Earning & Managing Money

A testimony by Kate from San Diego Deals and Steals

In 2011, we completed our second adoption process – this time completely debt free! One of the ways we did this was by praying my husband’s 99 Camry (with over 250,000 miles and a cracked radiator) would last just a bit longer.

Since we were fundraising for our adoption, we didn’t want to spend any extra on anything unless we absolutely had to. However, as soon as we completed our adoption, our next financial move was to save for a slight upgrade to his car.

We put the money we had been putting in our “adoption fund” into the “newish car fund”. Here are some of the ways we saved:

• working odd jobs
• continuing to cut back our grocery budget and cooking at home from scratch
• enjoying free entertainment – playing at the park, renting free movies, street fairs, etc.
• the little bit of money I made from my blog
• random, unexpected commission checks (hubby is a freelance artist and writer – his commission check was more than we anticipated this year so we got to our goal six months early!)

It all added up and we saved just over $6,000 without touching our emergency fund!  

Our goal was to spend less than $6000 and not include the money we would make from our old car sale. We found a 2004 VW Passat with a little over 100,000 miles (that may seem like an old car to some – but it was dreamy for us!) and purchased it for just under $5,500.

Thank goodness he holds none of his self-worth in what he drives! We have lots of friends with much nicer cars, but he doesn’t care. He says, “Ours is paid for!” (Love him for that).

His new car also gets better gas mileage so he will save about $1 each day on his 40+ mile commute. That is going to help as we continue to work on our Baby Steps. We also sold our car (with full disclosure) for $1,700 the very low blue book value – but we wanted to be honest with our sale.

I know many people would have thought nothing of financing a $20,000 car with that $6,000 down. Instead, we just bought a less expensive car and put the money leftover (the extra $500 from our car savings and the $1,700 from the sale of his old car) into our Emergency Fund savings in the bank.

Kate lives in San Diego CA with her husband Harry, and kids, Josie (homemade), Silas (handpicked from Russia), and Charlotte (handpicked domestically). She is passionate about adoption and having fun in San Diego frugally. You can see more at San Diego Deals and Steals where she blogs about both.

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.

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Guest post by Sarah Mae

My husband has been dreaming of having a truck since I married him nine years ago. He not only loves the idea of having a truck, but it is actually quite practical for a handyman like my man.

But alas, we had no money to spare for a truck. We shared our used van and a motorcycle my dad gave to him as a gift early in our marriage. We lived on about $300 a month for groceries for our growing family of five, and every spare penny went to paying off school loans and collecting homeschooling supplies.

Did I mention my husband cut up all my credit cards when we got married? Oh, yes he did.

Of course, he had them paid off a few months later through his diligence with our budget and not spending what we didn’t have. There were nights I begged him to order a pizza because it was so much more convenient than cooking up a meal, but he stood his ground. We didn’t have the money, period.

My husband’s vision was that if we could scrape by, save, and not spend what we didn’t have in the bank, we would one day be able to pay off debt and have the opportunity to give more. His goal has always been to be able to be generous givers, but it wasn’t going to be possible if we were in debt.

So he worked hard, and he worked overtime, and he stayed focused.

Eventually, I began to earn some money through blogging, and that money went towards books for the babes while he continued to add whatever extra he made to our savings to plan ahead for the unforeseeable.

We had $12,000 of school loan debt and it felt like we were wasting our time just putting an extra $10 towards it here and there, but over the course of the year he was able to look back and see that we were making progress. I’m telling you, the man was diligent and determined.

I’m so proud of him.

The truth is, had I been in charge of our finances (I was for a while — bad idea), we’d be sunk. I’m the spontaneous “oh, we’ll get the money” type. I’d probably have ten credit cards and piles of debt by now.

Thankfully, that man of mine stayed true to taking care of our family and providing. I love him so much for his steadfastness. Because of his focus and self-discipline, our loans were decreasing and he kept us out of additional debt.

All of this allowed me to buy him a truck!

Wait, back up the truck (funny, no?). How did I possibly have the money to buy my husband a truck in cash?

The very fact that my husband kept us out of debt and paid down our debt every step of the way paved the way for the purchase. Through blogging and writing a successful eBook that led to publishing deals, I was able to use one of my advance checks to buy him the truck (a used truck, mind you).

I never would have been able to do so if we still had debt. By this time, we had paid off our used van and school loan debt. I had the freedom to give him a very special gift, one that I had always wanted dreamed of giving him.

Not only are we out of debt except for our mortgage (that’s next!), but he has his dream work truck and we now have the freedom to give more! It’s wonderful, and I have my husband to thank.

Sarah Mae is the author of several eBooks and two soon-to-be-published books, Desperate (Thomas Nelson) and Having a Martha House the Mary Way (Tyndale). She is the owner of the community site Allume.com and the co-host of the national Christian women’s social media conference, Allume Social. Sarah Mae spends her days homemaking, home-educating, writing, reading, and drinking smoothies (now that she’s given up coffee). Her family embraces life in the beautiful Amish countryside of Pennsylvania. You can find her writing almost daily at sarahmae.com.

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A testimony from Amanda

My husband and I bought a home in July. We put 25% down and are paying double payments each month. With the help of my parents, we were able to make some improvements and spruce up the house before we moved in.

Six months later, I was sitting on the floor with my daughter when I started to smell gas. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I called my husband for advice.

He said we should call the gas company and have them come out to investigate. I opened the windows and made the call. A technician arrived in less than 30 minutes.

Our House Was a Ticking Time Bomb

Long story short, our house was a ticking time bomb. We had leaks everywhere in our pipes, they red tagged our home, and they shut off the gas to the whole house.

The diagnosis? We had to have every single inch of gas pipe in our house replaced. Not exactly what you want to hear in the middle of February when you have gas heat!

So Much for the Home Warranty

We were really stressed out it, until I remembered we had a home warranty. When I called, the agent said this would be covered. We were thanking our realtor for making us include it in the deal.

However, when they finally gave us the estimate, most of it was not covered. There was a loophole about codes that left us stuck with the bill instead of it being our insurance company’s responsibility. As a result, the work was going to cost us nearly $1300 to complete and we had no choice but to come up with the money.

Our Emergency Fund Saves the Day

This was a time that I was beyond thankful for our emergency fund. We try to save as much money as possible each and every month, but we always make sure our emergency fund is completely funded. We were able to write a check for the work and didn’t have to worry about their “special financing options”.

Now we have brand new pipes throughout our house and can sleep soundly knowing we won’t have any issues like this in the near future!

Amanda is a part-time work-at-home mom to 9-month-old Allison and wife to Christian. She enjoys loving the Lord, finding ways to cut the chemicals in her family’s life, and experimenting in the kitchen.

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.

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