The Results of Our Budget Meeting

Chris and I had our planned budget meeting this weekend as I learned a lot this past week about something I'd like to start; having a on paper written budget. Chris did do our money spending/tracking via excel spreadsheet and we did have a written budget on paper but I really wanted to have it all accessible in one place and on paper.

So, we put together a Budget Binder for 2017. (We'll continue to track by his excel spreadsheet for the rest of this month.)

In our binder we figured out the exact amount we are in debt. Now, I thought the number was different than what it turned out to be and having said that we've already paid a huge portion off on our debt even before starting Dave Ramsey's TMM (Total Money Makeover). As we really started to beat down our debt in May of this year once we re-negotiated our (my) annuity. (My annuity is our sole income for the remainder of our lives. Also, I don't see this annuity as mine, but ours and we typically call it our "income" because to us it is, but I digress....)

After factoring in all debt accumulated as of May we had..... *deep scary breath in* $50,500 in debt. (To be more precise $50,449.09 but we have already paid off $23,284.18 and still have a remaining $27,564.91 to go!

A lot of people look at those numbers and think, "What the heck were you guys buying?!" Well, honestly a good portion of that debt was directly about the annuity. I won't go into all the details but somewhere around $35,000 is annuity related and the rest really is our own doing. We are not perfect and don't claim to be. We're sinners and have asked The Lord for forgiveness and grace. Both of us are so excited to be out of debt one day!

Having said that, our estimated goal to be out of debt is 2 years from now and we think we might only be a few months off that two year target making it 2 year and 3 months or so. It'll take a lot of work and a lot of sacrifices but I know we can both do it.

This past week we started with scouring our home for things to sell for cash. We found a pair of diamond earrings that Chris had bought for another girl LONG before he met me. (Yes, he did try to give me those earrings when we were dating. I was aghast that he would think I'd accept another girl's gift -- and besides they were not my style. Since we had no sentimental attachment to them, we sold them at local pawnshop generating $20 towards our first baby step was is to save $1,000 for your Emergency Fund.

Also, we sold our 32" LCD TV. Yup! We have gotten drastic, people! Honestly though, we don't watch TV much as I have trouble hearing the TV with my hearing impairment and as a result we typically watch our own individual shows on our laptops. Throughout our days and evenings together, if we are watching something on our laptops, we'll stop and chat, show each other something interesting we found and on a very rare occasion we watch something together, we can easily do that cuddled together in bed with a bowl of popcorn with a laptop. *shrugs* It's no hardship to us....

Unfortunately we sold the TV yesterday and today we had an emergency. Chris had to call an ambulance for me this morning as I was in severe pain. I have a new diagnosis now that we'll have learn to manage. The frustrating part about this financially is that we had $105 saved up so far... and now we're down to $40! Yes, cab fare IS expensive when you have to return from the hospital all the way across town! Arg! (I'll also need a wheelchair for the next two weeks to a month and we will have to use our MasterCard for that. This has been a frustrating day!!!)

However, we still have three more things we have already decided to sell. Chris' 25,000 baseball cards (yes he still is holding on to them all this time), the TV stand (we don't have a TV so why keep it?) and a bit of gold jewellery I've kept but don't wear.

I have one or two other things I'm currently researching to see if we can sell. We'll see... but the quicker we save up this $1,000 the sooner we can continue on to pay down debt!

This time of struggling, frustration and three-steps-forward-one-step-back will be worth it! We're not giving up hope just because today was a tough day that made us take a huge step behind us.

Keep it up, folks. If you're trying to slay the Debt Dragon along with us. DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE. Look forward, to the light of Christ and remember that He is bigger than that dragon.