sure. Also, I have taught art classes, I sell furniture, clothes, or other things that we don’t need. If I ever want to do a home project, I try to sell something to offset the cost, even if I have enough money in my “home” fund. My efforts do not produce the same amounts of cash like my hubby but every bit counts.
2. Become a Home Economist
What on earth is a home economist, sounds regal right? It is very fancy, just kidding. Basically, a home economist keeps spending low and is creative on how to reduce that spending. We cook from scratch quite a bit, don’t eat out, shop at thrift stores, buy clearance or very discounted items, and try to find free activities we can enjoy as a family!
Food can Break the Bank
Food can really break the bank and so I focus a lot of time on food because it’s definitely something I can control. Also, it’s something I love. When we are sacrificing on so many other things, I really enjoy finding ways to make it feel like we aren’t sacrificing in the food department. A key way to do this is making things from scratch and finding good deals. Now, there are times buying ready-made things may make more sense because you have to account for “time cost”. Or perhaps the sale price of the ready-made food is not much more.
Being Creative and finding a cheaper way
We also, find more economical ways to do things. For example, we use a “Health Share” instead of regular insurance. It can be complicated at times but it’s much cheaper and overall has worked out well. I will explain more about our experience in a later post.
Having fun and enjoying life is still important. My husband and I try to find free activities to do as a family. For example, we went to an Alpaca farm last summer because they had a “Free Entrance Day”. We spent hours there and had a great time. There are usually “Free Days” at museums as well, but you have to be prepared for crowds. We usually try to eat and early lunch go during lunch time, in hopes that most people will leave to go home and eat. Dang, I just shared our secret! Now everyone will go during lunch.
3. Learn to Say No!
Boundaries! Yes my peeps, we need to not only tell ourselves no and not yet, but we must also say “no” to our friends and family. This was hard for me. I love to have fun, especially with people I like a lot but our “Big Goal” has to come before eating out, vacations and other fun activities. When we do plan a fun activity, we make sure it fits into our “Family and Kid’s activities category” in our budget before we say “Yes”.
I highly recommend the Book Boundaries by Henry Cloud. It changed my perspective on so many things. I plan to write a post solely on his book because it so inspiring. So, if you don’t want to read the whole thing, I am going to make a condensed, readers digest version for ya’ll.
Click on the Image to buy your Copy!
4. BUDGET means Planning Ahead
The Big Bad “B” Word, budgeting. I could totally make that into a children’s book, right? No, that’s one of my bad ideas. A better idea is to learn how great budgeting can be and I have written some great posts, full of tips that have helped me like, maybe even love, budgeting (ok not sure I can say I love it yet). Check out my Budgeting Boss post .
Budgeting is not just tracking your spending, it’s planning ahead. So spend your money on paper before you actually spend it. We use Every Dollar and that has been amazing for us. Honestly, I don’t think we could have kept budgeting without it. It makes the process easier and Josh and I can be on the same page, we just have to open the app on our phones and bam!
Attitude Shift: Try Be Grateful
Attitude is everything! “Sayings” are usually sayings for a reason because they typically speak truth. The year 2018 was so incredibly hard on us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Every month we were faced with a new trial or diagnosis. I will share more about that year later but just know it was hard. However, that hardship forced us to be humble and ultimately, be grateful for all that was going right in our lives. Being grateful leads to becoming content with your life. When you are content, the desire to have what everyone else has diminishes.
NOW GO AND REACH YOUR GOALS!!
Products I love!
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