Debt Free Homeschool
This is a guest post from my friend Stacey of Layered Soul. Stacy and her family are debt free and their story is a great inspiration to my family. We are currently working on our getting-out-of-debt goals on one self employed income!
Homeschooling and Getting out of Debt
It has been about 2 ½ years since I screamed, “We are debt free!” on the Dave Ramsey show. Yes, that includes the house!
No, I am not a millionaire, just a homeschooling momma of 4 making it work on $30,000 a year.
Our journey began when I was pregnant with our second child and we were looking to purchase a larger home. Even before we purchased our home, we were planning on how to pay it off. Our goal was to have it paid off before our first child went to college. We took out a 15-year mortgage and bought a 940 square foot home.
I wish I could write “3 Simple Tips to Living Debt Free” but the reality of living on one income and getting out of debt is a series of hard choices and sacrifices. There have been nights I would cry out to the Lord.
Was I really going to have to choose between buying medicine for my child and buying food for the family?
The two most important lessons I learned at that time:
- God is faithful to provide.
- And I was going to need to develop some serious problem solving skills.
If my son’s medicine cost $300 for two weeks, I was either going to cut money from the budget or earn more. Mostly a combination of these 2 options got me the money I needed to buy his medicine.
The other biggest hurdle, not becoming bitter because all my money was going to medicine. No fun family vacations or ice cream at the grocery store. Every penny counted. It was a battle and some days it was exhausting. Some days I experienced the biggest joys of my life. The provision never looked the same way twice; the doctor would give us samples, a friend would invite us for dinner or my son would wake-up feeling better and not need his meds for awhile.
Over the years I have had quite a few odd jobs. All of them worked around the needs of my family. I babysat, cleaned houses, mowed yards, did farm chores, kept peoples pet while on vacation. I worked for the local college bookstore, receptionist, and homeschool publisher. I either took my children with me or worked nights and weekends.
I try to spend my time either saving money or earning money. When my babies were younger I did more saving money ideas. Now that my kids are older and I can work outside of the home. I try balancing earning money with saving money.
PLEASE don’t try to do every saving money idea and working-to-make-money idea. Burnout will happen. Try to implement one or two small ideas at a time. Little things like making homemade laundry detergent or learning how to stock pile groceries can add up!
After my third child we experienced 2 miscarriages. I remember vividly when walking through the first miscarriage at 20 weeks, in the middle of the night I woke-up and could almost hear someone reciting Proverbs 5: 5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” I may never understand “why me” or “why now” but I can trust the Lord with all my heart.
I recite that verse often when things I don’t understand happen. When all my appliances are breaking around me, when I don’t have the money to pay a bill, or when my husband is too sick work. Oh how I want my understanding of the problem and my understanding to fix things.
Do you have a verse that helps you through the lean times?
What do you do when you are discouraged about getting out of debt?
What has been the hardest situation you have experienced trying to get out of debt?
Stacey Lane is a wife, mother, teacher, jill-of-all-trades, and a member of the Bright Ideas Press team. Her many gifts include visual thinking, bringing order out of chaos, thinking outside the box, and taking charge (when needed). When she’s not developing curriculum or contributing to her blog at Layered Soul she homeschools her own four children. She is notoriously, amazingly frugal and has shouted, “I’m Debt Free” on the Dave Ramsey show!
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Thanks for the encouragement, we are that family. We have a son with a chronic disease and can so relate to you. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT) This is a verse I look to often along with many more. We are still working on our debt. There are times when there is nothing but our living expenses because of medical. But, we have a amazing God fearing young man that has gone through a lot of hardships. His faith of God has helped me remember to Trust in God and let go. we will get through this.
Oh I love this post, so inspirational, and I love the fact this will be a regular feature.
You meant Proverbs 3:5-6 (instead of Proverbs 5:5-6, which is very different!)
But thanks for sharing your thoughts–very encouraging! 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I think sometimes when people go through hard times, they keep everything close to their chest. Not wanting to share their struggles or hardships but it is always good to know you are not the only one who has to make difficult choices in regards to money. Philippians 4:4-6 ( Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.) Has got me through many a hard time.
I love this and need prayers. Thanks so much!
