We Paid Cash: A New Baby and HVAC System

A testimony from Kara

Almost a year ago, we found out I was pregnant AND that we needed a brand new HVAC system within a week’s time. The dollar signs and a small amount of panic crept into my mind.

My husband and I are very frugal and have been good with our money, but we hadn’t quite finished paying off my student loans. This meant that we needed to buckle down. We hate having debt (who doesn’t), and having student loans and a mortgage was more than enough.

Here’s how we managed to pay for our HVAC system and save for the new baby without incurring any more debt:

• We we took the $1,000 we kept in our emergency fund and put it toward the HVAC system.
• We asked the HVAC company about discounts — apparently joining their membership program saved us 10% (which is a lot when you are spending a lot) and the membership ended up being free because of my husband’s profession!
• We looked for ways to cut costs. We started making our own peanut butter and bread, which also has the perk of being healthier. We also chose to cloth diaper so that the expense of diapers would be a one-time thing.
• I sold stuff. I joined all of the Facebook garage sale groups in my area and I made some money.
• We used Swagbucks. I worked hard to earn as many Swagbucks as I could and used those toward Amazon gift cards which are the best bang for their buck to buy baby stuff.
• We lived on one income. While we usually like to use both of our incomes, we decided to put my total income towards savings instead of towards fun things. I work part-time, so it wasn’t a ton, but it was something.

When our sweet little girl came over a month early we were so glad we did this! The doctors have no idea why she came so early with a healthy pregnancy, but we were so glad God had prepared us.

We were able to pay for her NICU bill and use the extra we had saved to pay off our HVAC system in full! That was just over $5,000 we were able to pay in cash in 7 months of saving.

Plus, during that time of savings, we were able to pay our taxes, continue to pay our mortgage, and double our payment toward school loans.

Bringing home a healthy baby girl without the worry of paying her bills was absolutely priceless.

Kara is a full-time wife and mother to one, and a part-time instructor of psychology at a community college. In their free time, Kara’s family enjoys going on walks, reading, playing with their dog, and traveling.

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