Money Saving Mom®

Guest post from Andria.

The last time I saw my grandmother was six years ago when my husband and I were on our honeymoon. We now live on the other side of the country and our two boys have never met their 90-year-old great-grandmother.

The Challenge

We are determined to make the 2,300-mile trip to visit her this year, and to do it debt-free!

The price tag for the trip is about $2,000. We are not going to use our savings or credit card. We are going to sell our way to California, and simultaneously accomplish our goals for the year: de-clutter, organize, and simplify our home!

I tend to be a neat freak, but in the past year, I have become increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” accumulating in our home. Perhaps my sentimental tendencies are to blame; it’s hard for me to part with toys we have given to our boys, gifts we have been given, etc. But I’m running out of space and something has to be done!

The Plan

We set aside one evening a week and several hours on Saturdays to de-clutter our home. We tackle one room at a time – together. We feel it is important to stick together since we are making tough decisions as to what stays and what goes.

We start at one end of a room and go through every nook and cranny, getting rid of everything we can reasonably live without. This is a time-intensive task as the contents of drawers, countertops, shelves, and closets are examined and put to the test:

• Did we use or wear it in the past year?
• Is it broken or missing pieces?
• Is it getting in the way?

If something doesn’t pass the test, it goes in the trash or a “to sell” box.

Granted, the heartstrings of sentimental value have been tested at every turn, but we press on because we’re tired of clutter, and we want to reach our vacation goal!

So far we have tackled three rooms, and our home is already feeling much “lighter.”

Here are some of the items we have set aside to sell so far:

• trumpet/music books
• spare table and chairs
• old-fashioned stereo cabinet
• various electronics
• kitchen gadgets/cookbooks
• clothing/jewelry/purses
• blankets/quilts
• toys/baby items
• books/magazines

We set aside a large section of our garage as a holding area for the boxes of things to sell. Our goal is to finish the task by the end of February and have a celebratory garage sale in March. We will also be selling some items online (Facebook, eBay, Craigslist, etc.)

The hope of an exciting, debt-free family vacation is a powerful motivation for us as we de-clutter our home. The more we sell, the sooner we can go to California!

Andria Alexander lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and two sons. She teaches coupon classes in the tri-state area, has a weekly coupon segment on KDKA TV, writes bi-monthly newspaper articles, and blogposts.

Guest post by Jen Leo

Three years ago…

My husband was laid off. I was five months pregnant and we had copious amounts of bills from spending six years of marriage living beyond our means. Gratefully, I was still able to work full-time, but the unemployment compensation was substantially less than what my husband had been making.

It took six months before my husband found another job, and in that amount of time, we learned that we could live on much less than we thought.

Fast forward a year…

My heart’s desire is to stay home with our son, and we’ve learned from those six months that we can make it work with a tighter budget. So I quit my full-time job and took a job as my church’s secretary working only about 12 hours a week.

My husband is still gainfully employed but our budget is tight so I start following blogs like MoneySavingMom.com to learn how to stretch our dollars. More importantly, I read a life-changing book by Dave Ramsey called The Total Money Makeover and decide to focus all of our energy into paying off debt.

This past year…

On a smaller income than we’ve ever had, we have managed to pay off two credit cards, two hospital bills, and one student loan (roughly $3000), plus put aside $1000 in an emergency fund.

After we paid off our final credit card, my husband was let go from his job…again. While this was a considerable blow to us emotionally, and our fervent prayer is for him to find work soon, I know that because of our diligence over the past year we can breathe a little easier on the financial front.

This layoff is going to be much different since I’m no longer working full time and we have a three-year-old at home. I’m not going to lie, I find myself stressing over how we’re going to make it. But I also look at the three years he was employed as a “transition”.

This job allowed us to pay off thousands of dollars of debt and has allowed us to have a small cushion to fall back on in this unexpected time. It’s also freed us up for my husband to find a job he really likes that may make less money than we’re used to because we don’t have this debt hanging over our heads.

I will choose to look at this time as another growing opportunity and another example of how God will bless us if we’re faithful.

Jen Leo shares her life with a wonderful husband, an amazing son, and two dogs. Next to her family, her greatest passions are quilting and finding a great deal!

photo credit