How long are you willing to wait to save a few bucks? I’ve been asking myself that lately. I was ready to paint the boys’ bedroom in July, before school started. Except my home repair envelope was empty. I hosted a garage sale in August and earned enough money to buy paint if it’s on sale.
That sale is supposed to happen this Labor Day Weekend. By waiting I’ll save around $40. Waiting also means I could either move the boys out of their room until I leisurely finish it; This would displace them while they are trying to get good sleep and be organized for going to school, OR I could push myself and paint their room and put it back together over the 3 day weekend.
The pushing sounded like a good plan a month ago, before I knew how much other fun we’d have opportunities for this weekend. It’s going to be a blast of family experiences with some little pockets of time for painting smooshed in. I’ll need to be efficient.
I’m still feeling optimistic though. I took the popcorn ceiling removal, skim coating and ceiling painting off the schedule this time. I decided I could do that part later. Maybe NEXT summer so they aren’t disrupted during the school year.
I’m optimistic because I’m thinking about all the ways I can bribe my teenagers to help with the painting. My first plan is try the Tom Sawyer method and to make it so much fun that they can’t stay away. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to try candy…and then money. If all that fails I’ll remind them of the hours of labor it took to bring them into the world. That should do it.
Living debt free can be hard. Sometimes we wait for things or do without. We make hard decisions about what we can and can’t do. Sometimes we face criticism of friends and family. It’s hardest when we see other people enjoying the immediate gratification of debt, while we wait. Since we aren’t there for their private moments when the consequences of debt are felt, it’s hard to remember they still exist.
It’s impossible to rightly judge another person’s choices unless we are there, loving their family as much as they do and knowing every detail of their income and expenses. We can’t really know what we would do in their shoes without being in them.
Recently I had to make a tough financial decision that made some friends close to me question my faith. The decision was painful, but the criticism was more painful. They thought I should move ahead and commit to something that I couldn’t pay and trust that the money would come. Since the money wasn’t there, we chose to live within our means.
As hard as waiting and doing without can be, living with debt is WORSE. It’s a panic that is there all the time. An awful feeling that becomes so familiar you don’t realize it’s there until it’s gone. We choose freedom.
That’s why we wait.
And think how hard our kids have it with peer pressure-without the maturity to really cope with the stress. You are right! Do not go backwards just so someone will agree with your decision!
Thanks, Kristy! It helps to find like-minded friends.
Angela,
You always inspire me to stay determined to stay debt free (except for the house, unfortunately). I figure we’re being better stewards of God’s money, and He will be able to use us more when we have no debt. Living within your means means you do trust God; it means we learn contentment with little or contentment with much; we learn patience. Those are good things. Keep it up!
Thanks, Lisa. It will be such a great day when we get our homes paid off! I love the bit about being content with little or with much.
You are so persistent about your home improvement. Home décor is a complete afterthought for me. Now that I’m in my 40’s, I think to myself, “Maybe I should start pulling it together”. But with working, volunteering and family life, AND an un-handy husband that doesn’t care if you can walk in a straight line without tripping in our house, I figure that as long as folks are fed and have clean underwear and socks, I’m good. It just doesn’t ever seem like I have the time. But then I don’t MAKE the time either….
Holly, If it’s not a big deal to you, don’t make it a big deal. Growing up we were always clean and safe and had meals as a family. My mom didn’t do home decor because she was too busy making our lives amazing. It was a great childhood.
You’re my hero. That is all.
Oh Stacy, I love you. You are a great encourager.
Hugs to you.
It’s really very hard to wait in this instant gratification world. I struggle with this all the time! I like your sentiments a lot. “Here is why we are waiting” would work better in my brain than “I can’t do that right now because…”
Yes! Focus on what your goal instead of what you can’t have, love it
Good luck with the paint project! I’m trying to convince myself of the same thing – that displacing the kids for a weekend sometime soon is do-able if we stay on task and that the results will be worth all the work 😉
Thanks for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty link party
Thanks for stopping by, Alayna. I’m excited to see your project when you get it done.
I am so bad at waiting, and I have incurred a lot of debt over the last 3 years. We had been debt free for the first 10 years of our marriage, and then we took out a line of credit for a car we really didn’t need right away. That line of credit just kept growing and growing, and now I am working a ton to finally try to pay it all off. Wish I would have waited. But at least I have people like you who encourage me to keep working at it even though I made a mistake! Thanks!
Hugs, Jessica. We all make mistakes. Kudos to you for turning it around!
God honors faithfulness. His word admonishes us to be good stewards of what we are given to manage. I am inspired by and edified by your example. If I lived near you I’d help you paint those rooms.God Bless.
Delloraine, It would be so much fun to paint together! Thank you for your encouragement
ugh…I’m glad you didn’t commit to something you couldn’t afford. That’s not faith, that’s presumption. Listen, I have a bipolar mother who is constantly getting into financial messes over the “God will provide” banner. And then she gets mad at God when he doesn’t come through. She is confusing God with Santa Claus I’m afraid. 😉 God doesn’t always share our plans, lol.
Thanks, Melanie. I agree with you. God has his wisdom in the scriptures about first counting the cost and not being a borrower. I laid it before him several months in advance and worked as hard as I could. When the money didn’t come as fast as we needed it to, we took it as a sign that we need to make choices that fit with what God provided. It has worked out pretty well.