During school we tried to live as frugally as possible, but we still acquired a student loan to the tune of more than $37,000. Thanks to the Army and Grandpa Hibbard, that number is about 1/3 to 1/4 what it could have been! Our original goal was to pay it off in 18 months, and then save the same amount for the next 18 months of our first tour of duty with the military. At first I thought this was ambitious; in fact, I remember feeling like it may have been a little too ambitious. On paper it just didn't look possible to pay it off any faster than that. Luckily, both Ruth and I are pretty content people. We have a job, food on the table, chairs to sit on (albeit the metal folding kind), live in a nice rental, enjoy great health, and wonderful kids!
Once we arrived here in Missouri and started getting paid we realized that we had a little more left over at the end of the month than we had planned on (always a good thing). It didn't take us long to realize that we could get this debt taken care of in less than 18 months. At the pace we had chosen we were scheduled to pay it off in around 13 months. In the middle of August Ruth realized that if we paid it off one pay check earlier we could say we paid it off in "one year!" Basically the only place the extra money could come from to accomplish this one-year feat was from the food budget.
As content as we are, there will be a few things I won't miss about this these last few months as we made that push to finish our goal in one year.
A list comes to mind of a few things I won't miss missing:
Yogurt
Cheese
Lunch meat
Beef
Pork
Ice cream
"Snacks" (although, Ruth makes great cookies, and other desserts no matter what the food budget is)
Paper towels!!
Things I'm looking forward to:
Saving money instead of giving it to our creditors
Buying a computer that stays on for more than an hour
Buying a DVD player that actually plays an entire movie (I personally hate DVD players, but I'm not sure what the alternative is)
Buying Christmas presents that total more than $15 a person
Going out to eat every now and then (meaning 3-4 times a year instead of once or twice)
Netflix!
Doing stuff that costs money (water parks, museums, tours, games, etc...)
It's been a good journey, but I am glad it's over. (Till we buy a house, that is.)
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4 comments:
thanks! this is inspiring; you guys are such good examples!
Congrats! When you write "some things I won't miss missing" do you mean that you want more of these foods or you don't? (Sorry, too many double negatives - or triple negatives- for me!)
Loved the post!! I'm glad that you'll be getting your meats and dairy products back! (Just in time for me to visit and eat them all...) :D
I agree with Bryan et al, do you want beef, pork, yogurt, etc. Or do you not want them any more?
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