Sorry I have been away for so long!

**dianne9106** · 09-06-2008, 10:36 PM

Hello Fellow Villagers!
Sorry I have been away from the board for so long - but I have been busy and productive. I did peek back in every now and again to make sure the board was still here and running smoothly without me - LOL! (j/k)
The summer was a little busy and hectic for me with DH away for a few months and then I was suffering so much with morning sickness though out the day - that I had to pick and choose my hobbies. I admittedly was a little fed up with a few of threads concerning socialized health care and the poor economy in general. Sometimes you just have to take a step back from things, collect your own thoughts and drive on. I will be staying away from the politically threads - well I hope to anyway!
So - an update since I have been away. WE ARE DEBT FREE EXCEPT THE HOUSE!! Sadly this is not the first time we have been out of debt - but it's the first time we actually worked Dave's plan to get out debt and I think it has made us into better people. We got out of debt with a freak inheritance one time and then was able to draw on it for other frivolous debt.
So let me talk about our STUPID TAX and our painful learning experience with it! First I did a very stupid thing by trading in a paid off van for a 2008 Honda Odyssey, thus I acquired a car note. But then when my husband went to Officer Candidate School, we were eligible for a 2% commissioning loan; so we rolled over our car note into it and got a two thousand extra to pay off a small debt. That was stupid - but what was dumber than dirt was keeping our credit card! DH is authorized a government travel card, but he let it lapse with the intent of using ours so we could get the perks from it. Which kind of worked well - until there was a sale somewhere or he wanted some new running shoes, etc....
We traveled down to Ft. Benning to see him over Memorial Day and then back at 4th of July - as he was graduating the following week. So we decided to take a vacation from our common sense while we were at it! So we used our credit card to live like no other idiots can!! We were stupid and frivolous and just plain materialistically absorbed - gosh we were behaving like very shallow people.
Then we came home and reality set in. We realized that we would have to start paying for all our fun time and it was starting to be painful! Why didn't we have any money? What is really going on? So we started listening to Dave again and really taking notes - we re-read the Total Money Makeover and started with our envies again.
But that was not enough! My husband made a very painful suggestion - that we sell both of our cars and pay off our debt. We had the titles to his 2007 Subaru and my van (since we converted the loan and paid off Honda). WHAT?? What do I have to do? Give up my status symbol? Did I have to give up the extension of myself? Yes I did! We drove both of our cars to CarMax in Nashville and sold them on the spot! I lost about $7K on my van - but that's to be expected, but my husband actually came out ahead on his car. So we rented a car to get back home - sense we had no wheels of our own! Even our son's car was in the shop getting a clutch put in, so we had to share one car amongst three people.
So we took that money - deposited it in a local bank, wired it to our other bank and started paying down smallest to largest. We had to buy cars to get around in - so we each bought a car worth less than $5k - as DH has to drive from TN to OK and then AZ in the next few months, so he needed something dependable.Myself with a toddler and pregnant, I needed something dependable as well. With the remaining balances, we paid that off with DH travel pay and our regular check. Then we started selling stuff to start funding out emergency fund. We would not allow ourselves to touch what was left of the inheritance - otherwise we would be just as stupid as before.
So here I am - we are debt free except the house, working on baby step #3 (80% funded) and also trying to get baby stuff on the cheap. Yes Murphy has came a knocking - we spent $700 on our son's clutch to find out 1 month later that it also needed a new transmission, so that went to the junk yard for some cash and we added some from our emergency fund to get him a new car - he is now working on his own emergency fund so he have money for repairs that he can take care of himself.
I am sorry this is soooo long - but I have missed so many of ya'll from here and I hope to start visiting again more often. I do owe my debt freedom to Frugal Village - this is where my lessons started with Dave and everything else! Thank you!

**BlessedMomof2** · 09-06-2008, 10:54 PM

Hello and welcome back to Frugal Village!

**Jamauk** · 09-06-2008, 10:59 PM

I've been wondering where you've been!

