This Year......I'm Going Cheap!

My goal for last year was to simplify my life. It has definitely been a year long project, but I believe I am almost there.

Really, can anyone ever really BE there?

Maybe!

This year I am making it my goal to be as cheap as I can be with everything. Now, this is going to take curious from the whole family because we are going to go against society and other family members. Now a days, society thinks it's ok to be in debt. Actually, society expects you to be in debt. Why else would you need a credit score? The only reason you need a credit score is to get more credit (debt).

Well, I am proud and excited to take this next step and go against society. We have been paying cash for everything the last year. But, now we are going to concentrate on paying literally everything off and save money to buy a house with CASH! We are anticipating 2-3 years to pay off everything and then begin to save. So we are thinking this project will take 6-8 years. I can't not wait until the day we sign the papers on our very OWN house.

We are so determined to do this. The first thing we did was to decide to sell our house. The mortgage payment was getting us nowhere. We barley and something didn't have enough money to just live day to day. This last year we have had more medical bills with the twins and our other children then we have had in the past. Every month got tighter and tighter. So we prayed about it . . . God delivered! He actually delivered a couple to us that was in the same boat a couple of years ago. This couple is from our church. They spoke to us about it and now are actually helping us out. We have a contract on our house, which is them. We have moved into my sister's other house to rent. We won't make a penny on our house but the way all the events took place.....We truly believe God had His hand in this situation.

The second thing we have done is to find where we could really trim even more. So we turned off cable, home phone and down graded our internet. This will save us about $120 per month. I also shopped around for different car insurance. I found "Progressive" who gave us the best deal with the most coverage. This will save another $100. So per year, we will be able to save another $2,400.

We have read the book by Dave Ramsey. He talks about going against society and how to live debt free. He gives you steps to accomplish it.

I am just so excited about this new adventure and change in our family. I think at the beginning of all of this type of talk = I was scared. I was scared of what my extended family, co-workers, friends, and neighbors would think. I was really scared of being embarrassed. But I am not! I am actually proud of us for taking this challenge and knowing that God is leading it. It is hard though! Society is everywhere and we have to stand up tall and not let it knock us down.

So as this year begins, I am on a mission to find different ways to be more frugal. One of the other adoptive moms, who I admire (especially in this area) is Heather Amsbury. She has all kinds of ideas that I have borrowed to implement. She has also used the Dave Ramsey ideas to be debt free. Her and her husband actually just paid off their house a couple of months ago. That is so fantastic!

As this year continues to go, I am going to be researching ways to be more frugal. I am actually really excited for it. I think this is my new hobby!

If you happen to have any tips, I would love to hear about them. I will be blogging the ideas I find and let you know how they work out. :)

Blessings to you!