We began August at 57.8% of our house savings goal and we ended the month at 65%!
I about fell over when my husband did the math and told me the final tallies. It's so excited to finally be getting really close to something we've long dreamed about, talked about, prayed about, and worked very hard towards.
Recently, a blog reader I had the privilege of meeting in real life was commenting to me about how difficult it must be for us to be waiting to purchase a house when we could afford to go out and pay 65% down on a home which is roomier and better-suited for our family than the rental we're currently in.
While having more than two bedrooms would be nice and having a larger yard that doesn't back up to a busy highway would also be a wonderful thing, neither my husband or I feel like we're in the least bit miserable waiting to pay 100% down. In fact, we both are very determined we want to stick it out to our 100% goal–even if it takes longer than we hope.
Why? Well, for one, we want to stand by our commitment to stay out of debt. We understand that this is not possible for everyone in every situation. That said, we do believe it is much more possible than many people believe it to be. And we hope that we might be an inspiration to some of you to set big goals and work hard towards them.
We also want to be an example to our children. Growing up, my parents had a dream of getting out of debt and then buying land and building a debt-free house out in the country. They worked hard towards that goal and when I was 12 years old, we not only had paid off our house, we had purchased land, built a house, and moved in.
Seeing their example made a major impact upon my life and this is one of biggest reasons we're currently aggressively saving towards buying our first home debt-free. It is our hope that our children can stand on our shoulders–just as we seek to stand on the shoulders of our parents–and, who knows? Perhaps they will be able to buy their first home with cash before they are even married!
In addition, we want to be the best stewards of the resources we have so that we can bless as many people as possible. We aren't seeking to pay cash for a house so that they we can go pursue some extravagant lifestyle. Instead, paying cash for a house is just the first step in a long line of goals we have for our family as we seek to make an impact in this world by giving of our resources to help those in need.
We feel that living a life without payments and with a strong financial plan in place will better enable us to reach out to those in need. And we're incredibly excited about the possibilities to give and serve with our finances–as God allows us to do so. (By the way, there's an excellent video here which has been a huge inspiration to us in this regard.)
So yes, our home might be a wee bit small right now, our yard even smaller, and it might seem very counter-cultural for us to wait just a little bit longer until we've saved up 100% to pay cash for a home, but we're willing to wait because we know that someday it will be worth the sacrifices!
(If you're new here, be sure to check out this post where I explain in detail why we've committed to this "crazy" idea to pay 100% down on a home. )
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How did you do in August? Whether
or not you posted financial goals for 2009, please take a moment to
post about your financial successes and/or failures in August and, if you'd like, the areas
you hope to improve in September. Then, come back here and leave your link
below. If you don't have a blog or would rather share anonymously, feel
free to leave your update in a comment. Let's all keep each other
accountable to be better stewards of
our resources!