Tag: freedom

Financial Freedom

Ok, so if I thought yesterday was a big day at the Phipps house, I was completely and utterly wrong.  Today’s events have been much, much more significant.   Are you ready for it??

Outside of our home loan, we are 100% DEBT FREE.

That is something to celebrate, people!!!  I’m going to get pretty personal with numbers here…and I feel no inhibition in doing so.  This has ALL happened at the hand of the Lord so to Him, we give every ounce of credit and glory!

When Wrex and I got married, we had a little over $100,000 in debt between the two of us.  Yes, you read that correctly.  $100,000.  YIKES.  (That honestly makes my stomach quiver now…)

How did we have that much, you ask?  Well….

  • We both had vehicles that we were still paying on…
  • He had bought a trailer house to live in during senior college, that promptly lost over half of it’s value once it turned 10 years old…
  • We both had student loans…some of which were for out of state tuition, which isn’t cheap…
  • We both had credit cards that had been used frivolously and whose balances were at their max…
  • We had signed up for a buyer’s club of sorts that was designed to rob young adults of membership money under the guise of savings lots of said money as they made big purchasing decisions…basically, an incredibly unwise decision…
  • We were simply living beyond our means…and had been for a few years…

I distinctly remember our breaking point…and it was ugly.  It came on the heels of a bad weekend anyways and it only got worse.  Long story short, Saturday night we ran to McDonald’s to get a quick supper, only to have our card declined.  Yeah.  It was that bad.  We couldn’t even afford to eat off of the dollar menu.  We.  Were.  Broke.  And?  Wrex still had to get to work Monday morning with a diesel truck that was sitting on E.

The Lord provided even in the midst of all of that reckless living.  I had won employee of the month at my job for the past two months and had been rewarded with “Downtown Dollars” – money that could be spent at any downtown business.  Thankfully, there was a Safeway grocery store downtown and we purchased gift cards with my “Downtown Dollars” and took those to a different Safeway that had fuel.  It wasn’t a very fun weekend.

It was, however, the turning point in our financial situation.  Wrexy had lots of windshield time between driving to work and driving the tractor, so he had been listening to Dave Ramsey quite faithfully.   (He’d been listening to Dr. Laura, too, but that’s another gag-inducing story).  He had come home several times telling me about the “debt snowball” and he thought we could do it, or should at least try.  I was quite hesitant because our situation just seemed plain hopeless to me.  I hadn’t even been tithing regularly because “we couldn’t afford it.”  (I remember conveniently leaving the checkbook at home on multiple occasions because the thought of handing over even more of our paycheck was terrifying).

After a lot of Scripture reading and a lot of pushing from Wrexy, we decided to do it.  What did we have to lose at this point??  I remember sitting in the pickup and listening with him one day.  On Fridays, people get to call in and tell about how they got debt free and they get to scream, “We’re debt freeeeeeeeeeee!”  I bawled at all of them because it seemed like such a wonderful goal…but one that was so far away…

To get started, we sold his old gooseneck trailer for $800 and paid off one of our smaller credit cards and then the snowball started.  We reigned in our spending and eating out and started tithing regularly…and it felt GOOD.

We moved soon after we started this process and the people he was working for provided our housing and utilities as part of his pay.  With this new situation, we opted for living off of my paycheck and paying off debt with his.

The Lord was soooooo faithful during this process!  Some things were cake to pay off and others felt like we were working for years…and we were.  We were dealing with the consequences of years of irresponsible living.  It hurt to think of all of the things that the money we were paying out towards debt could’ve been used for…

We took a break from our debt snowball when I was pregnant with Sawyer.  We only had Wrex’s largest student loan left and we went back to paying minimum payments for a number of reasons.  We had private health insurance and at the time, since we had gained enough financial freedom for me to quit my job and start the journey as a stay at home mom.   The state of Colorado didn’t require private insurers to cover maternity claims, so ours did not.  We knew a $10,000 – $20,000 hospital bill would soon be staring us in the face in a few short months.  (The Lord TOTALLY provided but that’s another story for another day.  Are you seeing a theme here??)

Soon after, Wrex left his job in an obedient leap of faith and we were soon jobless and homeless so the minimum payments continued.  Then, we found a job, found a house, made lots of improvements, had another baby and never really finished….until today.

