It's no surprise that Craig is the financial guru in our family. But I'm pretty good at finances myself. I choose to adhere to the "if I can't afford it, I don't buy it" mentality. Rocket science, I know. In fact, the only debt I had when I entered our marriage was $4,000 left on my truck. And the reality is that I had enough in savings to pay it off completely. I wanted, just once, to buy a brand new vehicle. I knew it would depreciate in value the instant I drove it off the lot. For the financial savvy, buying brand new ISN'T savvy, but it was something I wanted to do and I don't regret it at all. I loved my truck! I had also built up a very nice nest egg and Craig and I were able to pay cash for our wedding, too. I quickly saw the numbers climb higher and higher and it probably would have been better to keep that money for a down payment on a house, but we threw ourselves a party instead. There are days when I regret spending the money on a wedding and there are days when I don't. But I did have a wonderful time!
While Craig balances the investment side of our finances, I spot check the day-to-day expenses. In truth, I don't like shopping and don't buy stuff for the house unless it's needed. I finally used some Kohl's cash to buy a toothbrush holder, since, ahem, I'd been using a toilet paper roll to stick the toothbrushes in. (no lie...I'd been using the same toilet paper roll to balance the toothbrushes in for waaaaay too long). I don't like nick-knacks or things like that we do with what we have, buy when we need it. A growing child needs growing clothes and shoes, so Madeline gets shopped for regularly. But me? I'd prefer to keep a small wardrobe of items. Maybe it's because I've been pregnant or nursing or both for more than three years now and nothing seems to fit anyway. What I'm trying to say is that our monthly expenses are pretty predictable. I do 99% of the grocery shopping and cooking and can predict when things will go on sale at the grocery store and we all make a weekly trip to Costco to stock up on fruits and veggies and other stuff. I try to keep up with my coupons but working full-time does make that more difficult. And we're lucky that when Craig needs something for work (or wants to replace his jeans or shorts that were literally bought in the mid to late 90s), we can swallow the expense without if effecting our standard of living.
So when Craig decided to get serious about paying off his MBA debt, he got serious. He sold some stock and poured everything extra into getting rid of that monthly payment. While it wasn't a huge amount of money every month, Craig said there wasn't another investment that he could make that would produce the equivalent in monthly income. So down and down and down the school loan went...until poof. It's gone. I didn't quite realize how much he had paid off in the last year until he showed me. Um, wow. So our only debt is our mortgage...well two mortgages, but we're working on selling the extra mortgage.
But to give ourselves the credit in paying off this loan so quickly isn't exactly right. I fully believe that God multiplies our finances. I know if Craig were to crunch the numbers, that it would probably all balance out, but it just doesn't make sense to me. We are so provided for it's ridiculous. Craig told me how much we'd given back to God the other day and I'm floored. What I don't like to admit is that this is the first time in our marriage that my mind didn't immediately think of what we could do with that money. My first thought was what God was doing with that money. It wasn't until later in the day that a bell went off and I realized I had a grateful heart for the abundance God has blessed us with. Admitting that I thought about what I could do with the money we give away is a bitter pill...one that I'm grateful I didn't have to swallow this time around. (and no, I'm not going to divulge the amount here :-)
Craig and I ascribe to a simple financial mentality: Give first. Save second. And live off the rest.
And living off the rest is pretty fantastic. More on finances later and the OB decision I had to make over the weekend. But I wanted to put out here how grateful I am that God allows us to not only give abundantly, but to also pay off a large debt we owed and still live abundantly.
1 comment:
So proud of yall.
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