My small success and tell me yours!

**shortstack** · 01-29-2011, 08:23 AM

It has been a while since I've visited this site and I have missed you guys! I had a small success this past Thursday because of living the same ideals each and every one of you live every day.

My husband makes pretty great money but works in a volatile profession. All of his coworkers make the same general amount and spend every last dime they have, living sometimes beyond their means with the attitude that the money will keep rolling in so there is no need to save. We are the odd couple out, living below our means, saving and preparing for the what ifs of the future.

Well Thursday was one of those infamous days in his profession where he was instructed to sit by the phone all day long to wait for a call saying whether or not he had a job. His coworkers called on and off all day, each and every one of them worked up in a panic because they had no idea what they were going to do if they were one of the ones who got laid off. They were all living paycheck to paycheck.

That is where our peace of mind fell... We were not worried at all. Yes we would have been bummed if he'd lost his job (by the grace of God he didn't) but we would have been perfectly fine for at least a year. That day to me was worth years of scratch cooking (which is healthier anyway), not buying the latest widget that's come out, driving an older car, not carrying a balance on a credit card, paying cash for vacations, not going on shopping sprees etc...

Now please tell me your small success stories no matter how small....

**Determined** · 01-29-2011, 09:57 AM

shortstack, I'd call that a great big huge success!!!

My (small) success was probably paying off my credit cards last year and not going any further into debt since 1/27/2007. I still have a mountain of student debt, but that is the big accomplishment that keeps me moving forward.

**forHISglory** · 01-29-2011, 10:07 AM

Hey! Proud of you, Shortstack and Determined! Slow and steady: that's what it's all about.

Our small success is in remaining debt free for so many years. We've been debt free since 1985, and it lets me sleep well at night. It allows us to use our money as we wish, and not according to predator-creditors. It allows us to be generous with charities and church. It gives us freedom to make choices and take advantage of bargains at certain times. It gives us a strong sense of future. But the best part is just knowing peace of mind. This success was made up of the small successes along the way, and I applaud the previous posters for being on this path.

**mauimagic** · 01-29-2011, 10:49 AM

Congrats and mahalo for sharing - to be that's a biggie!!

My small success is almost embarrasing, but true. I have finally taken my head out of the sand and am writing down all out bills and have a plan for paying them......and I unconciously just let go of a deep breath since I have not shared this elsewhere.

**Lynn4** · 01-29-2011, 12:27 PM

Thanks for this post--I've been battling the blues...I recently lost my job and worry about getting employed and it hasn't helped that I haven't felt well the past few days.

I find myself thinking "I could've done more" while I was working, but I have been trying to balance that by examining what I DID do. I managed to turn my 30 year mortgage into a 15 year (by paying extra--only four more years or less!), support my husband going back to school for his M.A. and Ph.d (no loans), no credit card debt, no car payment, pay cash for my new roof and two vacations (that we waited over 20 years to take). And I put money into my 401k and IRAs for my husband and saved money. I didn't make a tremendous amount of money at my job and my husband receives a stipend and teaches in summer. I know we don't have what we should in our retirement accounts at our age, so I sometimes worry about this.

It has taken a lot of discipline and work to get to this point and we are only part the way there, but today I feel like I have some measure of success. (Now I need to find a job and get back to working!)

**akolb** · 01-29-2011, 01:02 PM

Mine this month (and to continue this year) is that I have set aside $700 towards paying off my 1st CC! This means February's payment can be almost 7 times the minimum!

Also, through my money saving ways I had an extra $250 to pay off an unexpected oopsie tax bill from 08. Meaning I didn't have to dip into my savings account.

For the first time, I feel like I could really actually pay off all my debt this year!

**mauimagic** · 01-29-2011, 01:39 PM

Congratulations Lynn and Akolb!! You are coming from different perspectives, and yet you both are doing so many great things!! Celebrate what you and everyone is doing and work on the rest!!

**Nellonello** · 01-29-2011, 02:43 PM

Contests. Your stories are inspiring.
I just joined FV and this is my first month with a budget. My small success is that I found $1000 this month to put toward one of our credit cards. It isn't much compared to all you guys have managed and our journey is a long one but I aspire to sit in your shoes someday and have that piece of mind.

**pollypurebred39** · 01-29-2011, 04:01 PM

I don't think finding a $1000 to put towards debt is a small success, that's awesome!!!

**mauimagic** · 01-29-2011, 04:02 PM

$1000 is a lot of money - congrats Nellonello - glad you joined us!!

**Brat** · 01-29-2011, 04:04 PM

Even small baby steps forward is a great plan..

**Nellonello** · 01-29-2011, 04:23 PM

Thanks. I think this is a great thread as we should all remember to celebrate our successes (and sorry contests should have read congrats -darn autocorrect). Looking forward to hearing more small successes.

**Josephhgoins** · 01-29-2011, 04:45 PM

Mine is very small. Usually when there was a car issue I would either trade in the car or put the repair on my credit card.

BF heard a slight ticking and he decided it must be fixed now and that it was major. He estimated no more than $300 in parts. (secretly I thought $500). So far we have spent a little over 4 with $250.00 left that must be spent and all has been paid in cash.

It is only a small win because if I had to put it in a shop it would have been a $3000-$4000 repair with labor on top of parts.

**arnie** · 01-29-2011, 05:07 PM

Within the last year, I began to take frugality very seriously.
I paid off 14, 000 in cars ( two car loans), Paid off a 10,000 cc balance, a 11,000 2nd mortgage, and paid for a cruise vacation in cash. It does feel good to have accomplished that much last year by being diligent, and still have a student loan, LOC and mortgage to tackle this year.
It does feel good after I pay my bills to know that I am making progress.

**ravenmaniac** · 01-29-2011, 05:41 PM

I consider it a huge success when I can keep my husband on track!

MM, you have inspired me to keep writing everything down and not give up.

We have a small personal loan and a mortgage but like so many other Americans have very little savings. We would not last but a month or two if my husband lost his job.

I'm going to chip at the personal loan. Thanks for the inspiration, everyone!