The Phipps’ are DEBT FREE.  And?  You better bet your bottom dollar we’re calling big Dave on Friday! 

I’m not sure I can fully express the freedom that comes from owing no one.  The Bible talks consistently about the borrower being slave to the lender and it is so true.  When you are strapped for cash and saddled in debt, you can’t do the things that the Lord calls His people to do!  We love to give, and give abundantly, but when the money’s not there because you owe so many people, you can’t do that.  You can’t stash away for emergencies…you can’t bless people on a whim…you can’t afford a car breakdown or birthday gift or a broken leg…you just can’t.

But when all of those unnecessary expenses are gone and you budget and live within your means, you’re able to save for the future and you’re able to give in abundance and you’re not blindsided by unexpected expenses.  Your whole lifestyle changes!  Your thoughts shift from your bank account and “how in the world am I gonna pay for that??” to “what is the Lord asking me to do with this excess now?”  Financial issues are one of the top five reasons for divorce but when there is financial security, there is FREEDOM.  You don’t have to think about money all of the time…you can think about each other.

The benefits to being debt free far outweigh the sacrifices you have to make to get there.  Of course there were times when we just wanted to throw in the towel and call it good enough and just go buy a new car or go on vacation…but we knew we didn’t want to go back to living like we were that fateful Saturday at McDonalds.

The Lord’s heart for His people is FREEDOM…and that includes financial freedom.  He took our measly efforts and our $800 trailer check and helped us blow the door wide open on our debt.

I’m so thankful for my husband’s obedience, yet again.  Getting out of debt has changed our family forever – we don’t even own a single credit card – and we are MORE THAN FINE WITHOUT THEM.

I say all of this one, to brag on the Lord.  It is only by His hand and His provision and His prompting that we are here and two, to encourage you!  If you have a mountain of debt and it feels insurmountable, may I just say that IT IS NOT.  We have unburied ourselves from over $100,000 in a little over seven years (thanks to that two year sabbatical).  It can be done. 

If you have questions or want to know more or want help with a budget or a plan, call me, message me, track me down – we are more than willing to help!  Financially free IS the only way to live…

Next goal?  Ten year house payoff – ow ow!

Now show us some debt-free love, would ya!?  WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!

31

On Monday, I turned the big 3 – 1.  That doesn’t sound as cool as the big 3 – 0 does it?  Yeah, I didn’t think so either.  I was thinking about my birthday and I vividly remember my dad turning 34, which really is just around the corner.  There was a TV station in Lubbock at the time – and I’m pretty sure it was the PBS station where my brother and I got our daily Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow fixes – that was called KJTV-34.  I remember thinking my dad was sooooo cool because he was 34, like the TV station – ha!  I’m getting awfully close to that number, even though that memory feels like it happened just yesterday…

I was SUPER blessed by a ton of sweet, humbling comments on my Facebook page! Thank you to all of you that took the time to send me a message – it really made my day!

The biggest surprise was a beautifully written blog all about yours truly from my “on call” mom.  I told you to check out her blog in my first post, and I really hope you take the time to do so.  She has this magnificent, prose-like way with words that I do not have.  I think I’m more hard fact than pretty fluff, while she seems to do both of these things (in the same post, mind you) incredibly well.

Anyways, I’m beginning to think that I should’ve had her write my About Me page.  From what I hear, she captured me well.  It’s hard sometimes (for me at least) to really believe these things about myself and be ok enough with what I think I do well or who I really am and put it out there for the world to see, so THANK YOU for helping do that for me.  You honored me and blessed me and moved me to (sweet) tears.  Love you…forever.

As I become a veteran of my 30’s, I want this year to be even better than the last.  How in the world could that possibly be…possible?

So, in an effort to make it more of a binding contract of sorts, here’s a list of a six things I’d like to accomplish (or at least get closer to making real) this year…

1.) Answer the phone more.  I’m not a big fan of talking on the phone.  I’m a much better in-person person than an over-the-phone one.  Plus, during the day, I’m usually crazy busy a little busy running around with my two little cuties (who do come first vs. the phone – they’re my job and I LOVE it!)  My call log often looks like this:

photo
Can you tell I have a favorite?

