Over the last four years, my husband and I are very blessed to have paid off a significant amount of debt.  I don't share our story to boast.  Rather, I share to encourage others.  Less debt brings peace of mind.  It allows us to sleep better at night.  I share so that you will know there is a way out!  Don't be overwhelmed.  Dream big.  Set goals.  Listen to good ol' Dave.  And take a financial snapshot. 

You need to know where you are in order to get where you're going.  Write down all your monthly obligations and principal balances.  It may be hard to face up to it all there before you in black and white but we must face reality in order to change reality.    

Use your financial snapshot as a starting place to change the future.  Keep up with your progress each month.  It will motivate you as you see month by month your dream becoming reality! 

May God guide you and increase your determination!

I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.  Ps 32:8

When we moved into the Elkanah House we had six people in 1100 square feet.  After we converted our garage into additional living space we increased our square footage to 1800 square feet.  Which is still just a modest size house, especially when you consider our family size (soon to be seven). 

When choosing which house to buy in our area, we wanted a bargain.  That meant we had to forgo some wants and settle on what we absolutely needed.  We absolutely needed a house with the potential for extra bedrooms (a bonus room, multiple living rooms, or a garage).  We settled on the Elkanah House with a huge garage.  We were fortunate to buy it at half the median house price in our area. 

This one decision has turbo charged our ability to pay off debt.  ($77,000 in less than four years!)  It has allowed us to manage on my husband's pastoral salary, keeping me at home. 

The amazing part?  The Elkanah House has quickly become our favorite house of all the houses we have lived in!  We have an awesome backyard that the previous owner completely fenced in.  It has beautiful architectural shingles.  It is very well insulated.  Our electric bills are much more manageable than any of our previous homes.  Our water comes from a well, also saving on our monthly utilities.  There are so many little details like sliding shelves in the cabinets, a dishwasher, ceiling fans in every room (remember I'm in the deep South), and an unfinished 2nd bathroom that we hope to finish as soon as our savings allow. 

Not everyone who saw our little house in the beginning shared our feelings.  It was dirty and stinky. Signs of mice everywhere.  The kitchen floor was in terrible condition.  No appliances.  The carpet appeared stained. The light fixtures were dated.  Holes in the wall, lots of holes.  The yard was wild and overgrown.  There was a huge pile of dirt in the backyard just perfect for filling all the huge holes that were also in the backyard.  Enclosing the garage looked like a lot of hard work.

We rolled up our sleeves, started cleaning, and fixing.  The huge pile of dirt turned out to be lots of entertainment for our children.  They rode their bikes over it.  They enjoyed shoveling it into buckets and filling holes.  I'm serious.  It was great fun for them.  The carpet came clean with a good shampooing.  We replaced the kitchen floor, replaced the dated light fixtures with ceiling fans, and installed our new appliances.  The yard - oy.  We mowed and mowed and mowed.  This summer we have enjoyed our tame yard and discovered underneath all that wild and overgrown was some pretty landscaping.  The garage was a lot of work but with the most expensive elements already in place (foundation and roof), we were surprised how little we were able to complete an addition of 600 square feet of living space. 

Everything in life is a choice. Realize that as you live your life, each moment you are either adding to or taking away from the quality of your life. You are either creating and enjoying, or dying and destroying. There is no "standing still", for that is time wasted and therefore takes away from your life. The choice for your life is up to you! - Mrs. Dunwoody

Focus on life's blessings, as this is continuously uplifting, and affects who you are as a person.  - Unknown

That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. - Henry David Thoreau

Coming next Thursday - "Making the Most of Our Little House by Doubling Our Closet Space in a Day"

I had been hearing about SwagBucks off and on for several months. Being the skeptic, I paid it no mind.  And then, the week before Christmas '09, I heard that all these people paid for their gifts with SwagBucks!  Suddenly, I found the time to learn about it.  

What are you waiting for?  Go sign up!

 

UPDATE:  We saved our swagbucks from January - November 2010 and we were able to get a Wii for our family for FREE!  Details here. Can't wait to see what we get this Christmas!

 

One of the best ways to save money is doing the family's hair at home.  I know that can be a little intimidating or even scary, especially when scissors are involved. But I just gotta tell you, there are so many really good tutorials available online for free that learning isn't as hard as you might think. 

