We Paid Cash

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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A testimony from Lizzie who blogs at A Dusty Frame

I’ve wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer for more than 20 years. While I majored in Home Economics in college, I worked in the bakery and used the huge Hobart mixers. When I first saw the Kitchen Aids (Hobarts for home use!), I wanted one.

I could never justify the expense, and since they are not necessary for living, I never purchased one.

Through the years, I kept watching for sales, but we always had other things to purchase. Then we went through a very long personal trial and money was so tight that I often didn’t even have $2 to spend at the thrift store. Purchasing a Kitchen Aid was out of the question!

Recently, our lives have begun to settle back into something resembling our old “normal” and I began to think about a Kitchen Aid again. Last Thanksgiving, the Kitchen Aid sales were very attractive. My husband told me he wanted me to have one. But we truly didn’t have the extra money even though the deals were super.

So earlier this year, I began save up for “my” red Kitchen Aid.

Here’s what I did:

1. Set aside any unspent money from my personal weekly allowance of $25.

2. Avoided all temptations on Amazon and save up my Swagbucks certificates.

3. Watched for sales.

I had $65.00 saved from my weekly spending money and $68.00 in Amazon certificates when I found the Empire Red Kitchen Aid for sale on Amazon for $231.00. My husband and I decided to give each other a little bit of spending money out of the tax return, and I used mine on the rest of the money I needed to buy my mixer. I placed the order and tracked it all the way across the US!

It looks so pretty on my counter and my son and I are having fun using it. And now, if I need to make something, my son says, “If you need to use the Kitchen Aid I’ll make it!” I consider this an extra value — free child labor!

The breakdown of my purchase is:

• Mixer Total: $231.00
• Used $65.00 Cash
• + Used $68.00 Swagbucks/Amazon certificates
• + Used $98.00 from my tax return money

The best part is that right after I placed the order, I saw that the rebate was still active and I chose a refund instead of the free magazine. I’m still waiting for my $42.00 rebate and that money will go on the next item I’m saving up for.

Lizzie blogs at A Dusty Frame which was born during her husband’s incarceration. Lizzie desires to share how God carried her and that His grace truly is sufficient — even when life stinks! She also shares other bits of their life including books, homeschooling, and crafting — when she’s not too busy using her new Kitchen Aid.

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

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A testimony from Taylor from Stain Removal 101

I’m a work-at-home-Mom of three, so needless to say, I am on very friendly terms with our washing machine! In addition, as part of my home business, I test and review a lot of various laundry supplies and laundry detergents with that very same machine, at Stain Removal 101, so you could say my washing machine and I are a team.

That’s why I was very sad when my “team member” bit the dust during the middle of one of my stain removal product tests. Normally, I’m all for fixing broken appliances instead of just replacing them; however, it didn’t make sense financially to do that this time.

We briefly considered purchasing a lower-end model new appliance, but even the new washing machines without many bells and whistles were quite expensive. In our situation, it made more sense to buy a used washing machine that didn’t have an inflated showroom value anymore.

Plus, buying a used machine also meant that we had enough emergency savings available to pay for it with cash, without dipping too far into those reserves. Yes, we could have purchased a new washing machine with cash too, but I knew how long it would take to replace all that money from the fund if we dipped down so low.

We weren’t comfortable having such a low fund since emergencies are unpredictable — and this ended up being a wise decision, since we also got some wind damage to our roof and needed to use some emergency funds to pay our deductible.

If we’d bought a new machine we would have eaten up too much money at once.

We chose a used machine that was six years old and cost only $250. That was about how much the repair of the old machine might have cost us, and we got a machine 10 years newer!

So far, this machine works great and I hope it will last us as long as our old one did. If I can even get five or ten years out of it, instead of the 13 my previous used model gave us, I’ll have gotten a great bargain. Plus, we’ve still got money in our emergency fund for any curve balls life might throw at us!

Taylor Flanery is former lawyer turned writer, who blogs about all things domestic while working at home with her three kids and husband. You can find her at Household Management 101, Stain Removal 101, and Home Storage Solutions 101.

