[Tamara M Swope Bell]

Okay, I have to admit it. I don't get motivated by the debt free screams on the Dave Ramsey show. They don't do it for me. Sometimes I might grin a tiny bit and think "that's nice" but it does not have the power to get me gazelle intense.
2 years ago we tried very hard to purchase a house. We failed all because we had too much debt and not enough in savings. So we got on fire because we really BADLY wanted to get out of our house in town and move further to the country. (where we would not have neighbors on the other side of the wall vacuuming away at 10p, or we wouldn't hear traffic noises, etc etc. Yes we lived in a town home.)
Okay so we got quite a bit paid off, (about 20K) all we have left if a bit on my vehicle and a tiny bit (like $1500) on a credit card to get rid of. We purchased a house in March (yes, I know this was not the way Dave Ramsey suggests) and now here is where I am stuck.
Buying the house was our motivation. That was everything to us. Now that we're in our house, we're all kind of stuck. I had a pow wow/budget meeting with my hubby last night and we tried to see if we can find something else that will motivate us as powerfully as getting this house did.
Yes, its cool to not have bills. Yes, the thought that owning my vehicle out right is pretty awesome. But it doesn't get me excited like trying to buy our house.

Thoughts???
I need to brainstorm here.

 

[old guy]

"that's nice" but it does not have the power to get me gazelle intense.

IMO, you've got your priorities right (assuming that mine are right, lol). 40 yrs ago, probably more, we picked 'wealth-building' (rather than debt-free) as a goal. So whenever there was a choice, we directed our income stream to building Net Worth, investments, not debt repayment. We held on to our house loans, our car loans, etc, and loaded up the 401k's and other investment funds. When we retired in 1998 the 401k was a million, our taxable accounts were similar - and we still had loans on rental houses and cars. We haven't paid cash for a car since 1985 (when rates were 15%), I always finance the entire amount for 5 yrs, even now as a retiree. Altho I would kill that revolving credit card debt - we use the CC for nearly everything, but we NEVER borrow against it - that will lower your net worth rather than build it.

 

[Tamara M Swope Bell]

Really our 10 year goal is to pay off (or pretty close to pay off) our condo in town. Sell it (which will alleviate me from President to the HOA duties YUCK). Use the money from that to then slap down on our current home. Hopefully we will have about 100K to put towards our new home. I'd be happy with 100K, but the condos are valued at about 160K. Right now we're renting it.
Meanwhile, we are pushing towards having my jeep paid off by Spring time next year and all the other nonsense will be paid off within the next month and a half. Summer time was harder and slowed us down some because our son was in summer camp and it was most definitely NOT CHEAP. GRRR.
While I don't mind rice & beans & homegrown greens after a while it becomes tiring. Before we purchased our house my son constantly would say "SOUP AGAIN? CAN'T WE HAVE ANYTHING OTHER THAN SOUP!?" Yes, I made a lot of soups since that is cheap to do. (take chicken carcass, veggie scraps, make broth, then turn that into chicken barley soup or some other soup)
We did let up a bit on the gas some when we got into our new house. We actually went out to eat a couple of times which was neat. We hadn't done that in some time.
I just know we have to get back on board. I know if we really dig deep we could possibly have our vehicle paid off even sooner, and then get rid of that stupid friggin condo.

 

[ilovechocolate]

It's okay to "treat" yourselves occasionally with a meal out, etc. If you don't, you'll get REALLY resentful and it's easy then to get off track. Build a little money into the budget for a treat now and then.

And yes, there will be times when it's just plain harder to save. Don't get discouraged. Remember it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

 

[my4littlebuffaloes]

Well, at some point you have to find an internal motivation. It can't always be external. But I do give myself little rewards here and there for sucking it up and doing something really crappy. For instance I had a much dreaded dr appointment yesterday that I had put off for a year. I treated myself to Starbucks afterwards. Little things can be enough of a motivator to get you going.

That being said, I think having goals will help you focus on what needs to be done. Do you want to go on vacation? Do you want to have children? I have found when I have met my goals and don't really have new ones that I tend to languish and not make progress. Is that where you are at? That's ok, but finding some new goals will help you get motivated again.

 

[artist]

I am personally motivated by two things. The first is that we don't actually own this home. We are responsible for it, have put a ton of money into it (new boiler, hot water heater, roof etc..) and need to continue to pour money into it, but it is not ours . The bank owns it, not us and until this house is paid off we don't see ourselves as owning the house.

One other motivation for us is that we have dreams of what we want our retirement to look like. We got a late start on the debt repayment journey and helped our son through college, so we don't have what I would like to have saved for retirement. We want integrity. To be able to afford repairs and keep the house up, to be able to pay people to do the maintance and yard work that dh is currently physically able to do himself, we want to enjoy simple things in life... the occasional dinner at one of the nicer restaurants, a couple of theater shows a year, tickets to our college's hockey games, the occassional pro-ball baseball game, be able to afford to travel to see our son and his family, and maybe take a few continuing ed classes at the college just of fun. When the house is paid off we can focus on saving and investing more so that these dreams can happen.

 

[TheWho]

So basicaly your doing great?

I might be confused.

After your house payment do you guys make enough to keep an emergency fund built up, you get the car and card paid off, then budget enough to actualy enjoy the world some, meaning quality family trips and such even if its only weekends?

This isnt supposed to turn you into a zombie.

Do you not see Ramsey out water skiing and such, your goal now is to prevent it all from starting over.

I know theirs more to it but you know.