Another debt is finished!

So, we were able to eliminate another debt this month! That's three big expenses (two debts and one big bill) in two months. Wow. Incredible feeling... This one was the lawyer. We hired a lawyer a year and a half ago to work through my annuity settlement. As a result, it was restructured and now that's our income. In doing this though we incurred an $8,600 bill from the lawyer. Yes, they were expensive, but he was the best and he knew the right people. The issue was solved in 2.5 months after 19 years of searching for the right lawyer who was willing to take this on. It was a battle I kept praying for and feeling quite defeated about. Finally, it's all done. Not only is the annuity solved but now the lawyer's bill is paid in full -- and two months earlier than we expected at that!

I have to admit, this was the highlight of October and it only happened a few days ago. We're quite pleased but very much in awe of how amazing God is... We feel blessed beyond words...

Moving on, October we didn't do much shopping for groceries and such but opted to eat more out of our own pantry, fridge, and freezer. We had a lot of success in this area plan to do it again for November. We've allocated $100 for groceries next month and I think that'll be plenty for milk, eggs, and bread. Really honestly we have plenty of food in our cupboards and it's high time we utilize what we already have so it doesn't go to waste.

Some folks have asked us for advice about how we're doing this. We get asked about it on occasion and it's really not as hard as you think it is to get out of debt and live with greater financial peace. Does it take sacrifice, planning, and a detailed budget? Yeah, but it's worth it!

No judgment here if you have debt, none at all. The only thing I ask is that you stop being an ostrich with its head in the sand and pretend there isn't a problem. I believe in you. God believes in you and trust me if Chris and I can sacrifice continuing to live without a car (a much-needed transportation vehicle!) year after year as we slog through this debt, then you can, too.

Don't let yourself make another excuse to let another Christmas go by with too many presents sitting under the tree and a bank account bled dry.

Remember, God doesn't want you to be in debt. He has a greater purpose for the money that He asks you to manage for Him. Sacrifice today means a great heavenly blessing He can provide others through you tomorrow. It's worth it. Sacrifice with a cheerful spirit!

September Review...including the interest!

Overall September was an awesome month. We paid off the credit card and I received my tax refund. We did go out for breakfast to celebrate that win but I will say it was an overwhelming slap in the face when I got another letter, a week later, from CRA that they're reviewing some medical bills submitted with my 2016 taxes. We're praying about that and just trying to stay calm as we wait for more news on that front.

I feel like my feet are on more solid ground now that the credit card has been paid off and its back to zero. It's the one debt bill, out of all of our bills, that just use to bug me night after night lying in bed when I reviewed our debts. It's not fun to have to keep paying for items that were bought a year ago; no matter how important they were when we bought them. 

So,  I got a little curious about how much interest we have paid since May of 2016 when we began to get serious about getting out of debt. Unfortunately, we didn't even know about Dave Ramsey's Baby Step Plan until December, but starting his plan January 2017 made a huge difference in how we paid down debt, however, I digress. 

While sitting down to write this blog post I took a moment and reviewed all the credit card bills from  May 2016 until September 2017 adding up the interest as I went. My guess was we had racked up $700 and Chris' guess was $1,200 of interest. Boy, we were both wrong! $1,682.24! 

Can you imagine? That's just free money! Free money to the credit card company for what, letting us borrow money we don't really even have? Holy shitake mushrooms!!! Never again! Our credit card should only be used if we already have the money and pay it off immediately after use! (Some online purchases still cannot be transacted by Visa Debit and so we've decided to keep the credit card for very specific purchases.) It was a big shock.... but so eye-opening..... It really taught us what we're putting our money towards really should be for the benefit of God and His plan for our lives, not for a company's benefit and promotion to just get us deeper and deeper into debt. 

Thank God.... Thank God for Dave Ramsey's plan and all his eye-opening and insightful logic. 

