Prepping: Kicking Out Debt From Your Life

Debt. Most Americans have some form of debt. Our country even runs on debt. Credit cards, car loans, house loans, 401k loans, and student loans are prime examples of debts we carry. 

Getting out of debt is part of prepping for your family's future for a few reasons:

-Debt costs you more over the long term.  That $400 computer could cost you $1000 after you pay it off with interest.

-Debt causes anxiety in many people. Wondering how you are going to pay your debts and bills. If you can't pay the debts, then you worry if you will lose your home or car. What if collectors come to constantly harrass you and your family?

3) Being a slave to the lender. Proverbs 22:7, "the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender..." We are not built to be slaves. We are to be free! Yet we seem to put ourselves into a postion where we give our freedom away with the swipe of a card. 

4) Not being able to provide more for your family in the future. Pay for your children's college, go on vacations, etc. Having no debt would free up a lot of money for future endeavors.

I previously posted about some of my credit card debt experience. I recently decided that I needed to wade deeper. I needed to learn more and not be in the dark about finances. 

Since moving to NC, I have had time (in my new part time employment life) to reflect on my monetary situation. I decided to make some changes in the way I spend my time. I spend a solid month watching netflix! I must say, I got hooked on a few shows, I'm human. Then I got bored with that (it usually takes a month for my love of netflix to fade away). In that time, I did get my school situation settled, my car and license switched to NC, and get established at work as somewhat valuable so I would be in the best position possible to get full time when it opened up. So I was not totally lazy with my time. 

This last month, my journey to financial obsession (that might be a little too dramatic of a phrase, but I'm going to roll with it) started with knitting. I had a lot of yarn from times that I have knit in the past. My favorite gift to give for baby showers are knitted baby blankets. I generally have a couple made up for times when I am invited to a shower. It came in handy the last couple of months in FL because 2 coworkers got pregnant very close together. So I was able to get those to them without too much stress. But that depleted my supply. So I started making another one...but like all of my craft projects, I grew bored. 

So I went YouTubing for other craft ideas. I came up with a great one that I decided to make everyone for Christmas. Because it is not Christmas yet, I can't reveal what it is until afterward (so watch for a post in the future!). 

While getting bored with that, I YouTubed how to crochet and learned that in a night (I originally taught myself to knit and crochet while in Japan before YouTube when we learned from books! But my crocheting was terrible so I only continued knitting from that point). 

Then I somehow ran across how to make a bible study journal (which I must have lived a sheltered life because I never heard of one before). Then that linked me to making a housekeeping plan. And that led to the envelope system! And that linked me to debt obsession!

Anyway...since that line of YouTubing, I have watched vlog after vlog (video blogs) about people on this journey to debt freedom. It got the wheels turning on what life would look like post-debt. Would it be possible to not pay student loans earlier than 30 years from now!? 

As I posted before, I had $10,000 in credit card debt because of a semester of college paid on it. I worked really hard and paid it off 4 years later. I opened to flood gates to my credit cards once again to help with some funeral expenses but was paid back for that. However, I continued to use it and racked up $4,500 in credit card debt by the time I moved to NC. The credit card was interest free until this November. I have used some savings and finally paid off the credit card last week to avoid interest charges. 

So I am back to being credit card debt free and I don't have a car loan on my 10+ year old car. But I have HUGE student loans! My only debt! 

Reading books from the library and watching vlogs has inspired me to try to cashflow my 3 years of school and try to continue to pay off student loans. This is going to be difficult with the size of my loans, but difficult isn't impossible! So I will post my progress, strategies, tips, etc in the future.

For now, I leave you with some resources I have found helpful and motivating:

Book: "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey

Book: "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke" by Suze Orman

Vlog: debtisdum (YouTube)

Vlog: LiveLikeNoOneElse (YouTube)

 

New Directions

I have been on leave from this blog for a bit because things haved moved in different directions in my life. I guess that would be the perfect time to blog, but in reality, it was riding the crazy train. So in a nutshell:

1) I moved to North Carolina from south Florida. I moved for a lower cost of living and school opportunities. I also missed seasons that include more than wet and dry seasons. I deeply miss my father and 2 pugs, but this is part of a 4 year plan that I am pursuing. I am cohabitating with some family friends from Indiana. They are so kind to open their home to me, I am so grateful to have these friends in my life.

2) I have interviewed for one of the radiology schools here and I am in the admissions process with another. So hoping for good news from them next March or April.

3) I am really focused on gaining financial peace and getting on the road toward paying off my debts. (More on that later).

4) I have transfered with the same company I was employed with in south Florida however, I had to go from full time to part time until a full time opportunity opens up. This also means I am experiencing my first taste of getting health insurance independent of my job! (Posts coming on navigating that as well)

So, I am working on settling in and getting adjusted to life in NC! Posts to come on some things I have learned in this transition.

August Challenge Update

The August challenge is going well. I have been using all cash except for gas stations. I did go on a vacation that required some rentals on credit, but there is not much I can do about that. But I did manage to do the trip with cash only and that took some thinking ahead and on the spot priority making. It also went with my cleaning and organizing because I didn't want to bring back too many souvenirs that I will have to move later.

