Blogging Away Debt

Merry Christmas Eve.

We have an annual tradition of reading or listening to Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” As far as I knew as a kid, it was just a story starring Mickey Mouse and Scrooge McDuck. But as an adult I’ve become a big fan of the original story published in 1843. It’s well-written, short, and inspirational.

(We love the audiobook version read by Jim Dale. It’s so good. If you haven’t listened to anything he’s narrated, imma need you to go find some at the library. Stat.)

I didn’t know much about Dickens’s personal life or why he wrote this Christmas story until recently. What I learned was quite interesting: “A Christmas Carol” came about because of debt. And lots of it.

Dickens and Debt

Apparently debt was a familiar companion to Dickens and his family. He grew up poor. His father was sent to a debtors’ prison when Charles was 12, and Charles was left to support his family by working in a miserable factory. Their family was always struggling to make ends meet.

Even as he became a well-known writer, he still had a hard time managing money. He spent more than he made. He accrued his own debts, and became responsible for his father’s debts too.

By 1843, a few of his novels had flopped and his fourth child was on the way. Desperate, he wrote what he called “a Ghost Story of Christmas” in a quick six weeks. It was published on December 16, sold out by Christmas Eve, and has been a Christmas favorite ever since.

Money, Money, Money

If you know this Christmas classic, then you know money is a theme throughout. Scrooge loves it more than anything and anyone. He’s greedy, cheap, and selfish—the ultimate miser. He ignores the poor and rolls his eyes at any sort of joy. One Christmas Eve he’s shown his past, present, and future, and learns that he’s horribly off-target with his business-centric life. Mankind is his business. Charity, mercy, and kindness mean far more than his money.

“A Christmas Carol” saved Dickens that season, but unfortunately it didn’t solve all his money problems. He kept struggling to live within his means. He could have used a budget app. Dickens famously wrote about the misery of debt in his 1850 novel “David Copperfield”:

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

A Ghostly Reminder

Being in debt makes you think about money too much. You fear it, you hate it, you need it. There’s never enough. Your life becomes all about making money.

Bah! Humbug!

“A Christmas Carol” reminds me that focusing only on debt and money does no one any good. Debts keep you desperate and miserable. Greed freezes your heart. A balanced life brings peace, including financial peace.

In the preface to “A Christmas Carol” Dickens wrote:

“I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an Idea which shall not put my readers out of humor with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their house pleasantly and no one wish to lay it.”

May you be pleasantly haunted this holiday season.

Where to Go?

by Beks

Illustration of moving boxes labeled Kitchen, Dishes, Books, and Bedroom

We canvased north, northeast, and eastern Texas trying to find a city to settle. The problem is, they were ALL lovely. Sure, we leaned more toward certain areas but there was no clear winner. Texas is all around pretty.

My sister told us she was considering a move to Tennessee from Kansas. Since it’s relatively close to were we are camping, we drove over to meet her there. We looked at some areas with her but had the same feeling, where on earth do we go?? She won’t move for another 2 ½ years and even then, she’s not entirely positive she’ll move. As much as I liked Tennessee, I like Texas more. I don’t want to move to Tennessee only to have her decide to stay in Kansas.

We went back to Texas, frustrated that we can’t seem to make up our minds.

I’ve always picked a spot to live based in the standard ways: School. Family. Job. I finished school 20 years ago and I don’t have any plans to go back in the near future. We have no family in Texas or Tennessee (though we do have family in Kansas, hence the general desire to stay in northern Texas). The job I will likely be taking is remote with annual travel to the California coast.

If it were up to me, I’d find a house on a couple acres on the outside of town and pay cash. The problem is, my job is remote for now but if I decide to take a more traditional job in the future, I can’t live in the country. I have a low tolerance for long commutes. Do I live in the country for now and move if I ever take a different job? Will it be hard on the kids to be uprooted again? As an FYI, I grew up in the country on 8 acres. I’m aware of the work associated with large pieces of property and I know what it’s like driving 20 minutes to the closest grocer. As a kid, I loved where we lived. I want that for my kids.

And when is the right time to sell our house? We’re feeling the pressure to sell as the California market is ridiculously hot right now. Our house value is the highest it’s ever been. In our neighborhood, the houses don’t even make it to market. They sell before they are listed. It’s always that delicate dance of trying to predict when it will level off/fall or continue to rise. We bought our house in 2007 thinking the market had cooled not realizing it had 4 more years of cooling left. Are we selling when we think it’s hit the top not realizing it has years left to climb? I’m starting to sound like a crazy person!

It’s a weird position to be in but in these times of COVID where more jobs are going remote, I think there will be more people in it. Here’s my question for you, have you been in this spot? If so, what did you choose?