Think about it the next time you use your credit to buy someone a "nice little gift" or a book you really want. Pay cash! Pay cash or wait until you can pay cash. That good friend would rather spend time with you than get that nice little gift you so carefully picked out for them. That book you want to read may be available at the library. (I always look at the library first)

Somethings are worth buying, yes, I completely agree with you but do not buy it with a credit card! I urge you to be smarter than me. Yes, I'm dumb. I'm very dumb. I will admit it. Admit it with both shame and without shame. Shame that I did it, and without shame that I will no longer do it ever again. But now that you know that getting out of debt can be done, be smarter than I was and stop using your credit card like it's free money! Please...just think on it... No judgment here.... I just want you to do better than I ever did. I want you to win at this.... for God and for your family... 

I love you guys... pray for you often and only hope you gain a little more knowledge about budgeting. :) Chris and I talk about what we want to teach our children (yes, we're still praying for them!) and we hope that we can teach them the value of hard work and budgeting. ]I can only imagine what it'll be like when my kid gets that lesson before she or he even gets a credit card application in the mail during their college years. God willing they do this thing called life better than we will ever do...

MasterCard is paid off!!!

Well, that was quick. Remember my post from just a few days ago? CRA obviously bumped up my case file in the stack of files to go through. After waiting for five months, I finally have my tax return!

The first thing Chris and I did was getting on our knees and thank The Lord! Seriously, we did! It was a humbling moment to know that this blessing was from God and we needed to do right by Him for what He has given us.

After much prayer and planning, we paid off the MasterCard that very day! ecstatic happy dancing ensues Another debt GONE and a bigger one, too! (That credit will cover the interest that will be due once this billing cycle is complete.)

We have also put aside some funds for Chris' tax installment for previous tax owing. We've made a guess -- right now -- about how much that will be as our accountant is still crunching those numbers for him.

The last big thing is we've topped up our baby emergency fund to reach that minimum $1,000 mark again.

We're in the black and continue to move forward! So far so good....

I think right now, we're just feeling a little thankful and having another debt gone is a huge relief off our shoulders. We still believe anyone can work the baby step plan, budget and get out of debt. It may take longer for some folks who have a smaller income but you can do it! If you have enough determination, drive, anger at your debt and stubbornness you can do this!

Let our moment of joy inspire you. Don't let that feeling that's stirring in your heart to make a change fade away by allowing yourself to be distracted by the next thing on the screen in front of your face. Seriously, make a change! We hope to see EVERYONE we know debt-free one day. That's our hope and our dream.

We'll be happy dancing about this debt paid off for a good while and if you see a little extra skip in our step the next time we run into you,  you'll know why. Boy, you really do feel a little lighter with less debt weighing you down... Amazing....

Rise and Praise His name... even when there's a delay up to sixty-four weeks

Finally, I'm getting to sit down and review the month of August. (It's been a busy month in September so far, forgive me!) I suppose the biggest expense for the month of August has been my dental work. That was a big expense which was totally unexpected with even an emergency room visit! Don't you know the emergency room is where you should go if you want to hang out with friends? Yup, so strange to bump into a friend in the middle of the night at the emergency room... I will say though it made it the long night just go by a little bit faster as we all sat together bundled up in hospital blankets, giggling over our silliness of all being there at the same time. But alas, I digress...

The dental work will be expense and take a long time to pay off, but I don't regret agreeing to the payment plan one bit. They're a great team of doctors, nurses and hygienists. They were able to agree on a deal with us, interest free, and we're very thankful for their trust in us.

We stayed afloat, during those rough times. We stayed in budget with things like grocery spending and household allotment amounts. I thought we had a great idea shopping for meat from our own freezer! Why not? Sometimes you just end up buying a little bit more than you need and that chicken or ground beef gets buried at the bottom of the freezer. Instead of going out to buy more, just shop from home, first! It's sounds so common sense, but sometimes the common sense part of the equation gets lost on all of us -- including the two of us. 

We had a little over $65 left in the grocery budget and we went over by $25 in household but came under in the eating our category by almost $10 by the end of August. Overall, it all seem to even out okay.

