Taking control of the situation.

“There will always be debt.” –  ”Debt is an inevitable fact of life.”  - “I will never get control of my debt.”

That way of thinking is not only ridiculous but it is completely untrue.  I don’t believe it.  This is the kind of crap that society wants us to believe, that we will never have real control over our finances. By telling us we will never have control over our finances we start to believe we have no control over ourselves and if we have no self-control OF COURSE we will never get control of our finances.  It’s sick actually.

If you don’t know who Suze Orman is then you’d better do a quick Google search and get with the program.  Here’s her new mantra…”LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS and WITHIN YOUR NEEDS”.  She seems to be one of the few telling us that these days and boy do I get it.  I REALLY get it.

I don’t need a new fancy house, car, computer, wardrobe, furniture, gadget…whatever.  If I CAN’T AFFORD IT…I DON’T need it.

So before you start feeling all preached at I’ll get to the point.

I want my kids to understand financial responsibility so Big and I are getting with the program and becoming financially responsible.  We have a plan internets.  And that plan doesn’t include big vacations, new stuff or even leaving home much….unless we can afford it.  And to be honest, I can tell you right now we can’t afford ANYTHING for at least 5 years.  We aren’t going to live paycheck to paycheck anymore.  We are going to pay off our debt and we are going to start saving for the future.  We are going to start living BELOW our means.

First off, we are staying put in a house that is too small for us.  BECAUSE WE CAN AFFORD IT.  Second, we are paying off all our debt and I’ll be keeping you posted on how that is going.  Our first milestone should be in and around November 1st when we will pay off Big’s car.  It will be only the second car we’ve paid off outright.  We are going to pay his car off 2 years early.  It’s going to take some dedication and watching how we spend, but I am EXCITED to do it. It will give me motivation to start our third goal…to pay off all our credit cards.  And that will take a little time.  It all snowballs from there.  In just under 3.5 years, we will have NO DEBT with the exception of our mortgage.  And that is BIG.  And after all that debt is gone, we will have the finances to decide how fast we pay off our mortgage.  Our idea is to pay it off completely in half the term of  how long the mortgage has left.  And that is BIGGER than HUGE.

Sure, this is going to mean that we are going to cut back on stuff.  Big and I will get real with our spending on ourselves and each other.  The kids won’t be getting all the newest and greatest gadgets out there (it’s not like they do now anyways). And the kids will UNDERSTAND that it’s not because “we can’t afford it”, it will be because “we are being responsible with the money we have for our family”.  And perhaps in a few years we can all go on a fabulous holiday together and not have to go into debt to do it.  What a special vacation that would be, right?

This is probably the most boring blog post you’ve read in a long time but I am PUMPED…I am READY for this.  April 1st is when we start this adventure as a family.  In the long run, the pay out will be huge.  Not only our financial freedom but in how we feel about money and how we feel about ourselves.

And I can’t wait for that.

K.

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