Why I Want to Live Debt-Free (& What’s in it for YOU)
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To live debt-free is not as impossible as it might sound. I was once a skeptic, but now I’m a believer that we can live within our means. Here’s why I think it’s a valid pursuit.
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Almost eleven years ago my husband and I were convicted to stop using credit and to pay off our debts. Thanks to God, Dave Ramsey, and some hard work, we were able to do just that.
Nowadays we don’t spend money we don’t have and except for a mortgage on a rental property, we have no debts. I’ve told our “get out of debt” story before and shared how we did it.
Today I want to share the WHY behind all that effort.
Why I Want to Live Debt-Free
What’s the big deal? Why should we live a debt-free life? Isn’t the American Way, life, liberty and the pursuit of more stuff? Isn’t a mortgage and a couple car loans a rite of passage? Isn’t plastic the only way?
No, ma’am. I beg to differ.
Now, before you get all antsy at me, let me tell you that I was once a MAJOR, BIG-TIME skeptic about this debt-free living stuff.
Sure, I’d heard about people being “convicted to live debt-free,” but I figured that it was just unnecessary. Credit was a resource that God had given us to get by in this world. Hmmm…. and HA! I don’t think so.
Here are a few of the reasons why me and my house prefer to live debt-free.
Our expenses are lower.
Since we do not have car payments, school loans, or credit cards to pay each month, the money on the paycheck is ours to spend. Obviously we have rent and utilities to pay for, but overall our expenses are lower and we get to decide where our money goes.
We’ve been able to create so much wiggle room in our budget, that we’ve been able to take our family of 8 on month-long trips to Europe. TWICE. Reason enough? Yes’m.
We aren’t “behind.”
We belonged to the school of thought that said credit cards were okay as long as you “paid if off each month”.
Well, that is still debt! We were always a month behind. Instead of the paycheck going toward’s tomorrow, it was paying for yesterday. I’d rather pay it forward than backward.
We aren’t slaves to debt.
The Bible says that the borrower is slave to the lender. And it’s true. When we had debts, we were obligated to someone else. Today we’re responsible to ourselves.
We aren’t living speculatively.
Some of the reasons that our country has been in a mess financially is due to speculative behavior, spending money that you don’t have on something that may or may not increase in value in the future.
Using credit, in my experience, was risky. Sure, we might make it big, or as it turned out, we might be unemployed for a time and be stuck in major debt with two houses we couldn’t sell in a down economy.
I prefer to spend what I have rather than hope for “something” to pan out.
The view is better when you’re not in the hole.
Life can feel pretty depressing when you’re in debt and your money — and your life — are not your own. It’s amazing how different it feels not to have financial obligations.
When I filled out our rental application for this home, there was no longer a list of creditors to claim! We have more freedom than before and it feels different.
Most importantly…
We rely on God instead credit.
When we used credit cards, we knew we had a back-up. We felt this false sense of security that if we couldn’t make the ends of each paycheck meet, well, we could carry over to the next month by letting a little balance ride.
Now that we don’t rely on Visa, Mastercard or American Distress, we rely on God.
And who better to rely on? Who can calm a raging storm? Who can feed the multitudes with a young boy’s lunch? Who knows what we need before we need it? He does.
Paying off debt was one of the hardest, yet one of the most fulfilling things my husband and I have ever done. I realize that for some it sounds ridiculous. Wouldn’t be the first time I did something strange.
For others it seems impossible. But, I think you’d be amazed at how do-able it can be. Curious? Head here.
Do you live Debt-free?
Originally published January 19, 2010. Updated March 17, 2018.
Wow, talk about good timing. I just started the process of trying to get out of debt yesterday. Its going to be a long journey but i know it will be worth it. Im in your kitchen survival workshop and now i want the “not your mamas freezer cookbook” but its not in the budget anymore. First time in my life using a budget. Im excited and want to teach the kids good money habits now.
You are making one of the best decisions ever. Now that we’ve got two in college, God has worked the details that we’re even able to get them through college debt-free. They’re doing a lot of the work (working jobs, taking the train, packing lunch), but it’s so great to think that they WON’T have a 100K in school debt when they’re done.
I am debt free, except for my mortgage. I am planning on paying off the mortgage in the next few months (paid off a 30 year mortgage in 15 years).
Great job!
Great post over at Erin’s site — I love how you “beg to differ” about feeding your family for less! Loved this post as well. I especially liked how you describe using credit cards on #2. We used to use a card that we “always paid off”, but it just felt different when we stopped altogether and started using cash or debit. Using a card almost felt like hedging your bets against something happening leading you to want more money available in your checking, instead of doing the responsible thing and bulking up an emergency fund instead.
I passed along a award, if your interested in taking part in.
It took me and the hubby several years to get debt free, except for the car and our house and MILs house. No one would ever imagine having to use their life savings because their 4-year old was the victim of a horrible crime, but that is my story. Had we not been debt free I don’t know how we would have fought to protect our daughter and get her the medical help she needed that wasn’t covered by insurance. This was going to be part of our retirement, and I know we shouldn’t have gone there but I’d rather be poor later in life knowing I put a predator behind bars and did everything possible to give my 4-year old the opportunity to have a life not marked by the word ‘victim’. This was more than an emergency, but being debt free and living frugally gave me the peace to know that I can fight. No one can ever anticipate being a victim of a crime, and I would NEVER want anyone to have this experience. But being debt free allowed me to quit everything and just focus on healing my daughter and our family.
I love stories of God’s provision as we throw off the chains of bondage to debt! Thanks for the encouragement 🙂 We spent a year living in our friends’ basement so we could pay off some some of our student loan debt and save up for a down payment on our first place. I know it wasn’t exactly the way Dave Ramsey would suggest, but for our new location and with my husband working from home, our house costs us about the same as renting a decent townhouse.
We are really excited about paying off even more student loan debt this year with some hard work and provision from the Lord!