Like that huh?
I was going for sophisticated meets well me, mwuahahaha.
You see this photo? This is about as far as I'm going on the whole moving/packing issue. I'm sooo over it and would rather talk about something else.
Like the end of this whole ordeal.
Like the new house and how our life is now.
No this isn't a brag post, and if after reading this you still think so, walk away, I have no room for shallowness in my life.
This is an OMG have we really come this far, are we really able to do this, am I dreaming kind, of post.
The first 6 years we were married our bank account was always negative; I forget how many thousands of dollars we paid in overdraft fees, but I do know it was enough to buy a fancy, new car (we did the math once). Bo had a job at one point where his paychecks would bounce once a month consistently. He'd get paid every two weeks and I was only working part time so we could never get anywhere. Then we moved away so he could go to school, and again all I could find was part time work; this time our paychecks weren't bouncing, but it didn't matter. Two years of constant red and we were stuck in limbo of trying to get our heads above water. We even used the rest of the money from Bo's trust fund to help, but that only lasted so long. We moved back home and after a year I got a job that we both thought was going to save us financially. I was an apartment manager, we had 0 bills and I got paid pretty well. But no, that didn't help us because we were still negative and even more stupid with our money. I lost my job and we were forced to move. We'd have bills again, with no money in the account and two brand new cars to pay for. MAJOR STUPID PURCHASE THAT ONE. By pure dumb luck, and a guilty ex boss, we managed to get the house we're in now and I found a new job. We had to sell Bo's truck because we couldn't afford the payments and the gas. Then Bailey was born and I quit my job. Then everything in the house broke down and we had to replace them. We had bills out the ass because we had no money thanks to over draft fees, but had a really good paying job. That's when the company Bo works for had a seminar for Dave Ramsey and his financial plan, and as they say, the money issues were history.
No, this isn't a review or advertisement of his products, it's the truth and something everyone should know about.
No, this isn't a review or advertisement of his products, it's the truth and something everyone should know about.
I'm not going to lie and say we have all the money we need and never worry about it anymore. No, HELL NO. But we have a plan and by following that plan we got out of the negative and began paying off our debt. Within three years of doing this program, we paid off my car and consolidated everything else under one loan that we could afford payments on. It hasn't been easy by any means, and there were many moments where we wondered if this was even working when emergencies came up and we still had no money. We know now that we had no idea what to do with our money. We thought we knew, but we didn't. We spent WAY too much on groceries and eating out, spur of the moment purchases, going to the movies, etc. We said we had no money, we didn't have much but we had money, we just wasted it without making a plan for everything. That's not how we are anymore, every penny is accounted for now. And we've only been negative once or twice in almost 5 years, not because we didn't have the money but because his paycheck didn't go through until after a bill was paid.
And before someone says wait isn't Bo an IT manager, and don't they make a killing, let me explain something to you. Yeah he makes good money, but the married men in his department bring home far more than he does. How? Because their wives work full time. Yes, he makes more than some couples we know combined, but back in the day we didn't. And going over our income then, when we were barely bringing home $30k a year, on a good year, for those first 6 years, we could have followed this program and paid things off or prevented our debt by being smarter with our money.
Anyway, if you had told me 6 or 7 or hell 10 years ago that we'd be where we are now, I would have laughed at you and said you were dreaming. That there's no way we'd be close to being out of debt and getting a house we loved.
But here we are.
So when I say OMG we just bought a new dining room table and a table for the breakfast nook/room, know that our first table was a $30 fold up card table, our second one was $100 from Walmart and had just enough room for 4 people with teeny tiny plates and cups, and our third table was given to us by a relative.
Or OMG I can have that fridge that I had to change my panties after I first saw it and then fell over when I saw the price tag. That we can get it on sale because that's the ONLY way we spend our money now. That it's the first time EVER that we've made that huge of a purchase on something we want and aren't settling just because we have to.
It's the FIRST time ever, that we are able to make certain purchases that up until a year or so ago had only been a dream. That's not to say we can get whatever we want and waste lots of money. We have a budget even on this, and we will not and can not go over. Don't think we're getting everything new, because we're not. I WISH we had that kind of money.
Although the 7 shirts and 3 pairs of jeans I own will look like nothing in the new closets....
I kid I kid...well that is how many clothes I have.
I'm so proud of us and how far we've come. It's true, I dream of living in a castle, with all the clothes I could ask for, an entire library at my disposal, and not spending a moment worrying about paying our bills or will we have enough money to buy food at the end of the week. I think everyone dreams of that. We're not buying a castle and we worry about paying our bills, but we are finally for the first time EVER able to go out on a limb and get something we want instead of dreaming about it or settling because we have to.
So I may kick and scream and moan and groan about this damn move A LOT, but I know how far we've come and I appreciate everything I've been through. Without it, I wouldn't be where I am.
And before someone says wait isn't Bo an IT manager, and don't they make a killing, let me explain something to you. Yeah he makes good money, but the married men in his department bring home far more than he does. How? Because their wives work full time. Yes, he makes more than some couples we know combined, but back in the day we didn't. And going over our income then, when we were barely bringing home $30k a year, on a good year, for those first 6 years, we could have followed this program and paid things off or prevented our debt by being smarter with our money.
Anyway, if you had told me 6 or 7 or hell 10 years ago that we'd be where we are now, I would have laughed at you and said you were dreaming. That there's no way we'd be close to being out of debt and getting a house we loved.
But here we are.
So when I say OMG we just bought a new dining room table and a table for the breakfast nook/room, know that our first table was a $30 fold up card table, our second one was $100 from Walmart and had just enough room for 4 people with teeny tiny plates and cups, and our third table was given to us by a relative.
Or OMG I can have that fridge that I had to change my panties after I first saw it and then fell over when I saw the price tag. That we can get it on sale because that's the ONLY way we spend our money now. That it's the first time EVER that we've made that huge of a purchase on something we want and aren't settling just because we have to.
It's the FIRST time ever, that we are able to make certain purchases that up until a year or so ago had only been a dream. That's not to say we can get whatever we want and waste lots of money. We have a budget even on this, and we will not and can not go over. Don't think we're getting everything new, because we're not. I WISH we had that kind of money.
Although the 7 shirts and 3 pairs of jeans I own will look like nothing in the new closets....
I kid I kid...well that is how many clothes I have.
I'm so proud of us and how far we've come. It's true, I dream of living in a castle, with all the clothes I could ask for, an entire library at my disposal, and not spending a moment worrying about paying our bills or will we have enough money to buy food at the end of the week. I think everyone dreams of that. We're not buying a castle and we worry about paying our bills, but we are finally for the first time EVER able to go out on a limb and get something we want instead of dreaming about it or settling because we have to.
So I may kick and scream and moan and groan about this damn move A LOT, but I know how far we've come and I appreciate everything I've been through. Without it, I wouldn't be where I am.
1 comment:
Sweetie: GOOD FOR YOU! This is a fabulous achievement and you have every right to be beaming with pride! Best of luck with your move and your new house!
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