Debt Payoff Update for December 2015

In our Debt Payoff Update for November post we talked about how we were hoping to travel less to the burn doctor after our son’s burns to his feet, and we want to share that we were released from their care and our son’s scars are minimal. This is a huge weight off our shoulders financially and in terms of stress. Our son hated those trips (4 hours round-trip), so it was extremely stressful. (See all of our Debt Free Journey posts here).

We are continuing to make changes for hubby to be at home full-time, and we continue to pursue a minimalist lifestyle. However, our transmission went in our van this month and left me stranded on the way to pick our son up from school.  You know we paid off over $20,599 in one day by selling our car back to the dealership. I have to admit that this is the third time the transmission has failed in the Honday Odyssey, and we told you we were keeping our eleven year old van. However, that decision has been very tough. This means $3,800 for a new transmission and a torque converter. While we could afford a car payment, we are staying committed to a debt-free lifestyle.

We talked to the garage owner, and he is willing to let us park the car there until our tax return comes in March. While our tax return won’t cover the repair in it’s entirety, it should give us a good start, and we hope to pull the rest from our savings. This has been an extremely difficult decision in my flesh, because every part of me wants to go out and get a new car, since I know we can afford the payment. Vehicles are by far my Achilles heal and greatest weakness. While I don’t consider myself vain, it is hard seeing my coworkers in their newer vehicles, when I know I could afford a car payment, but I love my debt-free lifestyle more. Debt payoff is not easy, but totally worth it in the end.

For now hubby is driving my grandmother’s car, which needs run anyways, and I am driving out 1995 Ford Explorer.  So this may delay his transition out of the workforce to some extent.  Remember, our goals are two fold – to have hubby home full-time and to move to a debt-free lifestyle. This definitely makes our task more difficult, but not impossible.  We need to “just keep swimming.”  We continue to be totally debt-free aside from our mortgage, so we will continue to save cash for our vehicles as the next step.

Debt Payoff Update for December 2015

How we made changes this month to save and earn extra income while we are spending as little as possible:

• We were  blessed with our blog last month, and received several sponsored content offers, which gave us an additional $400-$600 in income this month. Make sure to read our article on 10 Things You Should or Shouldn’t Buy in the New Year.
• Our  Young Living business produced over $600 in extra income this month as well.  We have started sharing our love for Essential Oils locally, and we have been so blessed by so many local families wanting to get healthy as well.  We also continue to support over 325 oily family members nationwide.
• Our photography side hustle provided about $200 in extra income from photo sessions.
• We just finished making our Wool Dryer Balls as a way to cut drying time and overall energy expenses.  Everything I read online said they cut your drying time by 30-50%, which greatly reduces your overall energy costs, plus you don’t have the expenses of dryer sheets or fabric softener. We use 1-2 drops of our Essential Oils  on each ball before we put them in the dryer.
• We wrote a post about How to Buy Organic Grass Fed Beef this month as well to show our readers how we bought better quality meat and saved money in the process.
• We have been given the opportunity to try learning a new language with Babbel, so I’m trying to go through lessons for Spanish as fast as possible.

Prayer Requests & Praises:

• Hubby’s cough is dramatically reduced between having our cat re-homed and removing his beard. While he loved using his beard balm everyday, we discovered that it was actually adding to his allergies. He still has a swallow study and upper GI. However, much of his symptoms are completely gone now.
• No more burn center visits. You have no idea how excited we are about this change.
• Please continue to pray for our decision to fix our van. While we don’t have to fix that vehicle since we do have the use of my grandmother’s car (she no longer drives), we just want to make sure we are making the best decision.
• Pray that we continue to focus on health. I have started losing weight from my clean eating focus, and hubby is gearing up mentally. I’m sure many of our readers understand this part of the journey.

Comment below and let us know how you are doing on your debt free journey.