Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

by Hope

I took a few months detour off my current financial goal of paying off my car: Financial Goal #3 of this year. I was distracted by a month long battle with COVID and then buying my house.

But I am back to it and as of this month, the current amount owed on my car is $9,062.37.

Now if you are following along, you know this total should be lower since my minimum payment has been $2,000 per month. But I promise the difference is not my fault. My cousins, who are handling my uncle’s finances these days, lost a check. After a couple of months of waiting for them to cash it and watching them cash more recent payments, I reached. They don’t know where it is.

So we agreed that I would stop payment on that check and then just resend the payment again. I haven’t resent it, so I added it back to balance owed.

Still On Track

That being said, I am still planning to pay off the car by September. In fact, I am so committed to this plan that I have pre-scheduled all the payments! They should receive my final payment on September 15th!!!! Score!

I will then be down to my last debt…my student loans. The countdown is on.

Side note: Gymnast gets his drivers license tomorrow. My last baby is ready for his wings. I knew this was coming and have been budgeting for the increase in insurance…$150ish extra per month. But I’m hoping to counterbalance this increase next month when Princess leaves for college. Since she is not taking a car, I am told I can get a reduction in my insurance. We shall see!

Hope

Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.

But life has a way of rewriting your plans.

A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.

Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.

Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.

She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.

by Beks

This was our first July 4th away from home. Thanksgiving and Christmas are always hectic, and we’ve spent plenty of those away from home but the 4^th? The 4th is special to us. Every year, we camp on the sand and watch the fireworks. We have a core group of friends that always camp alongside us. My brother and my husband smoke meat all day. We play cornhole for hours. We dress in head to toe red, white, and blue and there are American flags on every single trailer. The kids have sandcastle competitions. We have traditions. Really special traditions on the 4^th.

My brother and our friends camped on the beach without us this year. My son’s good friend asked my brother where my son was and when he told him we weren’t coming this year, the boy started to cry. As my brother told me this, I started to cry. Being gone for Christmas. No problem. Thanksgiving. Not a blip on my radar. Losing this tradition? It was an unexpected punch to the gut.

Adding to the sadness pile, my siblings who live out of town decided to spend the holiday in San Diego. They texted photos of the beach. Photos of them laughing playing cornhole. Photos of the city fireworks. They had no idea that with each new photo, I cried more. Homesickness hit me with a vengeance.

I started to doubt our decision. Is moving away the right thing to do? We’re losing traditions! Really awesome traditions. Then I had a brief moment of reflection. I’ve been here before. I’ve felt like this already. There were so many times we missed out on vacations, restaurant trips, and events with friends when we were focused on paying off debt. We felt left out but paying down our debt was important. We focused on the long game and eventually we experienced the elation from being debt free.

I’m not going to say I ran outside shouting what a beautiful new day it was, I’m not Pollyanna for goodness sake. I was still sad. I still felt like I was missing out. I still cried a little. But I realized this is another choice for the financial long game. It’s going to suck sometimes and that’s OK.

In California, you can’t light fireworks. You can watch the shows put on by the city at a distance but due to fire danger, you cannot light your own. Every street corner in the Midwest sells fireworks and we pooled our money to buy some with my sister. As soon as the sun set, we lit a glorious fireworks show. The kids screamed with joy at seeing something so beautiful up close. My daughter looked at me and said, ‘This is the best day ever’

Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

Choose the long game friends. Choose the long game.

Beks

Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep.  She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years.  In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free.  When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.