I sat down and created yet another grocery budget after having done a shop this past week and, though I've done a very similar one before, this time, I'm "debt-termined"......to actually fill it in! My headings were obvious, I guess - food item, brand, quantity, amount spent, typical amount spent (if it weren't on sale), then the next cell had a formula which calculated the amount saved (cool, I thought). I had my daughter enter in every single thing purchased (and it was a fairly big shop, so it took some time), but she was excited to be a part of it all.
I am very curious how this will all play out in 2015 - I'm very curious to see how many apples do we eat??? How much milk do we go through??? Even if nothing changes in particular regarding spending, then at least we'll know where our money is actually going.
We made a big decision this past week that is motivating us to watch every dollar as well. We have decided to actually get away this September as a family.
Knowing we had made a resolve to kill debt has always made going away an impossibility, but when we read Barry Cameron's book on debt he actually had a section on vacations. Just do them debt-free.
He had committed to taking his wife and family away every Christmas to see her folks across the country. It always cost them a fortune as they had to fly. He then said it took him all year to pay it off. One year, when they were in the middle of getting out of debt, he said, "Enough is enough. We aren't doing this anymore." But he didn't mean no more vacations. He meant, "No more going into debt to go away." They decided they would still try to go, but they had to pay cash, so in January, they somehow set up a little fund that they all worked towards to pay for the vacation and somehow, no doubt by God's grace, they have managed to go away every year to see her family....debt-free, paid in full, with cash, even with extra money for gifts, etc. That was an interesting thought!
Back to our oldest and the anniversary.....We don't know how many more years she'll be under our roof, but we know it can't be many more. The new year always brings our oldest daughter's birthday right away on the 10th. She'll be 17. She was only 15 when we started the hard core debt-reduction, seems impossible that time is flying that fast! It was easy to say "no vacations" when she was just a young teen, but now she's an older teen.....it seems like her leaving the nest could be just around the corner. I don't want to have regrets. As for us, we usually get away at least one night (though I've always longed for more) on our anniversary. It's always been a financial sacrifice, but we've happily done it in the name of our marriage and it's been so worthwhile. Twenty is a big one. We both wanted to celebrate that and especially with our children as they are the product of our marriage! Ah....the quandary....don't you see it? Kill debt and go away? How could we keep up our debt-reduction plan and go away at the same time. We wondered if there was a way to do it and pay for a getaway. One idea was to consider getting "part-time" work on the side, above and beyond what we were already doing and strictly apply that to the get-away. Yes, it would mean more hours of work, but we are fine with that as my husband is always on site and we see one another all the time. It occurred to us we actually had a source of "part-time" work that we haven't done for awhile. My husband has work he can do on the side, writing courses. He doesn't love that type of work - he loves engineering stuff, but it pays ok and isn't delivering pizzas! If he does a course or two, the vacation will be paid for. It won't impact the debt-reduction plan, in fact it could help the debt-reduction plan! We figured with that kind of extra work, all of us saving every penny, doing all the extra things we talked about in the summer and booking it far enough in advance that we can actually save for it.....we took the plunge and booked it.....
A day later, once it was booked, we told the kids.....they were over the moon! Even though it is so far away, the holiday feels like it has started for them. I thought it would be torture to have it booked so far in advance, but in a way, it has made it more exciting! They wake up each day wondering what they'll do when we get there!
We are going to one of the neatest places - the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It is a strip of land on the east coast. We rented a house that will fit the whole family. It's ideal in that it isn't that far to travel. We won't have to fly. We won't have to worry about meals. It's not as cheap as camping, of course, but it is manageable. We plan on turning it into a "visiting" trip as well as we have many friends in North Carolina as well, so that'll be fun for me as I love seeing friends I haven't seen in awhile.
There is an excitement in our home. Research is already being done on all the cool places to go. Actual kilometers from place to place are being figured out. It is fun. We are already so glad we've made the decision. The kids are sad that the trip will end at one point! I've had fun being in contact with people already asking them to consider staying at our home for a week or two as we'll need to arrange that far in advance to get all the animals taken care of. We usually try to ask city people to give them a chance out on the farm. Hopefully it'll be a blessing to them as well.
On a slightly different note, our pastor spoke on Sunday night from Ephesians 1, the last few verses of the chapter and spoke on prayer. One of the phrases Paul prays for the Ephesians is that they will have wisdom and revelation. I certainly am praying that for ourselves as well. We need wisdom in every area of our life. I love the term "revelation". I came home and shared what I'd heard at church with those who had been left behind sick at home and we had an awesome family worship time speaking about areas of our life where we need this revelation from the Lord. Such as, dealing with our children, their behaviour, their future's, their education, their spouses, how to spend their time.....for us, how to continue to create income that will kill the debt as fast as possible. So many areas in our life need revelation from the Lord. Then we prayed, asking for these exact things - wisdom and revelation.
I also have been reading another book that talked about Joseph and how he found favour with God. At the same time, in Genesis, I've been reading about Abraham and how he dared to approach God to save the righteous, if there were any, in Sodom and Gomorrah. Before he asked God, it says he just stood there. The next verse says, "Then he drew near to God...." It's as if he had to think through, "Do I dare approach God with this matter?" Then he dared. He didn't dare just once, but multiple times. I asked the kids, "Do you think he was asking for something righteous?" We all agreed that he was. I said, "I'm daring to approach God this year, too." I am no Abraham and I hesitate to even write my bold requests. Can I just be super honest and share what I'm daring to ask? I'm daring to ask to be debt-free this year. I'm daring to ask that we could go away having paid cash before we leave. I know these are very selfish sounding requests. Am I allowed to ask for favour with God? All I know is God grants favour, it isn't something I can get on my own. I shared my bold requests with someone and they said, "Francis Chan says we should ask that God would bless us so that we could give it all away." Of course! One step at a time!
We may appear like a walking contradiction this year - trying to get out of debt yet going on vacation....Hmmmm...figure that one out. I guess that is the real-life part of the blog, documenting everything, being super honest, perhaps making decisions others think aren't wise, being quietly criticized (or openly, like my friend!), writing down our crazy requests, perhaps not seeing them answered as we hoped, or perhaps truly seeing God's favour in our life.....we don't know what the end of the story is going to be. I'm not going to fake it and try to sound all spiritual. The truth is, we really do want to get away together and seriously haven't done a vacation in over ten years. My job is to write it all down, for my kids, for my grandkids, for myself, for my own faith walk. God is the ultimate author of our story this year. I'm one of the characters, perhaps one full of faults, to whom He'll still hopefully be gracious.
Can't wait to see you Friday - SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT!
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