I guess the most difficult piece of news was my tax refund. I had to speak to a supervisor two separate times to find out there was a backlog of reviews on people's accounts which made my account be delayed in review as well. The supervisor I spoke with expressed her sympathy but indicated her hands were pretty well tied. She would file a request for my file to be reviewed as soon as could be arranged but it could take up to sixty-four weeks. I was stunned to say the least. Chris was even more upset than I was. I reminded Chris that we must rely on Christ no matter what and not allow these crazy delays to alter our course in praising His name through every storm. We calmed down and kept our tempers allowing the Holy Spirit to minister to us. 

We are still reviewing Chris' previous owed taxes but should have some concrete numbers of what's owed in a week or two. Whatever those numbers show, we will ride that wave and see this thing through. One day we will be debt-free and in meantime every month we do pretty well is another month we can praise God for the blessings He bestows on us. 

The same can be said for your budgeting. Every success you make in a step forward can only mean success for the bigger picture or plan God has in mind for your life. Yes,  you may falter or fall down, but get up brush yourself off, keep an even temper about the situation and praise His name through it all. Tomorrow may be brighter than today, you just never know. 

A Third Unexpected Expense...

Looking back on the month of July, we did really well. We stayed in budget in pretty much every category. We kicked some butt and both of us felt a momentum going. We knew by August 1st we were going to have our Baby Step #1 completed again and have a $1,000 Emergency Fund in the bank! Whoo-hoo!

Then another blow hit... If you remember, my computer died several months ago and we had to put that on a payment plan for 6 months in order to buy a new laptop. (six months are up in September!), then there's the issue with Chris' taxes which we still don't know quite yet how much he owes. Now, a third blow... sigh.... dental work....

I have this tooth...a tooth I've been putting off being looked at for awhile knowing it was going to be an issue to deal with but being absolutely terrified to see the dentist about it. The tooth had a cavity, then it cracked and finally just completely chipped and fell out a little while ago. I was hoping I could save up the money before I found a dentist to deal with it, but no such luck.

I had made an appointment with a dental clinic but the dentist was on vacation and wouldn't be back until the 14th of August. Last week the tooth pain started... and it got bad very, very quickly. I was in such excruciating pain that I called another dental clinic that seemed to deal with issues of dental phobia. (Which I didn't even know there was a name for such a condition.)

The new dental office couldn't see me until Monday July 31st. I had to just survive the weekend with the pain. "I can do this," I thought to myself. "I can use ice, and pain killers and...hang on...."

No. No, I couldn't. I was getting two hours of sleep here or there...Waking up almost screaming in pain, running for the ice pack and downing pain meds as fast as my little body could handle it,praying that the pills would kick in quickly.All the while praying as hard as I could pray that God would just, "MAKE IT STOP!"

Friday night came after two full days of pain.  I was almost ready to let Chris whack me over the head with our heavy duty skillet the pain was so intense, but no instead we went to the ER at 1:30 in the morning.

As we were leaving to catch a cab and I felt some swelling in my left cheek. It felt...bigger there... but the pain was finally ceasing and I almost cancelled the cab as I just wanted to sleep. However, I knew if there was swelling it might just be getting worse despite the lack of pain.

We stayed there all night long and ironically about 1.5 hours after we arrived a friend of ours showed up at the ER with her own medical issue that needed dealing with. The three of us sat together in that freezing cold ER, wrapped in hospital blankets, waiting for our turn to see a doctor.

Finally at 7:30 am, just as I was to see the doctor, the swelling was so intense I was having numbness from below my eye to the middle of my neck on the left side of my face. He gave me antibiotics, which kicked in very quickly, and over the course of the weekend the swelling receded rapidly. By the time Monday rolled around I barely had any swelling at all and the dentist was able to assess how bad the damage was.