Let's start with the easiest and least intimidating first - no scissors involved.  Little girl hairstyles.  Learning to do twists and braids is absolutely the most affordable way to up the cuteness factor for your cutie.  Hair Today is a great place to learn really cute little girl do's.  Some other great hairstyling blogs include Babes in Hairland , Hairstyles for Girls, and Girly do's by Jenn.  Oh. my. goodness.  Couldn't you just die of sweetness when you see a neatly combed and braided little girl?  Seriously.  And that sweetness comes in triple doses at my house. 

(Old pics.  No styled hair at my house today.  Only wet hair from the pool.)

All right, let's talk cuts.  The best resource?  YouTube.  Tons of videos that show step by step how to cut hair.  Every style imaginable.  Just go to YouTube and do a search.  Watch and learn.  Gather your courage and give it a try. 

Save yourself a ton of money and learn to do hair at home.  Not to say that an occasional trip to the salon is not in order.  It's a wonderful treat to be enjoyed.  But with a family our size, home is an absolute budget saver! 

We’ve heard the expression time and again. For decades, researchers have explored how humor helps patients relieve stress and heal. 

Laughter may help protect you against a heart attack, according to a recent study by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.  The study, found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.

Not only is laughter the best medicine, it's the most frugal!  As a matter of fact, Trent Tribe is giving it away!  So enjoy, your frugal dose of medicine...

Isn't their laughter contagious?

Speaking of grocery savings, I want to share one of my favorite resources.  Angela at Grocery Shrink  blogs daily and sends out a weekly newsletter devoted to helping families save money.  Just love her!  When you watch these videos, check out her blog, and newsletter you'll just love her too.

My fave cleaning product recipes:

Window Cleaner

Furniture Polish

Laundry Detergent (Also see Cost Analysis)

Have you tried homemade cleaning products?  Favorite recipes?  Do share. 

I'm reading the book America's Cheapest Family.  (A gift from my mother-in-law.  Thank you, Shirley!)  The Chief and I make it a point to read personal finance books frequently throughout the year.  It helps us to stay focused on our goal of debt free living and financial independence.  I am an avid fan of frugal living.  It has some wonderful advantages!  Peace of mind, personal satisfaction, being free to serve God wherever and however he calls, able to give more generously, ability to achieve lifelong goals and dreams, etc...

One of the very first topics the Economides Family (seriously that's their last name) tackles in the book is groceries.  For most families this is the area with the most potential for immediate savings. 

Reading the grocery chapter reminded me of something I learned when the Chief was a vendor at a large cookie company for a number of years.  He figured out very quickly that the sure way to boost the cookie sales in his area was to score extra display space from the store managers.  It is a proven statistic that impulse buys make up a huge percentage of our total purchases.  The more we go to the store, the more we walk by special displays and other marketing traps ploys that call out to us "Buy me!" 

That means one way to reduce the grocery expenses is to shop less.  If we try to extend grocery shopping to once every two weeks or even better monthly trips to the store, there is less opportunity to spend impulsively.

Thanks for the reminder, Steve and Annette Economides.  Thanks for the reminder.

This post is linked to Frugal Friday at Life As Mom.

I'll never forget the first time a friend of mine said, "You are so lucky you don't have to work!"

At the time, I didn't know how to respond but when someone says that to me now, I know exactly what to say.  "You know what? I work very hard to be this lucky."

The "behind the scenes" work is what keeps us in our budget. We stretch and scrimp.  We make do and do without.  We have a happy attitude and we feel blessed.  Perhaps our positive outlook conceals how little we actually spend.

The truth is:  It's a beans and potatoes life for us but goodness, we are enjoying it!  

Some of the "work" that keeps me out of work:

Hand Soap Savings

That's Not Good Enough

Christmas Gift Giving

We all need new ideas and encouragement as we pursue our debt free dream!

I strongly recommend reading books to help with frugal and debt free living.  Books are a great way to change my mind and my ways.  I need influence.  Books influence my thinking.  

The internet is a great resource for do-it-yourself projects and maintenance.  

The library and internet save me big dollars on homeschool curriculum.  Most all of the literature books and recommended reading can be found at the library.   Thrift stores and yard sales are another great source for books.  I recently found The Tightwad Gazette at a thrift store for 65 cents.

Books that have influenced my thinking financially,

Websites that rock,

Dave Ramsey

Crown Financial

Money Saving Mom