Our Story

It hasn't always been an easy road for my husband and I, financially speaking. In the early years of our marriage we struggled to make ends meet. To be honest, there were times that I never thought it would get better. But it did. We haven't always made the best financial decisions but we've gotten better over the years.  We've gotten to a place that I never thought I'd ever be considering where I came from. For the four years after our daughter was born I didn't work. It was hard on me, not since childhood had I been financially reliant on another person. It scared the crap out of me. We muddled through though. I went back to work and when I decided to quit that job for another lower paying position, my husband stood behind me and supported my decision. I can't say I've always been so supportive of his decisions where money is concerned, but he's always made it work out for the better, just like he said he would.

As you may have deduced from reading the past two posts, my husband and I come from very similar circumstances, but have taken different paths in dealing with it. Sometimes this causes issues to arise. I am a spender, he is a saver. I don't understand why it doesn't matter to him if the table matches the chairs, he doesn't understand why I care if they do. He'd rather look at the cash in his hand, I'd rather look at the pretty shiny thing I probably spent too much money for.

Taking into consideration the lives that we have both lived, and the fact that like most other parents, we want our kids to have a better life than we did, we have been careful in our messages about money to our kids. We have been fortunate enough to be able to give our kids everything they need and some of what they want. We could have given them more, but we think it's important for them to learn early on that they need to work for luxuries in life, just as we did. We are so open about this that our older two kids know we can afford to buy them what they want, but don't, and it's for their own good! Yeah, I'm sure they hate us for that. We talk to them about what things cost and how we budget our money. When we make big purchases we explain how we saved our money to do so. They are well aware of why we have made the decision to never buy things on credit if we don't have to. We have spoken frankly with them about why we decided to get rid of cable tv and why we aren't eating out and the other sacrifices we are making to be able to accomplish our goal. We've talked to them about why it's a smart decision at this time in our lives. I hope someday they will take what we have said and what they have seen, apply it to their own lives, and do a better job of it than we have. That's the American Dream, isn't it?

Being able to pay off our mortgage in the short term means that we will have more freedom. We need to start planning for our future and paying off a big hunk of debt will free up some money for us to do so. We aren't getting any younger. The time is now. If we don't start being proactive about our retirement we won't have one.

Paying off our mortgage also takes a huge weight off of my shoulders. My husband has an extremely dangerous job and I am a lunch lady. Should the worst happen to him, at least I won't have to worry about bringing home as much bacon as he does just to get by. Should I kick the bucket the money I make would probably hardly be missed. The cleaning and cooking I do sure would be though. ;) Not having the burden of a mortgage means that my husband won't have to work so much, which means his body will be in better shape for longer, which is good for our family. I'd like him to be around as long as possible so he can talk me to death every night between 10 and 10:30 pm.

If we don't manage to be able to pay off our mortgage in the near future, it won't be the end of the world. We aren't special. We aren't any better than anyone else, but, we are determined. We are resilient. We are strong. It's what we're made of. :)