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

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A testimony from Scott who blogs at In Due Sea$on

As followers of Dave Ramsey, my wife and I live, eat, and breathe avoiding debt. We have been following the Total Money Makeover plan for over four years, and always pay with money we have, versus money we plan to have.

Early in the program, with the threat of a possible job loss, we began to save as much cash as possible, for what Dave Ramsey referred to as the “rainy day fund”. With storm clouds looming, we temporarily halted our debt snowball and socked away as much money as we could for several months. After a job change and a more stable income, we were prepared to put that money back towards paying down our debt.

However, our 27-year-old roof saw to it that our savings would go elsewhere. We tried to hold off as long as possible on the repair. However, once it began to rain in our kitchen, we knew we couldn’t hold off anymore!

After pricing quality roofers in our area, we found a great contractor to do the job for $20,000. For the extensive amount of work we needed, that was actually a good price.

But we wanted better. It’s hard to part with your emergency fund money, even for an emergency.

So, when drawing up the contract, I broached the question, “What will you take for the job if we pay in cash?” A surprisingly quick “$17,000.” was the response. Still painful, but it was encouraging to realize we could have bought a decent used car with the money we saved by “going green”!

That expense set us back close to a year on our Total Money Makeover progress, but I can tell you that it’s a good feeling to pull into our driveway everyday and look at that roof, knowing that it’s paid in full. Had we financed the roof, it would probably have to be replaced again by the time we finished paying off the interest and payments!

 Scott Kerzner blogs at In Due Sea$on, a site based on the life of a Dave Ramsey follower. He and his family just finished Baby Step 2 of the Dave Ramsey plan and have paid off $100,000 of debt… even after many setbacks along the way! 

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

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A testimony from Jaime who blogs at Busy Mom on the Go

When my husband and I found out we were expecting our first baby (a girl!) I decided that this would be a great opportunity to use the cash system. I tend to use the cash system for purchases that have a likely chance of going over the budget and preparing for a baby girl easily fit into that category!

I just sat in the “would-be nursery” room and started imagining all of the ways I could dress it up. My imagination was running wild with ideas of a small chandelier with crystals hanging down, a Princess style crib with the matching changing table, a plush glider in the corner with a little end table adorned with light purple handles… and as you can see I needed to reel myself back in with a cash-based budget approach.

Set Limits

I needed a way to set limits. The cash system lends itself so easily to situations like this one. I could see myself buying a cluster of small items spread out over about seven months and not keeping an accurate track of each item and before too long we’re over the budget.

My husband and I sat down and discussed what we wanted for our baby’s nursery, researched the costs, and then set our cash budget.

Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

After we’d set limits, we had to prioritize our nursery room by creating two categories: needs and wants. As the months passed, we started out with our “necessary” remodel of the room itself.  This included re-painting, installing new carpet, and replacing the old hollow wooden doors with new ones.

Afterward, we knew exactly how much we could spend to start the fun shopping by dressing up the room!

Ask for Help

As a budget conscious initiative I strongly encourage asking family and friends to go in together on baby shower gifts. If it’s appropriate, ask them to help you by buying the larger items off of your list first. My grandmother-in-law had provided us with a new crib and then my mom and sisters went in together to buy us the bedding.

Stay Realistic

Having a baby is such an amazing gift and as parents, we only want the absolute best for our kids. I thought about this when I asked myself initially why I was setting a budget in the first place because, after all, my baby is priceless. 

Realistically though, everything needs a budget. It’s just a matter of determining if the situation best fits into the cash system or not.

Emily was welcomed into this world on Easter Sunday 2011. We brought her home to a beautiful nursery room all while keeping our budget in tact thanks to the discipline of the cash system.

Jaime Pyles is a full-time retirement planner during the day and co-editor of Busy Mom on the Go in the evening. She enjoys sharing her ideas and tips on personal financial management alongside her journey as a blessed mom. She says, “Emily has taught me more in 10 months than I would have learned in a lifetime without her. I love motherhood.” 

