The Browning DEBT

So this is going to be a lesson in humility for me but not a self-loathing/lashing session like I normally put myself through when I make mistakes. God is teaching me so much through this struggle and every day I learn of His perfect grace and mercy.

I am planning on sharing my complete testimony each week in parts in the hopes that I might encourage and help others who may be headed down the wrong path. This might seem out of place but my testimony has a lot to do with how I got myself into not only a physical debt but a spiritual and emotional debt as well.

But onto the subject at hand: The Browning DEBT-or more accurately SHANNA'S DEBT.

I came into our marriage with $25,000 of credit card debt...I can almost hear the gasps of those who are reading this. I know, I know, I don't understand how I could have accumulated that much debt either, but there it is. After years of "free" living, traveling, etc., my choices had caught up to me. And unfortunately, it affected the love of my life that I never thought I'd meet.

Tim and I discussed my debt before we got married so he knew what he was marrying into. Some marry into money, some marry into a money pit. I was the money pit, but Tim has never looked back and has shouldered most of the burden it's put on our marriage and our lifestyles. There isn't a day that goes by that I am not filled with regret and remorse for the decisions I've made. If only I could have seen into the future to see what it would have done to my future husband, I know I would have made better decisions.

But again, all of that is water under the bridge and I can no longer live in that place of the past. All I have control over is what I do from this point forward and intention to live right, be a wise steward of my money and try to stick as close to our budget as possible to take some of the stress off of Tim.

We created a budget when we first got married that we still use today. It's important just like anything else in life to have a plan. Just like someone who wants to lose weight: by keeping a food journal of what is going in and what is burned (calories in, calories out), you can control how much you weigh. It's the same with debt. No one can be in control of their finances if they have no idea how much they're spending...usually they find out when checks start to bounce or their account overdraws. That was the story of my life and that's part of the reason why I got into so much debt.

Our budget is a simple excel spreadsheet that lists all of our bills by pay period (example: 1st- 15th and the 16th-30th). There is a total sum of our income for that time frame, a total sum of all the exact amount of our bills and a balance of what's leftover. There is also an "extras" column, where we list all of our non-monthly expenses we'll have for that particular month. For example, Mother's Day was in May and we knew we would incur an extra expense outside our normal budget. Or, if I need makeup or Tim needs protein or if we need oil changes or know we're going to need a gift for a wedding, we put it in the "extras". Everything else goes to savings.

It's been amazing using this system because when you sit down and add up just how much you're spending on eating out, coffee, etc it's quite a shocker (when we were dating we probably spent $500 a month eating out!). Tim and I decided that a reasonable amount of personal spending money would be $25 per week. We also decided that $50 per week would be plenty to go out to eat once a week and maybe see a movie. But that's it. No additional expenses over and above what's on our budget. We have a goal to not use our debit cards at all once we've pulled all the cash out that we need for two weeks. It helps us to stay on track because you have a physical reminder of just how much you have left to spend, whereas a debit card is so easy and convenient and you don't see the money leaving your account.

Now, to the good part and how amazing the Lord is. I have gotten about $7,500 in bonuses from my job in the past three months (after taxes about $5,000) and Tim has been working overtime to supplement my income so all of my paychecks could go towards debt (our "debt plan"). We have been able to pay off $10,000 of the $25,000 debt in three months!!! We have been paying the minimum payments for the last year and a half of our marriage and finally got all of them under the limit back in January. We then consolidated 3 of our smaller ones into a 0% interest for 1 year low balance transfer fee credit card so every cent of our payments go towards the principal. I would suggest that to anyone struggling with high-interest credit cards. Bank of America has a great card offer right now with the same type of this and the balance transfer fee was a maximum of $75. Some companies charge you 3% of the total so you end up adding more debt.

It's amazing how God just keeps on giving because we've been faithful stewards of our money, our time, our tithing (as much as we can). It feels so good to actually LEARN from a mistake and even though it's hard (do you know what we could DO with that money???!) God is so completely faithful. He always shines a light and brings a blessing in the midst of darkness. Our plan is to be out of debt in about 5 months with Tim's blood, sweat and tears along with another $2,500 in bonuses from my company before the year is out. Then we are going to CELEBRATE!!!

Anyway, I hope some of you are encouraged by this! If you ever want to see an example of my budget, I would love to send it to you!

Blessings-Shanna