Most of you know that my husband got a new job, we moved to a new state, and purchased a new home. We knew we wanted to get a home that we could see ourselves in forever. Yes we bought a house in Illinois that probably could have been a forever home and it was our home for only 3 1/2 years. Isn't it funny how our "forever" plans can change so quickly? We bought a house much more expensive than our last house and required a larger down payment and a larger monthly mortgage payment. Lower tax rates in IN and lower mortgage interest rates made the house we live in now attainable. We have one income in our home and until you've had only one income in your home, you just don't understand what it's like. Kevin and I joke all the time what we did with all of our money when we were both working professional jobs with no Mr. London to pay for. Yes some went into the bank, but definitely not as much as we could have or should have. When we moved in, we had the house repainted, I decorated many of the rooms with new things, we bought new living room furniture, purchased a lovely new fridge, and upgraded our screened in porch to a 3 season glass/window room. In order to do these things, we have made a lot of sacrifices. We do not have cable TV. We have a roku box that we stream $7.99 netflix through. We bought a $35 antenna that we are able to get local channels...most importantly ABC and Fox. We do not have a landline phone with a phone company. We bought a $40 OB talk box that allows us to use a free google voice phone number with regular phone handsets. No I never heard of any of this before Kevin, lol. We also have a prepaid cell phone. I repeat WE DO NOT HAVE A SMART PHONE. No I don't have an app that tells me what I can eat, wear, or when I should sleep. We have a budget for ever category and we log every dime we spend. Why am I saying all this? Because I feel like some people think their sacrifices are necessary for everyone in the world. and it's not the case. These are choices that WE have made in order to have the house we have and have it look the way we want it to look. Some people may choose to have 2 incomes in their home in order to get by, where we only have 1. Some people may think it's impossible to live without a smart phone, where as I feel it's impossible to live without going out to eat once or twice a week. Everyone is different and that's ok. Is it ok to be in debt? No. You need to be able to spend only what you have.. Dave Ramsey has some financial seminar/course thing that a lot of people have went to. He makes you cut up your credit cards or something. I think it's dumb. You are an adult and you need to act like one. It doesn't matter if you put it on a credit card or pay cash, just don't spend what you don't have. We put everything on our credit card, why?? BECAUSE OUR CREDIT CARD MAKES US MONEY!! We probably get $40-$70 a month back in cash. I put every bill I can on our credit card. I will put a $0.25 charge on a credit card if I can. Will I pay more to use my credit card, such as a processing fee, um no. That would be stupid. Do I let my credit card bill balance roll over a month? Um no, then I would be paying more for something than I needed to. Do I feel like we have all the financial answers in the world? Obviously not. I spend too much each month and we find ourselves going negative in certain categories at times. We are learning and striving to be positive in every area while still enjoying life. Some people think it's important to spend $50 on a nice meal where we would rather hit up something cheaper and then take London to some evening event. Some people would buy tickets regularly to go to baseball or football games where we feel it's better to buy new bar stools for our basement. Everyone has their own priorities. Who am I to say that my priorities are the ones that everyone should follow?
I want everyone to just chill out on your life and judging others about their money. Your life may be great and may be working for you, but that doesn't mean it's the only way to live life or spend your money. I buy pampers diapers and wipes and Charmin toilet paper. It's the best. It's what I want to spend my money on. You may say I should buy generic everything or organic everything, but that's just not us. There are some things we will buy generic and some things we will buy name brand. I'm sure if we looked at all of your expenses, you will find that there are places where you splurge and I save. Don' t judge me for wanting the more expensive toilet paper.
We will always give our tithe first, no matter how horrible the month has been or what has come up. God promises us that if we are faithful to him, he will provide. Kevin always gives to his 401k program. Face it, one day we won't be able to work and you can't count on the government to help you out. The way it's going, there won't be any social security left for us 20 year olds. We always pay our bills on time. We may not save like we should in general savings or have as much in savings as we would like, but we are working on it.
Last thought... young people...save, save, save. Live at home as long as you can and save. Save as long as you can before you have kids. When you have kids, work it out so the mommy can stay home. I recently had someone tell me that you can always start your career later, you can't start over your child's childhood. I believe it and never regret stepping down from my career. Being a stay at home mommy has seriously fulfilled my life in ways a career never could.
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