Thanks for the encouragement. We’re struggling through some very tough times right now. Bills have piled up because groceries and gas are more important; I’ve tried just about every way to save and bring in income, but nothing seems to work. I despise saying that we can’t afford it whenever my children ask for something, whether it’s a haircut, a longer pair of pants to cover their ankles, an outing with the church, or a fifty-cent treat at the grocery store. I know the Lord has His reasons for this season of life, but I feel so crushed right now trying to make ends meet but can’t because there’s a mile between those ends. So, I put on my smile and fake it. I know that we are still better off than so many millions more in this world. Even if things in this present world don’t get better, I have eternal security.
I can definitely relate to Cheryl! I too get very discouraged always having to tell my kids no or not being able to get my kids the things they need. I am agonizing over the fact that I have had to put off a lot of medical items for my children in lieu of medical items for me. As a parent, that just kills me. I feel like my family has been in triage mood for years and just when we get ourselves to a point where we “have a plan” and can start moving forward on our debt, we always have some other natural disaster that hits and it seems to inevitably force us back down the rabbit hole. I’m not kidding about this either. Our homes have been through several not just minor maintenance issues but major, can’t live-in them, disasters. The latest has been a flood that flooded a 1/3 of my home and caused somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000+ in damages. We have also faced some major medical issues. I have been through 5 invasive surgeries in my adulthood, 4 after I started having children. I have not been able to work. This has left me very little in the way of “income opportunities” and left the entire burden on my husband. This has not been great for our marriage either. At this point, I feel like I am just looking at debt as a natural part of my life. I don’t think it will be something we are ever going to NOT be without. We are ALWAYS faced with insurmountable amounts of something that is generally not optional – an emergency surgery or a roof over our heads. Usually, we are always asking, “well, can we finance it?” or “Can we make payments?, because generally we can’t wait to save because usually I don’t have months to wait for the procedure to be done or we still have to make payments on a home we can’t live in and “where are you going to live?” We have always thanked God that our doctors, contractors, creditors, etc. have always been able to work with us. I look at that as a blessing. Otherwise, my family would have fallen apart long ago. I would love to be debt free. I feel like I, myself am such a burden to them. I feel like most of this is my fault. I know that if I could do more, work more, if I wasn’t so weak, and if I wouldn’t keep ended up in hospital so much – maybe my family would be better.
Those times are so hard. I hated telling my son (4) that he couldn’t have that produce, because it wasn’t in season (i.e., too expensive). Some seasons of life are longer than we want them to be, but, as my mother told me, “this too shall pass.” I had to remember that a lot. Yes, my health problems affect my family’s finances also. Budgeting in the 5 figures every year for them is tough, but this is not your “fault.” Please accept the good family you have as a gift from God. Blessings.
2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me,”My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Also, check out Isaiah 41, good stuff friend. May God bless you and your family.
I know that you posted this a while ago but I couldn’t help but feel compassion for you! I just wanted to encourage you to not “focus” on being debt-free at this time. The Lord knows your heart, and your desire to not owe anyone anything but the Lord would not have you feeling guilty about receiving medical care and having to make payments on it. It’s OK! We too are trying to pay off everything but having a husband who needs expensive medicines in order to function has made it a sporadic effort. I found that if I focus on our lack of making progress on our debt, I get discouraged very quickly! I then have to run to God’s Word and remember that He saved me to make me more like Christ. He is using this situation in my life to remind me that it’s all about Him, James 1 tells me to rejoice when various trials come my way, not because the trial is pleasant but because if I respond rightly to it, the Lord can work great things in my life like giving me patience and making me content, desiring nothing else.
We hear so much about being debt-free in the Christian realm that we can feel like a failure if we aren’t able to do the same. I know that any Christian writing these articles are encouraging those who have the ability to be debt free to do so or they are encouraging those who may not be using God’s provisions wisely to think about how they can turn that around. They would definitely not have you withholding a needful surgery or desire to lay guilt on you about buying medicine.
Just think about how much compassion and love that you can now have for someone else is similar situations! You are able to give these people hope because you are speaking from the midst of the trial and not simply from head knowledge : ). Thanks for encouraging me this day and reminding me that God’s goal in my life is not to make me debt-free but to make me like Himself.
Sorry, I must not have put my comment in the right place, I was trying to reply to Amy. Thanks!