In our last Debt Payoff Update for March we told you about how a family member paid off my husband’s student loan, and that left us completely debt free other than our house! However, I’ve never really shared this before, but my mom is a single (has been since I was very little) and she lives with my grandmother who is 86. As my grandmother started to get older, since my mom was a nurse, we agreed that my mom would take care of her on a day-to-day basis and help her with medications and I would take over their finances. (See all of our Debt Free Journey posts here).
My mom always said I should have been an accountant, so I decided to get my mom completely out of debt. Like…..completely….even her house…. So, when I took over their finances I took a few drastic steps at first. I put them on spending freezes here and there so I could save enough for their taxes and insurance to be paid in cash for their house. My mom didn’t have an escrow account (which I wouldn’t recommend unless you are awesome at saving!).
I had her take out a personal loan to consolidate all of her credit cards into one payment. Also, my mom has a $5,000 health care deductible, so I started saving monthly so that she would have enough for that year before the year started. So, about a year and a half ago, she made her last mortgage payment, and the only debt she had left was the personal loan for the credit cards. Well, as of this past month THAT IS PAID OFF! We paid this debt off jointly as a family, and now she is completely 100% debt free! What an awesome feeling!
Of course, last night her dog had to go to the vet and the bill was over $500, but still, she is DEBT FREE!!! LOL
So, now we work towards saving again. We need to continue to save 3-6 months worth of living expenses, cash for cars, and hubby and I need to pay off our mortgage. So, we are nowhere near done. However, at least we aren’t paying interest for all of those other items, and we’re sticking to a budget.
IF you want to be DEBT FREE, check out our Financial Freedom Accountability Program!
I’ve been telling you since the fall that we have been working through our Financial Freedom Plan to become debt free. We also showed you how we eliminated $20,599 in debt in one day! When we started this journey, we had a $20,000 IVF Loan, $6,000+ in student loans, and a $20,599 auto loan (started as a $30,000 loan). That’s over $50,000 in debt at the start of this process, and that didn’t even include our mortgage!
How we made changes this month to save and earn extra income:
- We continue to work on building our Young Living essential oils team to create extra income for our family. This past month our check was over $1,000. We have been using these oils since last year, and they have made such a difference in our lives! While we have had to spend some money out of our business account for advertising, I think this will be worth it in the long run because we will earn residual income from future orders.
- Using the Essential Oils to replace everyday household items has also helped save us money too! This month I made my own Thieves Cleaner, DIY Chest Vapor Rub, and several other ways to save you can find here.
- While we had numerous medical expenses the last two months, we continue to contribute and draw form our healthcare Flexible Spending Account. Our co-pays were $500 for February and $500 for March! Craziness! So, we were able to submit for that to be reimbursed from our FSA. (So thankful we have the FSA for that reason!).
- We continue to try and get rid of possessions little by little. We made a stop at the local thrift store to make a donation this past month, and that always feels good to rid ourselves of items we don’t need.
- Our one vehicle (1995 Ford Explorer) was giving us a fit and running rough. It would idle weird when just sitting still and even when moving! So thankful hubby put 2 bottles of fuel injection cleaner in with a new gas tank and it totally fixed it! Praise the Lord!
- We both continue to pack our lunch every single day, and that saves money because we aren’t hitting up any take-out joints!
- As always, I coupon as much as possible, and continue to get as many items for as little as possible!
- I’ve stopped shopping as much as possible. I know this sounds crazy for a couponer, but I really don’t go out shopping unless I absolutely have to, and having two kids and working full-time has made this much easier! I simply don’t have any time to shop, and that has made me stop spending money!
Prayer Requests:
- Please continue to pray for our 10 month old. He was seen by Pediatric Pulmonology at Hershey Medical Center, and we are continuing with his inhalers and have more tests in April. A huge praise is that the doctor does not feel its Cystic Fibrosis, which one of our local doctors had mentioned in a visit. (I’m not one of those moms that he should have said that to in the first place!). He continues to have small neurological blips here and there, but we are not able to get the sedated MRI at this point, because the pulmonologist doesn’t want him to be intubated until we are definite about the lungs.
- (Praise). Hubby’s asthma is under control for now and he’s using his inhalers REGULARLY finally. You know how some men can be, and especially nurses! They make some of the worst patients!
- Please continue to pray that we will avoid the debt trap and focus on savings. I noticed it is easy when your debt is paid off to want to spend that extra money coming in, but so far, we have managed to avoid that trap!
Check out all of our other Finance articles!
How I Eliminated $20,599 in Debt in One Day
10 Drastic Ways to Reduce Debt
10 Ways to Start Saving Money Today
15 Things You Should be Buying at the Dollar Store
10 Tips for Building An Emergency Fund
How Couponing Saves Me $7,000 Per Year
Create A Gift Closet & Save Money
Starting a Stockpile Can Save You Money
Three Tips to Rebuilding Your Credit
Leave a Reply