I will say, having a phobia of dentists isn't fun to live with, but I'm thankful for our baby emergency fund. It saved our butts. I've had two dental visits thus far and will be continuing with treatments to have a dental implant. This will be very expensive but we've been able to talk with our dentist about what's possible for us financially.

Chris and I were very upfront with the dentist in our debt pay-off journey. Sometimes it's best to be honest and speak about the real numbers. As a result she commended us for how far we've come and how far we have left to go. We've been given a few options to pay for my dental procedure and I'm trying to encourage Chris to see the dentist for his own needs, as well.

This dental office is amazing. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the service we've received and the level of comfort I now feel. The Lord led us to the right people at the right time. God is so faithful!

We may not have much left of an emergency fund right now but it came in handy when we needed it and we will build it up again as soon as we can. Chris and I have said countless times since that first dental appointment, "We will never go without an emergency fund from now on." It's just too important...and we refuse to live on credit.

This will put us behind in our debt-free journey but this expedition is not bleak. In fact, we've felt a real awakening of our spirits to continue to persevere through this trial. I am still afraid of the dentist -- just a teeny tiny bit now -- but we're not afraid to keep pushing forward through our debt. We WILL get through to the other side, no matter how many mountains we have to climb. Just watch us become more determined and more stubborn. This mountain? Oh, it's nothing....just a little annoying hill to overcome... we'll see the Promise Land of Debt-Freedom soon... Mark our words....

Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away!

I've started to watch a show on Netflix about debt difficulties in the United Kingdom. What I found most interesting about this television program is the statistics they post between stories as part of their B roll footage.

The U.K. has $1.445 trillion pounds of debt, as of 2012, when this was filmed. This number is staggering and I'm sure Canada's debt calculator is significantly high, as well. I suppose hearing this number may discourage most people. For me though, it pushes me even harder to get out of debt as fast as I can.

There was a specific quote from one of the High Court officers, Paul, who is featured in the show, and this statement struck me as being right on the money. He was talking about cars and how people used to save for a used car and be quite happy with that, but nowadays folks are wanting a brand new vehicle that just can't afford. Once they have that vehicle financed they start to see other possessions the same way. Everything must be new and they must have it now; no waiting. It's a major problem...

Of course, I hear about financial issues more and more these days with all my reading and research on finances since starting with Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps plan. For example, Chris and I have seriously thought about buying a house one day. We are 39 and 41 years old, respectively, and we're not getting any younger. We know if we wish to buy a house it would be best to buy it in the near future. But we are still paying off our debt, and we only have $36,000 saved in our RRSP. Not near enough for a down payment, as of yet. We're not ready to buy a house. We're not ready to take on such a huge financial responsibility. What's surprising to me is that others in our same situation would still try and buy that house, believing that paying rent is just paying someone else's mortgage but not helping themselves. Well, I disagree with that. If we were to buy a house now, what would we do if something went wrong? The roof leaked or the boiler broke down? Chris and I would be at our wits end about what to do, that's what!

Thankfully, we recognize that financially we are not ready and so we're happy to pay rent for a very nice and comfortable apartment that is within 25% of our budget. This apartment doesn't stretch us financially unecessarily. We are able to pay our bills and have a little spending money to ourselves at the end of each month. It also means, once our debt is paid off, we'll have money to squirrel away and save for that car, house and perhaps one day an adoption -- these three things are the most important to us -- other than our faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We believe in the process we're going through, and it shocks me when I see shows and read things about other people having to deal with debt collecting agencies. Shocks me to my core, to be honest, that our debt numbers continue to increase year after year because of things like credit cards being used, cars being financed and homes bought that are way too expensive and out of our price range.

The Lord asks us to live within our means and not be slave to the lender. I try my best, by prayer and the desire to be led by the Holy Spirit, to make right and sound financial choices. I try my best to honor Heavenly Father with what He has given me...and I admit there's some days I do better than others, but I always continue to strive forward.