Congrats to DH on becoming an officer.

Its good to have you back...

**dianne9106** · 09-06-2008, 11:12 PM

Originally Posted by Jamauk

I've been wondering where you've been!

Congrats to DH on becoming an officer.

Its good to have you back...

Thank you! I am so very proud of him - went from being a Senior NCO to starting all over again at the lowest Office rank. It will really pay off later though (retirement), but he is enjoying his new career already.
Have you sold your house yet? Thank you for the well wishes!

**Jamauk** · 09-06-2008, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by dianne9106

Thank you! I am so very proud of him - went from being a Senior NCO to starting all over again at the lowest Office rank. It will really pay off later though (retirement), but he is enjoying his new career already.
Have you sold your house yet? Thank you for the well wishes!

WOW, you have been gone for a while. After some severe drama with our realtor, switching to using her broker and even more drama there ~ we took it off the market and decided to rent it. Found renters almost immediately and their lease was to start Oct 1. Bought a used mobile home to put on the property, ran into some permitting issues, septic tank issues, etc....

Realized with all of these little compromises here and there, before we knew it we were so far away from our original goal. We had a budget meeting, decided to refocus on our goals so now we are not moving, staying here until our debt is paid off and we're going to sell the mobile home/property.

PHEW....did you catch all of that?!

**Michelle68** · 09-06-2008, 11:52 PM

Welcome back and congrats on being debt free except the house!

--Michelle

**kmsinsa** · 09-07-2008, 02:04 AM

Welcome back and congrats!

**cissylu** · 09-07-2008, 03:01 AM

Welcome back,and wow on dept free.

**Jskell911** · 09-07-2008, 05:59 AM

Welcome back Diane! Hope you are feeling better now, w/ the morning sickness and all. Looks like you were quite the busy lady all summer. Congrats on being debt free. Great job making some very difficult decisions.

**dianne9106** · 09-07-2008, 09:41 AM

You know up until this past year - I had never let a car become who I am! It just happened! Well - I had a hybrid, but traded it on something larger, but that is just a regret that I will have to live with! Funny thing - my parents NEVER, EVER bought a new car - it was always used and they always had a savings and they really lived like no one else. As a result, I should never have to pay anything for my Mother's nursing home care.
I just wanted to point out that I am not a snob by birth - everyone always made fun of me for my hand-me-downs (from cousins) and hand made clothes (which are actually really nice and posh now). People always called my family poor farmers, etc... But, as an adult our debt made us into something that we were not and it's nice to live on a reasonable budget and not really have to worry about the Jones' or anything! I really did become that person Dave talks about - Buying stuff you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you don't like!
Thank you for all of the welcomes and well wishes!

**FrugalMomof3** · 09-07-2008, 09:48 AM

Welcome Back and congrats on working so hard to be debt free!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 09-07-2008, 09:57 AM

Oh my! It sounds like you had quite the summer. Congrats to your DH on his new position, you guys on being debt free, and realizing that Murphy still exists!

Glad to have ya back.

**nessarowdy** · 09-07-2008, 01:35 PM

Welcome back! I am hit and miss here, but congrats to your hubby! My hubby is also an Army Officer, and it's hard to not get sucked into "status" and having nicer things and being compared to other officer families, etc. BLAH! That's why I moved to the country, I rarely have to see people and no one really wants to drive all the way out here for dinner!

I hope that I can find the discipline you have to get out of debt! AWESOME!

-vanessa

**Cricketlegs** · 09-07-2008, 02:21 PM

Wow! Quite a story and a lesson on the pitfalls that will always exist out there in the world just waiting to suck us back in or get us off track.

I am so happy to see that you are DEBT FREE and congrats to the dh.

The one thing that really caught my eye was when you said your DS is starting his own EF fund for car repairs and such!

HOW GREAT IS THAT--this is just a kid who just may be on his way to never being where so many of us have found ourselves.

Up to our eyeballs in debt surrounded by crud we don't need or even want!

You did GOOD Mom!