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

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A testimony from Carrie from Natural Moms Talk Radio

Today we drove our “new to us” Ford Expedition (with room for eight passengers) off the lot. We’ve been waiting for this day for over two years and we’re so excited that we paid cash for it!

You see, we have six children and ever since our youngest was born 16 months ago, we have not fit into my beloved Toyota Sienna minivan. This means that when we went somewhere as a family, we had to take two cars–a major inconvenience.

During my pregnancy with our sixth, we saved all the cash we could, and thought we would be able to buy a bigger car by the time baby was a few months old. Unfortunately, the tax man came knocking that year, and we wiped out every cent of our savings.

My husband and I are both self-employed, but with several little deductions we weren’t expecting to owe much in taxes. Sadly, we miscalculated and ended up having to pay a lot more than we were expecting. However, we had a very good year! While on the one hand we were thankful that we were able to pay our taxes by stroking a check to Uncle Sam, we were so disappointed not to be getting our larger car anytime soon.

We were back at zero. It was discouraging at first.

My husband and I have weekly budget meetings, so we hunkered down and started thinking of all the different ways we could cut spending and get our savings back up.

Here’s how we rebuilt our savings:

• Had a yard sale.
• Sold a ton of stuff on Craigslist.
• I reduced the grocery budget by: couponing, shopping at ALDI twice a month instead of weekly, and eating less meat.
• We limited eating out to once a month, and only where kids eat free.
• For entertainment we did inexpensive stuff like: stay at home movie night with old fashioned popcorn, visited the library a lot, and played board games.
• Made lattes at home.
• Stopped spending on clothing unless it was half price day at the thrift store.
• Sold a ton of books on Amazon.com.
• Started eBaying again — even the kids got in on it and made money selling old toys!

My husband and I are so relieved to have a car that fits everyone in our family and no debt! In fact, once we sell our Sienna, we’ll have a nice sized “car savings” account again.

Financial Peace University graduates, we ascribe to Dave Ramsey’s “How to Drive a New Car with No Debt” plan. We’ll continue to put money aside each month, and buy a newer large family vehicle every six months or so, until we’re driving something with low miles. And who knows, in a few months we may need a nine-seater!

Carrie is a wife and homeschooling mom of six, a writer and reader of great books. She blogs about living more naturally at Natural Moms Talk Radio.

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

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A testimony from Elizabeth

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

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A testimony from Kelly

As an avid reader of MoneySavingMom.com, I was inspired by Crystal and her family paying cash for their first home — but would have never dreamed it could happen to our family, too!

In 2010, my husband had been selected for a 365 day deployment to Afghanistan, we still owed roughly $10,000 on a student loan and had a couple thousand in savings. Paying cash for a home was not even a goal that we had.

Once the deployment started, we began throwing everything at the student loan and paid it in full after just three months. We were debt free! This was quite a dream in and of itself to us because in 2007 we had $65,000 in debt!

Not having any more debt payments, sticking to a budget, selling many things on Craigslist, and playing the drugstore game really helped us save a huge amount… and at the end of the deployment, we had saved $36,000!

God had been speaking to my husband about separating from Active Duty and while he was in Afghanistan, he was notified there was a voluntary separation pay program that would pay you to get out of the Air Force! He put in for the application and, by the grace of God, he was approved! To add to our savings, my husband also had 90 days of unused leave and the Air Force allowed him to cash in 60 days of that.

Upon returning from Afghanistan, we lived in the Washington, DC area to be near family. Unfortunately, a decent townhome there would run almost $300,000, so paying cash for a home was still far-fetched.

Finally, the separation day had arrived and with our savings and leave and separation pay we had enough to pay cash for a home in Missouri and keep nine months of savings in the bank! It was a tough decision to be so far from family, but we are thrilled to have a home that is completely paid for–and a wonderful church community close by.

Kelly Logan is a 27-year-old homeschooling mom to four little ones 5 and under! She loves going to church, exercising, organizing, saving money, and being a blessing to her family, friends, and strangers alike. She blogs at The First Commandment.  

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

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