Since I'm am a dreamer, I always look forward to the start of a new year. There is so much opportunity that a new year holds. I like to dream about what could be. However, many times when I come to the end of that "New Year", I'm disappointed that those dreams never became reality. A person can dream and dream and dream but nothing will happen if nothing is done. For a dream to come true, you have to have an end goal with actual defined steps to achieving that goal. What is it going to take for that conception in your mind to turn into reality? The difficulty for me comes into play here. I don't like the daily grind. I love to envision the goal but really struggle with staying the course. It takes discipline. It takes accountability. Most of all though, you have to really want whatever the end result is, and you always have to be willing to sacrifice to get there.
Well, it's a new year again. Since I'm turning 30 this week and living my life with vision this year...I wanted my first blog of 2008 to set the stage for what my family is focusing on this year. As I stated in an earlier post, we are on the road to becoming debt-free. Since college, I've learned a lot of hard lessons and one is that I really do not like being a slave to the lender! It really holds you back from being free to serve God however he leads. Having the resources he has provided tied up in credit cards or student loans or cars or even mortgages keeps us committed to something and tied down. It has taken me learning this over and over again to get to the point where I really want the end goal. I really want to be debt-free.
We already have steps to get to the end goal. Actually, we've been on a budget for 6 years. We took a Crown Financial Ministries course during our engagement and have lived with a budget since then. What we haven't done is sacrificed very much to reach our end goal. So this year is all about sacrifice. It is about saying no to things we don't need, places we'd like to go, restaurants we'd love to visit, in general...sacrificing whatever goes beyond a necessity to a want. Believe me, just saying this makes me cringe inside and want to start making my list of exceptions. But, no, I really want this and I have to continually remind myself that I want to be debt-free way more than I want that non-fat white chocolate mocha from Starbucks! However, gift cards for birthdays and holidays are always appreciated!
I will be posting our progresses, failures, and victories for you during the year. I'm a pretty open book and I share things with the purpose of encouraging you or challenging you to grow. I think it is a lot easier to gain wisdom from listening and sharing with others than it is from making mistakes and having to live with the consequences. With that said, if anyone has any really great ideas for cutting costs, saving money, or free forms of entertainment, I'm all ears. I love to research other blogs for ideas so I will share the really good ones that I come across. One great financial resource is Dave Ramsey. He shoots it to you straight. I like to listen to his radio program and hear stories of other people who are sacrificing to become debt-free.
Happy New Year. I hope you reach your goals.
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7 comments:
I can't imagine a more worthy "resolution" than the one you've named. In many ways debt seems literally like a mire: you finally free one foot from the mud only to find your other one has somehow gone in again. I'll be interested to watch and cheer and participate in your journey this year, especially as we try ourselves to make those hard choices. (no lattes?! come on!! Yikes.) Here is one idea from someone in our Financial Peace class that we tried: When we lived in Denver we used to rent movies from our public library all the time. They had a great selection, and it was free...
-EC
Scott Tubbs here. I didn't want to take the time to hunt down my google account information, so I just published this comment as "anonymous".
I just want to quickly remind people of the difference of "Good" debt and "Bad" debt. Bad debt is pretty obvious - credit cards, car loans, etc. (basically anything that depreciates in value or that you owe more than it's worth). But there is such thing as "Good" debt. Most houses are good debt because you can't afford to pay them off now, but if you take care of it, it should be worth more than what you owe and usually will only increase in value.
Thought I'd share.
Hi! This is actually the Turners, Chris and Brandi.
Thank you for starting this discussion with many people in different locations and situations. Though we would agree that debt is a negative aspect in our lives, we would not be in a place to use the gifts God has given us without some manageable debt. For us, having student loans is a sacrifice we choose to make to pursue our passions.
If we also look at the bigger picture, there is the issue of having a willingness to step out of what is comfortable and take some calculated risk. In no way are we saying "go out there and borrow a lot of money" but, as it has already been said, it sometimes takes financial resources to follow God's will... but we definitely stress very careful calculation and discernment. We try to think in terms of investment instead: student loans, mortgage, even car loans, etc. before putting our financial resources toward anything.
cheers.
However you want to classify debt: "good debt", "bad debt", "investment", "managable", etc., you can never get away from the fact that you still "owe" someone something. The dictionary definition of debt is: something owed, obligation, a state of owing. We definitely have to make choices out of our own convictions. I'm not making a stand against all debt and condeming anyone who has it. I'm only expressing my own personal conviction and experience that I no longer wish to be a "slave to the lender". Thankfully, the Bible has much to say about finances so we can each seek God and his Word on this subject. Could anyone show me in God's Word where it says that there is "good debt"? I'd be happy to be corrected and check it out. Thanks for the comments.
There are a vast amount of ways to examine debt. One of my favorite: the culture of instant gratification vs. an attitude of self discipline.
Bryce, I enjoy your negotiation between the two: renting movies you want to see now from the public library with no compromise of your budget.
kudos.
Scott Tubbs again, still don't know what my google password is, so I'm anonymous again.
Eva is right, the Bible does not discern debt - good/bad/other. However, it does talk about being a good steward of your money. Thus, if the item is worth more than you owe a lender, and it is appreciating in value, then are you truly in debt? If the item can be sold and the loan paid in full, then your net worth is higher than your debt, and thus you are not really in debt. I rented for the last 14 years of my life. Essentially, I would rather be in debt and own a house than not be in debt and losing all of that rent money with nothing to show in return.
That is what I was referring to. I look at a home loan as an investment rather than debt.
thanks all for your comments. Money/debt is always an interesting topic which brings many different opinions. I hear what you are saying Scott. A house is definetly an investment so long as it holds its value. And assuming someone would want to buy it from you :-)
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