Now, Wrex’s?  Oh good gravy.  It’s NUTS!  He might have 45 phone calls…by 5:00 pm TODAY.  So even though I don’t anticipate my log looking like his, nor do I want it to, it’s something I’d like to get better at.  I often think, “I don’t have time to have a 20 minute conversation so I just won’t answer” or “Gosh, it’s been so long since we’ve talked, this might be awkward, so I just won’t answer” or “Do they REALLY want to talk to ME?” or – no really, I could keep going!  Does anyone else do this?!  I think it’s the introvert in me that just finds it almost painful sometimes.  But, I also want to honor those that do call to have a real conversation.  I think so often our voices get lost in Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest and Instagram and blogs and texts that we forget how to have a real, verbal conversation and I don’t want that to be lost on my kids, so?  Better start with me.  (As I was typing this Grandma Rusk called.  I had to giggle.  Lord, you’re funny.  Just so you know, I answered…and was glad I did.)

2.) Send more snail mail.  I used to be REALLY good at sending mail.  Then, I had children and email and Facebook became simpler and much quicker (especially when you live 2 miles from your mailbox and 20 miles from town.)  But don’t you just LOVE get real mail??  I don’t mean postcard reminders to bring something to the potluck and I certainly don’t mean bills (ugh); I’m talking handwritten letters or cards or invitations.  Last week, I received this dandy in the mail…

mail
Check out that penmanship!

Is that not just gorgeous?!  The time and effort that went into making this just makes you feel special!  It screams, “You were worth the ache in my hand, the marker stains on my fingertips and the supper I had to buy because I didn’t have time to make anything!”  I want to get back to sending real mail because who in the world wouldn’t want to receive something like that?  (This is for my bestie’s baby shower, by the way.  I have NO DOUBT it will be a grand affair!)

3.) Spend less time on Facebook.  Facebook and I have such a love-hate relationship.  I love that I can keep in touch with so many people, so quickly.  We don’t have any family in the state, so it’s a good way to keep up with what they’re doing and vice versa.  Friends, too!  We left a ton of people we love back in Denver and it’s such an easy way to touch base and stay up to date with what’s going on there.  But, and this is a BIG but, I hate how it sucks me in and cunningly encourages me to see the “new stories” because God forbid we miss a second of SOMEONE ELSE’S life.  Ugh.  Spend less time here, for sure, and much more time doing ANYTHING else.

4.) Take more pictures with ME in them. I’m sure you’ve all read this before and if you haven’t, take the time to do so.  (Geez, I’ve given you a lot to read in this post!)  It really is a good read and something that I’ve found hard to do.  One, because it’s usually just the kids and I during the day so it’s a little hard to get on the other side of the camera.  Two, because I often fall victim to that mentality of, “I don’t look great, I’ll get one later,” but “later” rarely happens.  I don’t ever remember looking at pictures of me with either of my parents and thinking they looked tacky or sloppy.  I do remember looking at those pictures and thinking of what good times they were and I suspect my kids will do the same.  Get yourself on the otherside of that camera!  Have Wrex help you!

5.) Wear my yoga pants less.  (I’m sitting here rolling my eyes that I just typed that…mainly out of rebellion – ha!)  They’re just so comfy! Plus, when you’re chasing around two kids all day AND, again, you live 20 miles from civilization and thus get VERY few visitors, it’s easy to just stay in your PJ’s all day.  Don’t get me wrong, there are DEFINITELY days where that’s ok, but maybe not everyday?  I’d like to just start a new habit of being a little more put together, especially for the hubs.  Men are visual creatures and I’d really like to honor him in that way.  He’s a hottie; I gotta try and keep up!  (Note: He’s never mentioned me needing to do this, just so we’re clear.)  Good thing I got some jeans for my birthday.

6.) Gain more freedom. Oh, how I want more freedom from the things that ensnare and confuse me and lie to me and make me forget the Truth!  I want to be delivered from those demons that paralyze and render me useless.  I want to combat the one who comes to kill, steal and destroy.  I want to be FREE.  I want to return to the joy of salvation.  I want life and life abundantly!

So, here’s to being 31…and hopefully accomplishing this list before I’m 34…