Crushing Out Debt - The Countdown!

Today was a great day! 
Today we paid off one of our credit cards! 

We now have only one credit card left to pay off, and then we will be debt free!!! When we downsized, Dave didn't want to get a mortgage loan, so we put the house renovations on our credit card. Wow! That was scary. Oh, what am I talking about? It all was unsettling to me. Dave just thought we would be much more motivated to pay off credit card debt than a long term mortgage. Credit card debt just breathes down the back of your neck, and it requires urgency, but we Americans have gotten used to thinking that it's okay to pay on a mortgage loan (or home equity loan) for our whole lives. 


Of course, we don't know what the Lord has planned for us. Something catastrophic could happen and we could owe a lot of money, but then that would be up to God. For now we believe we have been given this opportunity and we'd better be good stewards of all we have. It is much harder for me to keep control of my spending than it is for Dave, but I am trying to remain focused on our goal. 

It is a little hard for me to be so open with such personal information. Most people consider finances to be very personal. I guess I do too, but especially since we are in full time ministry, it seems like we shouldn't hide anything. 
  "While it may be a slight breach of etiquette to share details about one's personal finances, our hope is that our story may encourage others to "simplify" where they can, too." Dave Rieke


Ok, so I am going to be totally transparent and share with you all how much we still owe (I am holding my breath and closing my eyes right now!) First I have to check..... ok..... 
it is....$14,320. It sounds terrible, and feels terrible, to let you all know, but since September 2010, we have paid off over $12,000. We would have paid down more, but we had some car repairs and motorcycle repairs that came up. So we are making progress in the right direction!


We do have a car loan, and we are paying $198 a month on it. After we get the credit card paid, off, we might pay a little more on the car loan, but we still need to help our kids with their school debt! 


So this begins the countdown. I will report back monthly to let you know how it is going. 
Love, Teresa