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Thursday, July 27, 2017

July Wrap-Up

Walker "helping" me sort items to list on my eBay page :) 



We are wrapping up the final week of our first month back on our debt payoff plan. With minimum payments included we paid off a total of $640-ish in debt this month, bringing us to a grand total of $17,354.19. It's less than I originally calculated that we would be able to do for this month, but I am not disappointed by any means. Progress is progress.

I think that's one of the things I can take away from this month, that everyone's story is their own, and we all have different things that come up, both good and bad, that will affect our debt free journey positively and negatively. We had a couple of unplanned for expenses that were unavoidable this month, and that's just part of the ride. The important thing is that for the past 27 days we have made conscious decisions regarding our spending and told our money where to go instead of the other way around. It feels really good, and I am just as excited to start August.

I think it's important to emphasize that there is no right or wrong way to get out of debt. There are of course really helpful guidelines, like the Financial Peace "Baby Steps" from Dave Ramsey, but what truly matters is your mindset and the finish line. For example, the first time we paid off debt we sold at least 60% of our belongings including some big items, like Tom's motorcycle and 75% of my wardrobe, to get a jump start. The last year or so we have really tried to embrace the idea of minimalism and living with less, so that being said there was a lot less crap laying around my house to sell this time. Hence the side hustle haha - I now buy other people's crap to sell LOL. Again, the first time we paid off debt it was just me and Tom, and we were both working and out of the house more often than in it, so we were able to take our food costs down to a bare minimum. This time around with Walker we have realized that it's really important to have legitimate sit-down family dinners together (i.e. cereal is not a legitimate sit-down family dinner to me), and that's not something we're willing to give up, so we've had to revisit that item in our budget and make sure there is enough allocated for those groceries.

For people to be successful in this idea of financial freedom, I think it's paramount to make it your own thing. Find what works for you and ditch what doesn't. That being said, if your "thing" is binge shopping on Amazon, you need to find a new thing, but be okay with your timeline and your ideas and your budget being different than everyone else. Give yourself a couple weeks to make a plan, find your groove and then HUSTLE and get it done.

On a different subject, we are so excited to welcome baby West into the world in just a few short weeks! We have done everything we know to do to prepare for having two children, but I'm pretty sure in the end we are going to be just as tired and overwhelmed as we were in our first few weeks with Walker. At this point my body is so done being 9.5 months pregnant in this heat, so bring on the chaos! I am ready!

Thanks for reading, and as always, please feel free to share in the comments or message me with any ideas you have on debt-free living, debt payoff, etc. I'd love to hear!!

Maxie

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