DEBT FREEDOM...how many see it as the first step to SS?

[TanksHill]

You know I think that kinda is the same school of thought as "it takes a village to raise a child". I think it's great when family's share the burden's in life. Makes things a bit easier for all. Having someone to share you triumphs and sorrows with leads to a healthier life. "Grandma always said "many hands make light work".

 

[Okiemommy]

You know I think that kinda is the same school of thought as "it takes a village to raise a child". I think it's great when family's share the burden's in life. Makes things a bit easier for all. Having someone to share you triumphs and sorrows with leads to a healthier life. "Grandma always said "many hands make light work". big_smile

I was thinking along those lines also

I agree. It would be super cool to find a neighbor or friend that's close by that is into SS stuff also. *sigh*

 

[breconbcs]

We have to take baby steps in order to get to SS but being debt free for us will pretty much be the end result. Hubby grew up with very little money, mac n cheese 6 days a week for dinner, etc. so he is always wanting to give the kids everything he never got to have but he will get physically ill when spending large amounts (i.e. he did throw up in the parking lot at the lender's when we bought the house). I'm from the opposite side, by the time I came around - I'm the youngest of 3 and my sisters are 10 & 9 yrs older - my dad was making really good money and my mom knew and taught us how to spend it. I've never had a problem spending but at the same time I struggle to save anything. People look at us and think we are doing well based on what he does for a living they assume he makes gobs of money. They haven't a clue to our debt or what he actually makes (the more you make the more the government likes you and you wind up with less).
Our debt right now includes a mortgage, line of credit (our 2nd mortgage), car, 2 credit cards plus our monthly living debt while raising 3 kids. Even with me working we still don't make enough to qualify to buy property. We have to save up to have a good % of the price to pay off up front. When I told hubby what I wanted to do, after the initial shock wore off (friends moved to 80 acres a couple of years ago and have done nothing with it so he was skeptical of us making it till I showed him the difference between us and them), we went to the bank to talk to them. Found out that though it sounds good on paper, they know we could do it, but lenders are not willing to take the risk in this day and age but if we looked for a place in town, they'd look at us.
So we agreed to work towards getting debts paid off, starting with the credit cards and then my car, this year the mortgage gets rolled into the line of credit so that way we can pay off what we can when we can at a lower interest rate, and doing what we can now to save money to put towards a new place.
We will have one expense this year. I am joining a CSA (crop sharing). You pay so much a year and you get a share of the farms consumable crops. It works out for the 16 weeks of the growing season it will cost $25 a week which is what I would spend anyway in the grocery store for veggies/fruits. So not only am I getting organic which I wouldn't buy in the store, I'm also helping a farmer stay on the land and be more SS too.

As for the homemade tp...I think I may try it out. My in-laws think I'm crazy any way...lol.

 

[Big Daddy]

We were going to buy 80 acres and put a modular on it. Had 1000 earnest money on it. Found out we could qualify for 350k on property with a house on it, but no go on the land. So we bought a nice house on 8 acres. We're tight but we're paying the bills. We have 5 cards with 16k between them. We put our monthly bills on the cards but pay the amount of the bills plus the minimum pymt on the largest and put all we can towards the small ones, one at a time. We have 4 horses, we are trying to get rid of three. I'll give them away to the right person. They cost 5-600 a month to feed. Then we're raising meat and egg chickens and gonna do a few turkeys too. As long as you process yourself it saves money. if you have it processed you might as well just buy at the store when they have them on sale. We love horses but Colorado is not a cheap place to keep them. Just not enough grass per acre.

 

[sylvie]

We have 7 acres, house. We owe nothing on it, free and clear. DH is on fixed income and I have to work to pay the stupid property taxes, keep the cars running and insurance. We thought we would have debt freedom with no mortgage or credit but the property taxes are preventing that.
We could have bought where the taxes were lower but eventually they will all raise everywhere. We thought it better to stay within our sphere of influence, and BTW, don't underestimate that when you are weighing your options.

We have a garden, I'm vegetarian, got chickens in the coop and fish in the pond.

 

[Blue Skys]

I didn't read all of the posts, but I had to get this off my chest.

I am very frustrated with how I managed my money in the past. We have credit card debt, totaling about 10,000 on two cards. This is very frustrating to me as one of the credit cards is still in good standing and the other has been sent off to collections and I'm not sure how to prioritize to get this paid off asap. We also have a few other various things, we owe his grandparents around 3,000 and then a couple of small things that are in collections from when he was laid off a year ago. We jsut got caught up on the necessities. We have a "plan in place", but something seems to always come up where we can't pay this down, so I don't really even know if our plan is any good. My husband has been out of work with a bad back, or the time he was laid off, or the emergency repair to the house or vehicle. I just want to scream.

Our goal is to eventually have no debt, but at the moment we have minimal secured debt (which I'm ok with at this point, house, one vehichle) it's just that big chuck that stares at me and makes me ashamed and frustrated.

I am really only just venting and it actually feels to "say" this out loud.

 

[me&thegals]

Welcome, Blue Skys!! Your screen name is very uplifting and positive I can only imagine what you must feel like, but I think this is a great place to really start changing things. I have found that once I started changing one thing (maybe eating out less), more and more and more things became evident that could be changed to save money, be healthier, be more self sufficient. I bet this site can give you 100s of ideas!

I don't know how it works for you, but I find it easier to change when I just focus on one thing at a time until it becomes the norm for me. Then, I go onto the next thing to be changed. Maybe for you, you can find your hugest expense and work on that. Or maybe just the ones that are easiest to change.

I wish you luck and hope you can get some ideas on this site!!

me&thegals

 

[Blue Skys]

Welcome, Blue Skys!! Your screen name is very uplifting and positive I can only imagine what you must feel like, but I think this is a great place to really start changing things. I have found that once I started changing one thing (maybe eating out less), more and more and more things became evident that could be changed to save money, be healthier, be more self sufficient. I bet this site can give you 100s of ideas!

I don't know how it works for you, but I find it easier to change when I just focus on one thing at a time until it becomes the norm for me. Then, I go onto the next thing to be changed. Maybe for you, you can find your hugest expense and work on that. Or maybe just the ones that are easiest to change.

I wish you luck and hope you can get some ideas on this site!!

me&thegals

Thanks!! Blue skys does make me feel happy!!

I actually just read the majority of the posts and feel a little more confident. And having DH on my side (finally) will contribute to more productivity as far as paying stuff off. It certainly seems that many people have much more debt and I feel bad for venting. But thanks for listening. It can only get better!! (knock on wood)

 

[Wifezilla]

We could have bought where the taxes were lower but eventually they will all raise everywhere

Sad but true

 

[gettinaclue]

Hi Blue Skys!

I used to be in the same boat that you are in. I know what you mean about emergencies are always coming up and taking your legs out from underneath of you.

That happened to us a couple of times and we also got sent to collections for a couple different things.

Just keep on keeping on. I have gotten so many great ideas from this site that will help you and you DH become more SS.

Take a deep breath and keep on truckin.

You can do it, you've already made up your mind.