Debt Thoughts!

Greg and I have been talking money a lot over the past year. Do we buy a house? What happens when our car won't run for two months? Should we have credit cards? How do we save more money? How do we make more money? Can we afford to go on vacation?

It's exhausting. We live in a "want, want, want" culture. We want it, we get it. I want it, I get it. What a spoiled little brat I am. Seriously - why do I really feel entitled to drive a new jeep or put $100 worth of clothes on a credit card just to earn reward points? Just because.

So we've been really inspired lately to improve ourselves by improving our money skills. For us, that means we need to do several things.

1) Set a budget.
2) Set up a savings account to cover 3-6 months worth of bills in case of an emergency. Build on that savings account in order to buy a house/etc someday without going in over our heads.
3) Shred the credit cards. Stop relying on them, and stop falling for their 'great deals'. We need to only buy things that we can pay in cash for.
4) Pay off the student and car loans one at a time, beginning with the smallest. Knock them all out so that we will be living debt free.

Here are some things Dave Ramsey (check out his stuff!) talks about in his books and dvd's. I'm just going to take a minute to reflect on these quotes, mainly because I'll be using this blog as an accountability partner. I'm going to keep track of our goals - as well as our success and failures.

Please keep in mind that I love Dave Ramsey's secrets to success, but I do feel like each person needs their own individualized budget and goals. Greg and I are luckily not in over our heads. We made fairly smart decisions - only accumulating car and student loan debt. Not great, but it could be worse. We've never paid late fees on a credit card and we haven't bought a house yet. So our debt feels manageable. I realize we are very blessed with what we have, and our sacrifices may seem insignificant compared to the next persons. We might still be able to go out to eat or on dates, and we might still be able to take a little vacation. (Might being the key word!) We need to 'personalize' our plan and really set a budget for ourselves. We're simply using Dave Ramsey as a starting point.

"We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like."

Now I'm not really a person that tries to impress others. That may have been me at one time in my life, but today I'm the girl that's happy driving the 11 year old Grand Am with the broken windows. I'm the girl that complains about paying $300 a month for a Jeep with heated seats. I'm sure I test Greg's patience every day. But, as I'm reflecting, I do realize that I let the culture of the world determine my lifestyle. The world tells us we need to own a home because we're married. The world tells us we are college graduates and we should have a couple nice vehicles. The world tells us that we need brand name clothes. I'm done with that. The bible tells us to store our treasures in heaven. The bible tells us not to be chained to debt. So you know what - we aren't buying a home because we have things we need to pay off. (Student Loans and a Car!) I'm tired of going in to debt for "things" that really don't matter. My treasures really are stored in heaven. My joy in life comes from my God, my family, and my friends. I am tired of the value the world places on material items.

"If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else."

Sacrifice today, enjoy tomorrow. Simple - isn't it? For us - that means we're going to go without the house so that we can pay off the student loans. It may mean something completely different for you.

"This is not a game. Debt has become a part of who we are. It's become that spoiled child in the grocery store with their lip stuck out: 'I want it. I want it. I deserve it because I breathe air.' And, well, that's an uphill climb in our culture right now, to go against that and say, 'Hey, let's be grownups here. Let's be mature, learn to delay pleasure, save up and pay for things.'"

It's an instant pleasure kind of world. I want it now. Well, tough. What I really want is for my kids not to worry about loans. I want Greg and I to be able to give and to share with other people. We aren't in the position to do that now, and that's our own fault. So it's time to be big kids.

So stay tuned! This is a new year for the little Seyler family.