Today, I was walking though the grocery store with a calculator in my hand. This is something that I haven’t done for probably 15 years when Slade and I were first married. Back then, we were so poor that we didn’t have two nickels to rub together. The first time we sat down to create a budget, we found out very quickly that there wasn’t very much money coming in and that we would have to watch every penny. We set aside 20 dollars every two weeks for eating out which meant that we could eat at Taco Bell twice or we might be able to eat at a real restaurant if we pulled all the money for that meal.
Maybe it’s the economy, but recently, we have been having discussions about becoming dept free. Our adoption expenses and the extra time we spent in Russia left us with a pretty large credit card bill. In fact it was probably the most I have put on a credit card since we have been married. Now that I have finished the dissertation and will be graduating in May (for the last time :) ), my student loans will be coming due. We were successful at only using loans for my undergraduate education which means that those loans have been sitting for the past 10 or so years and someone out there is itching to finally get paid (there must be some loan officer somewhere wondering just how long you can stay in school ). Between credit cards and student loans, we have quite a bit to repay.
We are dedicated to paying off the credit card and the student loan as quickly as possible – within the next 18-24 months. Then, the only dept that we will have remaining is the house.
A funny side story – in the process of paying off credit card debt, I recently paid off one of our credit cards. I called the company to cancel the card. They were beside themselves and tried everything to have us keep the card. The customer service rep asked – what will you do if you have an emergency? My response – pay cash. I guess that really is a novel idea!
And, I guess that means that we really are dedicated to living like no one else so that . . . (well, if you don’t know how that sentence ends, you really need to ask me).
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2 comments:
Congratulations on graduating in May. I know how hard it is to finish school when you have children. I finished my Masters in May 2007 (taking 3 1/2 to 4 years working full time) so I commend you for sticking with it (even through an adoption). I'm so proud of you!!
We too are trying to pay everything off (besides house and maybe one car payment). We are hoping our tax refund will help us do that this spring. In today's economy, it is scary to have too much debt!
Glad you are doing well!!
I totally understand wanting to be debt free. We are working on it also. Good luck!
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