going to share what that repentance looked like as we endeavored to reverse the damage to our finances.
1) Enrolled Children in Public School-I am in favor of Christian education but because of our poor choices early in our marriage, we could not afford the schooling we wanted to give our children. We realized that no amount of godly tutoring would reverse the negative home life we were creating with our heavy work schedules, debt load and the resulting relationship issues.
2) Quit job-I don’t recommend this as a debt-reduction technique, but in this case it was a beneficial decision that enabled me to focus my efforts on saving our household money and building a home business.
3) Started Home Business-I had a mind-set that needed to be broken. I thought no-one would take me seriously if my business didn’t “look” professional right from the start. I had an aversion to starting small and growing slow. I learned how to “be” professional and offer my services at the level I could afford.
4) Cancelled Cell Phone Contract-It didn’t make sense to keep a cell phone when I was now working from home, but we had to pay a hefty cancellation fee to our service provider to get out of the contract. We did the math and it still saved us money to pay and walk away.
5) Gave Away Vehicle-Working from home enabled us to cut a vehicle and all its associated expenses.
6) Sought God with Prayer & Fasting-I will always treasure the many months I had during my career transition to pray and fast before the Lord. I experienced humility and brokenness, but as I sought the Lord, He showed Himself as my provider. This was by far the sweetest time in my relationship with God.
7) Tight Grocery Budget-I did everything they say to do. I planned meals that were made from scratch, made grocery lists and shopped with a calculator. We prepared and ate recipes based on beans & rice. The funniest idea I ever came up with was to buy a goat in an effort to save money on milk. I priced goats and determined that the $80 price would be recouped within 2 months. Fortunately Shawn opposed the idea and we never followed through!
8) Eliminated Paper Products-Not only is this a money-saving technique but it’s good for the environment too. I found we could use cloth rags for cleaning, cloth napkins for dining and old fashioned “hankies” for blowing our noses. I never did find an alternative for toilet paper!
9) Planted a Garden-This was a great way to save money and we enjoyed a variety of home grown, chemical-free vegetables
10) Sold Fitness Music-I let go of the past and sold all my professional fitness music & choreography.
11) Sold Craft Supplies-I had scrapbook supplies from a previous business venture that I had been holding on to for almost 8 years without using! I networked with dealers and friends and was able to sell my hoarded supplies for over $1000. It hurt at first, but then I realized how much that stuff was burdening me down with guilt over not using it.
12) Sold Trailer-This was a family sacrifice. We had a modest trailer that we had refinished and only used once. It was our dream family vacation. Trouble was, we didn’t have a vehicle to tow it. It sat beside our home for a couple years and was only used to hide Christmas presents. We decided to put it up for sale, but it didn’t look like we were going to find a buyer.
13) Sowed Shawn’s Bonus Pay-My husband worked for one of the big three automakers at the time and every July we enjoyed a pay bonus. It would have made sense to use it to pay off our debt but as we prayed about how to utilize it, we felt strongly that we were to sow it into WCF’s annual Abba offering instead. Remember, giving is a vital part of a total money makeover. We were obedient and the very next day, our trailer sold for a fair price.
14) Volunteered at Professional Conference-As an employee of a large fitness company I was provided a very costly conference registration for free and was accustomed to sharing a nice hotel room on the conference premises with co-workers. I couldn’t afford the conference registration on my own so I volunteered and instead of a hotel, I stayed at a relative’s apartment. It was a character-building experience to serve my previous co-workers as they enjoyed the conference in the style I was accustomed to, but I knew my volunteer experience was going to play a part in my future. I just didn’t know it would be with OBFF!
15) No Christmas Gift Exchanges-We called our relatives and explained what we were doing. We asked to be excluded from all gift exchanges. It was the only year that we had to do that but we used the experience to teach our children more fully the true meaning of the season. We were humbled and blessed when certain relatives chose to give us gifts anyway.
16) Children’s Expenses-Any parent knows that the many requests for money to fund children’s events can be huge budget busters. We sat our children down and explained what we were doing and what their sacrifice would be. If they wanted to enjoy a food day at school, they would have to use their limited chore money or bring a lunch from home. We would do our best to provide for field trips. It broke my heart on the few occasions they ate a packed lunch while their class enjoyed pizza. I cried when we declined a field trip that was beyond our means and the school used special funds to include our children anyway. I will never forget how that felt.
17) Sold “Stuff”-We had a garage sale, advertised on Kijiji, and auctioned on Ebay. We went through the house and if it didn’t get used or we didn’t absolutely love it, we liquidated the item.A girlfriend came to visit during this time and she was stunned at some of the changes we had made. She exclaimed in amazement that one day she expected to come over and find our electricity disconnected, us cooking in our fireplace and washing clothes by hand. We laughed until we cried because even though we didn’t have immediate plans to do those things, it was true that we might come to consider them if we had to. We were going to do whatever it took (legally of course) to break the bond of debt over our life and we weren’t sparing ourselves any discomfort or humiliation.
I thank God that disconnecting our electricity was never needed. We were blessed in extraordinary ways. We can laugh about those days now from a place of victory. I have to admit that I am very happy today that we didn’t buy that goat!
Awesome Melissa!!! You guys are now reaping the rewards....It's such a blessing when you and your spouse can come into agreement on something and seek the Lord for wisdom and then see the fruit of your labours and prayers...You are an inspiration to many!
ReplyDeleteNoel