A Comment.

Something happened earlier this week that both disturbed and offended me. I've thought about it and the more I do, the more bothered I am. Let's talk about it today.

Let me preface by saying that I'm not the type of person to get easily offended. That's a rarity in today's world, I know. But generally speaking, I am not one to be bothered by the things people say. But I was told something earlier this week that, in light of the efforts I am making towards paying off my debts, truly disturbed me. As you all know, I paid off the remainder of my doctors' bills this week. It was a huge relief and I am so excited to be done with this part of my debt.

As I went to the hospital to pay my bill, cash in hand, I was met with strange looks by the clerks handling my account. I told them I was there to pay my bill in full and that I was looking forward to not having this burden anymore. One of the ladies said to me: "Most people just let this sort of thing go to their credit. That's what you should have done." Hold up. Did I just hear these words come from a person who was taking money from me? I was not pleased to hear this. I told her that I am not most people, I don't enjoy having debt, and I have excellent credit and refuse to ruin it. My husband chimed in too, saying that eventually we want to buy another house, and something like this could wreck that for us.

Guys, this type of thinking is toxic when it comes to paying off debt. I know that not everyone can afford to do what we did, but there is no reason to ruin your credit by dismissing your bills. I live in a part of the country where poverty is high and people take on more than they can handle financially. Sometimes it is the only option, but often it isn't. Your health is important, and by all means if something is wrong you should tend to it. But be smart. Work out a payment plan if that's what it takes. But please, don't set yourself up for financial ruin by allowing your credit to be wrecked. That doesn't help in the long run.

I realize that not everyone has this mindset, and that's fine. Going debt-free is not an easy road, and not a decision that many care to make. But regardless of what your opinion is, please don't encourage others to go further into debt.

This is really all I have on the matter. I hope it gives you something to think about and I hope that you all are making steps to reach a debt-free life as well!

--chloe.

Major Progress.

Debts to Pay	August 22, 2016
Doctor Bill A	0.00
Doctor Bill B	0.00
Doctor Bill C	0.00
Credit Card	1546.58
Doctor Bill D	0.00
Student Loan D	2,791.60
Student Loan B	2,814.17
Student Loan F	2,998.40
Student Loan A	3,517.61
Student Loan C	4,495.04
Student Loan PX	7,890.00
Student Loan G	8,205.25
Student Loan E	8,320.70
Car Loan	12,852.66
Mortgage	52,010.03
Total	107,442.04

Amount Paid Off This Week: $2358.21
*Current chart shows adjustments for interest, pay downs, and pay offs.*

Life happens. Things break. The unexpected comes along. This is something I am learning a lot about lately. As you may notice on my debt chart, there is a new line: Credit Card. This is where life has happened for us in the last few weeks. We had to make a large charge to our credit card. It was a tough decision, and one that we didn’t make lightly. We weighed our options and this was truly the best choice. So now we are working toward paying this off. The good thing is that our particular credit card is also a rewards card, so we at least get some benefits from making such a large purchase. And, bonus points to us: we have already paid half of it off thanks to a generous donation from our family!

You may also notice that we paid off our hospital bills this week too!!! I am BEYOND thrilled about this! We had some extra money come our way specifically for hospital/doctor bills, so this was a welcome relief!  That gives us an extra $175 in our budget to add to debt payoff! This is also joined in by our Student Loan budget of $75, so we have $250 budgeted for debt payoff now. I recently was re-approved for $0 payments on my student loans for a year, as was my husband. Once we have our credit card paid off, we will be able to work on knocking out our student loans!

I'm thankful that we are finally making some real progress on this whole debt-free journey.  I know that we have a long road, but it's amazing to see how far we have come since starting this.  God has been good to us, and my hope is that this journey will continue to be blessed by Him.

--chloe.

Christmas.

 Let's talk about Christmas today! I'm one of the most annoying people when it comes to Christmas. I LOVE THIS HOLIDAY! Although Halloween is my favorite, Christmas is just the most heartwarming time of year in my opinion. I love how the world becomes a bit more magical, the food more comforting, and people a lot more kind. You're probably thinking, "Chloe, it's August. We're 4 months away from Christmas!" Uh, yeah. That's why we need to talk about it.

Our first Christmas as a married couple, we kind of went overboard at the last minute. We were just so excited that we couldn't help but buy a bunch of stuff for each other! I don't remember exactly how much my husband and I spent, but it was definitely way outside of our budget. This will our 5th Christmas together and I think we finally have a good system figured out!

We have two children and need to buy for them, plus our parents, my siblings, my mom's brother's and my younger cousin. This is who we typically spend the holidays with. So we have 12 people, not including each other! I definitely don't want to be caught in December trying to buy for a baker's dozen of people; plus I have a weird fear of being late for anything. So we start early with the Christmas shopping.

Doing this helps in several ways:

• We aren't spending all of our money all at once.
• It's more budget friendly as we can spread the spending over several months.
• We can shop end of season/pre-season and score some awesome deals.
• When December rolls around, we won't be stressed as much.

With all this in mind, we do have to set a limit. We decided to spend no more that $25 on each of our family members, $100 for each of our kids, and $75 on each other. So in all, we will have a budget of $600 for Christmas. Yeah, that's a lot. Definitely would not want to spend that all in one month. So we start buying in August, getting a few things here and there. I'm happy to say that I bought two gifts today and spent under $20 on each (thank you Amazon.com)!

Something else that is handy is that I have been saving up for Amazon.com rewards all year via various rewards apps and our Amazon credit card. So although we have a $600 budget, we definitely won't be spending that much from our own pockets. Another win!

So if you see me out and about, buying weird stuff, just know that I am preparing for Christmas. I would love to hear some of your budgeting/money saving tips for holidays! If you have something cool to share with the class, let me know in the comments!


--chloe.