I have made an executive decision to move to North Carolina in the next month or so (just waiting for the job transfers to go through). So my cleaning and organizing is centered around being prepared to move at any time. So each day, I get a little closer to that goal. Hopefully this will make it so I don't have quite as stressful of a time getting packed and moved in in North Carolina.

I have been making more meals at home and taking my lunch with me to work, so that has helped with the cash and the not shopping at the same place 2 times this month. 

So far the challenge is going well. Just mopped the floor so I am on to baseboards! Until next time...

July Challenge Wrap Up/August Challenge

In July, I made it a challenge to clean for 15 min each day. This was actually kind of difficult to discipline myself. I am more of a 1 hour cleaner and take a few days off. Once I start a project, I like to see it get done.

Fortunately, this challenge came in quite handy because I had unexpected guests at the house this month. Relatives came to town and I gave up my room so they could be comfortable. Fortunately, the late notice was not met with a mad dash to clean because I had already cleaned up the vast majority of areas. So it was much more relaxing.

Reorganizing has helped me prepare for a possible move coming up. So I have been going through my belongings and weeding out the unwanted items. Moving is a good way to go through things and prioritize. There is always that moment in every move that you wonder why you decided to keep something. After lifting all of the boxes and rearranging items, the poundage starts to wear on everyone. No matter how much it seems I get rid of in trash, donation, or selling, it seems my packing heart doesn't match up with my will to move one more box or my head trying to reorganize it in the new space.

August Challenge

August's challenge is to put it all together from the last 3 months. So I will not shop at the same place twice (and if I do, I won't get the same thing), I will use cash only (but I will allow the atm this time and the credit card for gas because it is on bonus rewards this month), and I will continue to organize and clean for an average of 15 min per day (being that I am taking a vacation this weekend, everyday is not going to happen). So there you have it. This challenge started Aug 3. 

Pest Control: Ant killer

In Florida, we seem to have a higher than normal ant issue. Little bitty sugar ants invade the houses. No matter how clean you keep the place, they still use the house as a little ant highway. 

I came up with this method by accident one day. I was cleaning the bathroom a few months ago and saw an ant highway traveling up and down the side of my mirror. I decided I couldn't let that continue so I grabbed the first thing I could find to kill the exposed ants until I could get to the store the next day to get proper ant traps. I grabbed glass cleaner and sprayed the wall with it where the ants were. The ants died on contact. Then I just wiped them off. The few staggering remnants where left alone. The next few days I checked and they were still gone. They never came back.

Today I found a mass of them marching under a hole in my outside door molding...glass cleaner again, same result! Dead on contact! 

Just thought I would pass along the information. Maybe it will help someone else with an ant problem. 

Cooking: Pasta with Mushrooms in Garlic Butter Sauce

Wanted to share a not so healthy (depends on who you ask) recipe I have been making. 

Ingredients:

1/2 package of sliced mushrooms (about 1 C)

2-3 cloves of Garlic (minced)

2-3 Tbsp Butter

1/3 package of pasta (I like whole wheat thin spagetti)

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

1) Cook pasta per package directions (remember to salt your water). Drain and set aside.

2) In a small fry pan, melt butter on medium heat

3) As soon as the butter melts add the minced garlic. Stir a few moments to infuse the butter.

4) Add the mushrooms and cook on low until mushrooms are tender.

5) Add pasta to the fry pan with garlic butter and mushrooms. Stir around to incorporate the butter and pasta.

6) Serve. Add parmesan on top if desired. 

July Challenge Update

My cleaning is going well so far. I really don't like posting about cleaning because it makes me feel/sound like I am normally a slob...it could be true, but I live by the rule that if you keep things somewhat tidy then there is less need to deep clean a lot. Now that I have made cleaning my mission, I might be retinking that philosophy. So I am going to try to be honest in this blog and tell the truth...no matter how slob-like it sounds. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to make the necessary changes in your life, no matter how big or small. So lets get into it already...

Almost done with the surface cleaning, next will be the deeper cleaning.

Surface cleaning: 

I mopped all of the floors and being more consistent with the sweeping. We have 2 pugs, so after a couple of days the hair really accumulates. 

I wiped down all of the appliances with stainless steal cleaner (honestly, might have done that once in 4 years...but we wipe them with other cleaners every once in awhile). 

Wash the pugs...they can be a handful after a wash, haha! Cute, but a handful.

Washed all of the surfaces in my bathroom. It smells nice and lemony fresh.

Next week's tasks:

Wash the shower curtain...I read a pintrest post about a cleaning schedule and one of the monthly tasks was to wash the shower curtain...we always just get a new one when it gets dirty...so I shall try washing it.

Go through the hurricane supplies to see what needs to be refreshed and reorganized.

Clean my car! For one thing, it is Florida in the summer...it is so hot to be climbing all over the car...but it needs to be done. Thorough cleaning is in order. 

Those are the main tasks for this coming week. I will be posting some cleaning tips soon!

I am finding that I break the 15 minute rule a lot right now. Once I start a task it is difficult for me to stop after 15 minutes. Once everything is done, I think the maintenance will be easier to keep at 15 minutes each day. It is just difficult to stop when you see 20 other things that should be cleaned.