Debt...such a dirty word, isn't it? It seriously makes me cringe when I think about my own debt and makes me feel sorry for anyone else I hear about that is currently in its death grip.
Proverbs 22:7 says "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes a slave to the lender."
Holy cannoli, how true this is! Think about it: a slave is forced to do things they don't want to do or suffer great consequences. When we have debt we are forced to part with our hard earned money to pay said debt; if we do not pay it we become subject to all kinds of very unpleasant consequences, repossession and foreclosure just to name a couple...very bad consequences, indeed.
My husband and I are currently in debt, and while we are not in any way happy about it, we are actively kicking it to the curb one payment at a time. We ended 2015 with minimal debt, but on December 28th my husband (then fiance) dislocated his knee during a holiday vacation. This injury has cost us about $2500, not including the co-pays for each doctor and physical therapy visit. On top of that, my husband was out of work for 6 months, so to say our financial situation hit an all-time low is a huge understatement.
I had been "kind of" budgeting for a while, but it was more along the lines of just tracking my expenses after the fact and not actually making a budget plan and sticking to it each month. Well, all of that changed in July; having had only 1 income for 6 months, huge medial bills, having used all of our savings and continued use of credit just to keep all the bills paid, I knew things had to change.
Captain Budget to the rescue!!! I made our first really bonafide budget on 7/12/2016 and have not looked back since! We have been able to consolidate several things as well as pay off a couple of debts and make dents in all of the others. It is such a relief to know that everything can be paid each month along with planning for some things that we want to do like family outings, dinners out, giving and such. We have been using the cash envelope system, and that has been working well since we were completely reliant on debit and credit cards prior to this change.
While I am not thankful for the injury to my husband's knee, but I am thankful that we were able to learn from that situation the importance of becoming debt free. There is definitely no teacher like experience, and we gained a huge wealth of knowledge in how we don't want to live and what it will take to dig out of the hole we found ourselves in.
Are you overwhelmed and don't know where to begin? If so, begin with a monthly budget; the first couple will have their challenges, but the more of them you do the easier they will get. Dave Ramsey suggests using Every Dollar - a free online budgeting tool. I just use a homemade budget in Google Sheets so I can share it with my husband and we can pull it up on any device, but Every Dollar is a great way to begin. Whatever method you choose, you can do it!
Are you already on your debt free journey? Congratulations!!! We will cheer along with you while striving toward our own debt free life :) It's so important to feel the encouragement of others when you are fighting a battle, so we are fighting with you!
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