A Little Help!

It’s been a little while since we update this blog. To be honest, part of the reason is that we haven’t made a ton of headway in the past 2 months.  The last “big” payment was on 10/15/12. There are a million reasons for that which I won't get into now, but hopefully that big payments start happening again this month! We are still making the $300 payments every month, but that really isn’t doing much. Half of the payment goes towards interest and the other have towards principal. It sucks.

We started July 2^nd owing $41,634 in student loans. Since July 2nd, we have paid $5,000 towards that debt. Now, we should be at $36,634 in debt left, but due to interest, we still owe $37,591. That’s a HUGE difference. When paying off debt, it’s important to remember how much interest sucks.

This blog is a sort of torture Stephanie and I have put on ourselves. We talk about it from time to time, but I think we both get discouraged when looking at how much is left to pay. I have said this before and will say it again, I HATE debt.

Is there any hope for us? I think so. We have been married for almost 6 months and are finally getting a solid grip on how much we should be spending on groceries, eating out, and things like that. We are beginning to keep an eye on our finances in a more realistic way. I thought it would be possible to only spend $100/month on groceries, which it turns out is not all that possible. It’s important to always be realistic, otherwise you will be frustrated because your expectations are WAY too high.

Due to our very busy schedules we aren’t able to clean houses at the same rate we once were. I coach high school basketball and we both joined the high school staff at Highlands Church, so our weekends are pretty much gone. Stephanie is starting a new job today which will help a TON in paying off this stupid debt.

The thing about paying debt is that your “plan” for paying it off hinges on a million different things. We are hoping neither one of us gets really sick. We are hoping our cars never break down. We are hoping we don’t get pregnant (we want to someday, but I would prefer to not owe the government $35K when that happens). Sure, we have a small emergency fund, but that only goes so far. This debt is hamstringing us in every part of our life. The only thing that is keeping us from going insane is thinking about how great it will feel to pay it off!

We are in need of something from everyone reading this, though (aside from your encouragement and prayers!). Our current living situation is incredible! We are so very thankful that God has provided us a place to live that is so cheap and allows us to pay off our debt at a higher rate. However, all good things must come to an end. We are looking to be out of where we are sometime in May and aren’t really sure of what we are going to do after that. Yes, an apartment is an option, but we really want to avoid that. The thought of paying $900/month to rent something for a year sounds awful. This is where we need you. If you know of ANYBODY who has some extra space (guest house, empty part of the house, etc.) please let them know about our situation and if they might take us in for cheap. I know, we are asking for a hand-out of sorts, but that is okay. I’m checking my pride here in order to pay off debt and really set our family up for better times down the road when it comes to finances. We would really appreciate any help we can get!

Anyways, thanks again for reading. We are always getting words of encouragement from family and friends and that goes a LONG way in keeping focused on our goal. Thank you!