It was October of 2009 that Tim & I made the first positive changes to our finances. We had lived with ever increasing consumer debt for about 10 years. After 8.5 months of enjoying the blessing of obedience to God in our marriage, the issue of our spiraling financial situation again became a point of focus for us as it had many, many times previously. This time though, as I wrote of in a previous post, we both came to the issue differently, and for the first time we were able to make the changes we needed to begin the process of getting out of debt.

So now that we’re at the one year point, some of you may be wondering how we’re doing – has there been any significant progress? Are we closer to being  debt free than we were one year ago?

It’s like night and day! Many times over the last 12 months we have talked about how much better not just our finances are, but our sense of being a team together, and our communication too. We have reduced our consumer debt by 85% (Whoo-hoo!) and we’re looking at the distinct possibility of being consumer-debt-free by the end of January!

Unbelievable! We’ve followed the on-line advice of financial advisors Gail Vaz-Oxlade and Dave Ramsay so that for the first time in our 24 year marriage we have RSP’s, an emergency fund, and we’re setting aside monthly what we need to pay our large annual bills (taxes, house and vehicle insurance, etc.) and regular expenses like vacations (I’d love to take one!), gifts, home and vehicle maintenance.

Like so many other areas of life where I have let God “be the boss of me” the blessing has been more than I could have imagined. It was exciting for me last October to see the possibility of being debt-free in three years; I never would have imagined we could be debt-free in 15 months!

I cry to you, LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me. [The lies I believe; the fear; the debt]

Set me free from my prison, [of being stuck in life; of dissatisfaction; of debt]
that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
because of your goodness to me. [Psalm 142:5-7]

Let me shout it from the mountain top, "Father, You are good beyond imagination!"

Simply Susan

If you click on the orange "previous post" link in the first paragraph, it will take you to the "Shackled In Debt" post and all the links are at the bottom of that one.  

I hope they're as helpful for you as they have been for us.

~Susan~