Friday, June 08, 2018

Frugal Friday :: Tackling Debt



There is joy in keeping a frugal home. I know that might sound a bit odd for some but I personally gain a sense of achievement if I have managed to stick to my budget, save on what I thought I might spend or better yet, make that final payment on a debt.

In this modern world, debt in one form or another is something few of us can avoid. I wasn't brought up with money-savvy parents, everything I have learnt has been through the school of hard knocks. I'm glad I learnt my lessons early for by-and-large, I have run a frugal home from the time my children were about 3 and 5.

I don't believe that we will ever reach that time of complete 'enlightenment & knowledge'. There always seems to be something new to learn, new ways to improve on things and that applies to personal finances too. My husband and I have decided that we want to become debt-free, not only debt-free but we want to build up assets (home) & finances that are healthy enough to carry us through our old age and while we are working towards all this we want to teach our young adult children these healthy financial habits too.

Let's face it, the world is all about material gain and image which apparently buys you happiness.

As with most worldly messages, it's a lie.

Materialism and keeping up appearances is crippling to your finances, your long-term future and your peace. Deciding to turn things around, no matter what age you are is the first step to carving out the life you want.

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8


We are fortunate not to have overwhelming debt but there are a couple of things that we want to get rid of so that we can honour the Lord in this area of our lives. The debt we do have is taking away from not only our retirement years but also being able to help others which are honouring to God. 

It can be hard knowing just where to begin. We wanted a Biblical approach to looking at and handling our finances and Dave Ramsey fits that bill. I have purchased a copy of his classic edition of The Total Money Makeover. This is a GREAT place to begin. This book is full of solid practical advice, financial myth-busters, inspirational stories of people who have followed the steps and made a difference in their lives. 



I'm all about the how-to. Give me a clear-cut plan that makes sense and I'm there. If you are going to buy just one book on finances, this is it. Dave Ramsey does not promise a quick and easy fix, after all, generally, it's taken years to get into a pickle so it goes to reason that it's going to take time to get sorted out.


Dave Ramsey works in '7 Baby Steps'. I have a {not so} funny story to tell you about these the first of these steps. The first step (Baby step 1) is to save $ (£)1000.00 for 'Murphy' - you know how it goes, just when you think all is well and you are finally getting on top of things, Murphy pays you a visit just to remind you that he's in charge. This is SOOOOO true.

Well, we achieved Baby Step 1 which is that rainy-day fund to tackle whatever Murphy has to throw at us. One Saturday, we were having a conversation with our 20-year-old about the importance of having this fund and now that we had it sorted we could move onto baby step 2. Can you believe that within 30 minutes of having this conversation a warning light came on in my husbands newly serviced and repaired car! Was Murphy listening? He must have been. What a cruel trick to play!

Things happen in life and it is good to have a safety net in order to cope. I'm so glad for this good advice! Like I said, this book is full of wisdom. I haven't read it all but so far I'm loving what I'm learning. Part of being frugal is to plan for life's stormy moments. I don't for one minute think it takes that rather fed-up feeling away but it does help eliminate the stress and worry.

I'm hoping to make Frugal Friday a bit of a running link-up party. Is that something you would be interested in? Something that you would like to participate in perhaps? I love finding frugal ways to run my home. It could be anything from budget-friendly recipes to making your own laundry detergent to frugal days out with the family. I know that there are lots of blogs out there that focus entirely on this but I thought it might be nice for our little community to have a place to share tried and tested ways of practising frugal living. If you are keen to add your own links from your blog please do, I would love to pop on over and glean some of your great ideas and wisdom.

Blessings to you all today...

Join the linky party by leaving your link.

2 comments:

  1. DD and her fiancé took Dave Ramsey's course before they got married. They now live on one salary and bank the other. I don't believe they have any debt. No house yet and pay cash for their cars. It's been such a blessing to watch them grow in this aspect of their walk with God.

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  2. Bette, it is so good to hear of young people who are doing so well in this area. Thank you for sharing.

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