The next time you think on the fact that Chris and I have been able to pay off $30,000 in less than a year, you remember how we have done it. We've done it with God, with the power of saying "no" to ourselves and each other, with the intention of finding cheap or free ways to entertain ourselves, we've shopped for ways to save on groceries and we've being thankful for every day these choices have made it possible to continue on our debt free journey. You can pay off your debt in just the same fashion. Don't sit there and think "I wish that could be me! I wish I could pay off my debt, too!" YOU CAN. I swear to you, my nightly prayers include you, yes you! You can do this.

So the next time you go to the store and want to buy something a little extra for yourself, remember to ask yourself what's more important, the dream Heavenly Father has given me to GO where He asking me to go in life (hopefully towards debt-freedom is part of that journey) or is buying that _____ (whatever it is) more important? Denying oneself brings maturity. Children throw tantrums when they can't have what the want right away. Stop throwing mini tantrums within your own heart and mind. Put the item back on shelf and think, "This dream I have is bigger and more important than this item in my hand." The more you deny yourself in frivolous shopping the easier it gets. The more you start to value what you already own and the more your value what you have the less likely you are to shop frivolously! Seriously, it works, and not even that, you feel that your acting with purpose for God's will. You really honestly do.

Be more mature today than you were yesterday. Be willing to wait, save and enjoy what you currently have.

Don't add to the debt calculating number that continues to grow; instead add to the legacy number you wish to give children and family. God bless you all in this journey. Don't give up the fight!

Rebulding that Baby Emergency Fund again

Well, June budgeting went okay... We actually did pretty well with groceries and came under budget! Whoo-hoo! The only category we really went over was household supplies and sometimes that's just the way the month rolls out, isn't it? You have to restock your cleaning supplies buy cat food or buy laundry detergent. There's always something that just can't wait.

I will say overall for June I'm pleased with our progress. It was the end of the month that startled me. Chris received some distressing news about back taxes... We're working through that issue currently and dealing with it. When we know more I'll give a brief update.

We are making significant gains on rebuilding our Baby Emergency Fund (Step #1 of Dave Ramsey's plan) once again. $400 dollars and only $600 more to go! We'll get there... I just hope we can still save the emergency fund and deal with Chris' tax issue, instead of needing to use that money to fix his problem that has arose. In other news, my tax return is still on hold. Every time I've called CRA to discuss the issue I'm given a different answer. The new date to hear back from them is now August 17th, which is over four months since our taxes were filed on April 11th. At this point, I'm just throwing up my hands in frustration and giving it to God.

I know what the issue is, I know why there is a delay. Up until last year (2016 taxes) my income was much more significant. On paper it was high, because I have been taxed on the principle amount of the annuity and so I was paying thousands of dollars for income taxes. But last year our life dramatically changed. We were able to renegotiate the annuity and take early retirement. I had to guess at how much to pay towards taxes. (This was part of the "debt" we claim as our total owing.) So we paid a significant portion towards my taxes, but much less than any other year. I added up the number incorrectly, told our accountant it was $13K but in actuality we had paid a little over $16K. I had asked her if we should correct the number before sending in the taxes, she said "No, CRA will figure out the error and it'll be fine." Well, there STILL trying to figure out why there is a big pay difference and why our numbers are slightly askew. 

So here we sit and wait... to see how much we may get back... All the while feeling quite overwhelmed about Chris' tax issue now... 

If it's not one thing, Ir's another right? Oh well, The Lord has all this in His hands... We give it over to him and just try to stay the course with what we're doing for the month of July.

Onward and upward and all that...

Honestly, we know we'll be fine... we'll get through it just like we do everything else. Patience and faith will win out. We are thankful for another month of success and we hope our numbers look even better for July. 

Chris will be taking me out to lunch for my birthday. I'm 39 this year. I don't feel thirty-nine... and I was hoping to debt-free for my 40th birthday. I worry now that might not happen..... 

Keep pulling up your boot straps along with us, folks! If you're in the middle of your debt pay off, it's a struggle every month, but boy will it be worth it!! CANNOT WAIT!!!