Still Counting My Blessings

Another article for the church newsletter:

With the New Year ringing in, I feel compelled to share with you another countdown that recently ended for me. A couple of weeks ago I officially became DEBT FREE!

This last February I shared with you about the blessings I receive from tithing. God is true to His Word: He has opened the windows of Heaven and poured out a blessing for me until it overflowed. I thank God for telling us to test him on that, because He has absolutely blessed me abundantly because I trusted Him. I'm not saying I didn't have some hard times, I just knew that God would take care of them...and me.

As I shared in February, debt has been a long struggle for me. I have been in debt since beginning college in 2000. I did what the rest of the world does: charge something and promise to pay it off immediately. Only something more important came up, so I'd pay the minimum, and pay the minimum, and pay the....you get the idea.

When I got out of school in 2004 I had quite a lot of debt. But I had a job, so I continued paying the minimums...and spending more money I didn't actually have. By 2005 I had added a car into that mix. I still managed to pay my bills (minimums only!) And by 2007 I found myself in the ballpark of $25,000 in debt...and waiting tables. Don't get me wrong, I love working in restaurants...but waiting tables is not the best job for someone with that much debt!

Thankfully, God saw I had a tremendous need...and provided me an answer through one of the restaurant's patrons. They introduced me to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It was a 13 week program that teaches you how to manage your money responsibly. I attended nearly all of the sessions and found that I really needed to be following Dave's guidelines. Late that Summer I got my teaching job in Crossett...and promptly had to take out yet another loan in order to consolidate my smaller debts, pay bills, and moving costs until I started getting paid in late September.

I would like to say it was all smooth-sailing from there, but it was far from that. I had still not changed my thinking on money and still spent it like a sailor on a three day pass. I was so concerned with keeping up with those around me that I racked up another card I had consolidated with my bank. I knew something had to change because if it didn't I would always HAVE to have a roommate, or ask Mom and Dad to help me out, and continue to struggle from month to month.

Things were a little slow at first. I made a written budget before I got paid and gave every dollar a name, whether it was "tithe", "food", "gas", "rent" or my various creditors. Every penny got a name. Then the little extra that I had went with the minimum payment and was applied to the smallest debt I owed...which was probably about $400/$600 bucks. Once I got that one paid off (which felt like forever!) I had some momentum and applied all of the money I was paying on that toward the next smallest bill. Along with that, I switched from using a debit card to carrying cash. I had a cash budget for groceries, gas, and other. Let me tell you, you will think twice about what you spend your money on if it hurts more. When you look in your grocery cash envelope and see it dwindling....you'll put the extra/expensive stuff back.

Life went on this way for the next 5 years. I'll admit, it wasn't always easy. There were things that I bought that I shouldn't have, things I wanted to buy but couldn't, places I couldn't go with my friends because I couldn't afford it, a couple of trips out West that I could have used the money to pay down debt, and various things that would have helped me get out of debt sooner. Needless to say, I wasn't as gung-ho as I could have been. But I was consistently paying extra on the smallest debt until it was paid off. The last four or five months I realized I have been paying ONE THIRD of my paycheck to debt. One-third! I can't believe I threw all that money away all these years! Honestly, the only thing I have to show for it (that I can think of) is my car. That's it. I'm pretty sure the rest of it was clothing I can't wear or don't have and dinners that me and my friends had years ago.

I can tell you one thing....it is so freeing to know I don't owe anyone money anymore. Everything I have is MINE. And I owe that to God. He is the only one who could have brought me this far. (And made me stubborn enough to stick with it.)

I know what you're thinking...now I have all that money I can spend on whatever I want. Which is true in a way. But my money now has a new name, it's called: SAVINGS.

If you are struggling with the same vicious cycle, please feel free to call, email, or stop me at church. I will be more than happy to sit down with you and show you how you can be Debt Free too! God has truly blessed me through Dave Ramsey's teachings, and I feel compelled to share what I've learned with everyone!

Jocelyn