A Short Update

I know it's been a little while since I have updated. June 2012 I was able to pay off the debt I owed the vet of $1500!! I moved on to start paying off credit cards. I have made a nice dent in them, however they have not been paid off. I have learned how to keep myself on a strict budget and so far, it has worked! Don't ever doubt yourself in anything. Just put your mind to it and you can do anything you want to. That's the secret to paying off debt, losing weight, doing the impossible! Good luck!!

Debt Free journey.....

well it's the end of the year, the last day and guess what? I'm not debt free. Kinda disappointing but I have a new fresh perspective on debt. Another credit card was paid off this month, however I have accumulated a new debt and am now taking it on along with the vet bill debt. They are letting me do $25 weekly payments. No worries, from my math it should be paid off by the end of June 2012. Assuming nothing happens, it could be paid off sooner. God has it all worked out. The new debt I accumulated was Lane Bryant but at least it's less than $200 and probably will be paid off by the end of February 2012. I have seen God's faithfulness all year; regardless of what I have dealt with; my job moving, me moving, dog's surgery; blizzard in January. God is so faithful and so good all the time. I cannot wait to see what he does in 2012! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! See ya next year!!

Well, well, well.....

Just when I thought I saw the light at the end of the tunnel....here comes another train! But I'm alive and well and that's the most important thing to me, period! Sicilia had to have surgery in March, broke my heart that it happened. She swallowed a few plastic bags, a screw, and a few other pieces of junk. It was at the time I changed her dog food. I changed it back to her old food and nothing thus far (PRAISE GOD). It cost me $1500 to get her fixed! It was so worth it though. If I never started this debt journey, I would have never been smart enough on how to arrange the financing on it. I told them to put $500 on CareCredit (which I was approved for) with no interest for 6 months. Then after the 6 months, I will just make an arrangement to pay the vet office every month until it is paid off. I had to have new rotors on my car, which that cost $253 (Thankfully, 6 months no interest).  So I am basically back over $2400 in debt, BUT I am learning how to be patient and frugal with everything. I am using more coupons, getting less gas, less groceries, etc.

Now, on to the other news that happened in March right after Sicilia's surgery (how convenient, right?), I find out my job is moving to Fairburn, GA (which my commute will change from a 7 mile commute to a 47 mile commute-one way!). So at the end of this lease, assuming I am still there and everything is ok with God :) I am moving to the southside of Atlanta. I feel I am done with this area and it is time for me to move on with my life and let God show me new avenues so I don't drag the OLD stuff behind me and I start all fresh and new. It's exciting but scary at the same time. I am ready for a nice new fresh start and ready for God to show up and show out!! So after I inquired about breaking my lease or transferring to another complex, they decided it was convenient for them to charge me the pet deposit I owe them, $300. UGH! *gasp* *choke* Rachael and Keith are talking about moving to Louisville, KY after their lease is up in November, as mine is as well. So lots of changes which make lots of things exciting but scary at the same time.

I just need to keep seeking God in all of this and let him show me the way! So whoever out there is reading this, please pray for my safety and God's will on my life.

March surprises!

Just when I thought I was on my way to getting out of debt.....God shows up to show me it is not time. Last week, my dog got into some plastic bags and got very sick. She wasn't eating and she was just depressed/lethargic. I thought maybe it's just nausea, well it wasn't. I took her to the vet Friday morning and they told me the barium wouldn't penetrate to show what happened. So they have to do surgery to open up her little tummy and remove all the junk out. They found a screw, paper, plastic bags and who knows what else. I let them do the surgery and they said she did very well. I was told the surgery and everything will cost over $1000 but I had to save my dog. She has been with me since 2002 and I saved her then. So, I took the hit and decided this will be the major debt of the year and will do whatever I can to have this paid off. If it wasn't for God working through me about being frugal and debt free, I would just let them charge it all at the same time. This time I am going to let them charge me in payments instead of charging all of it and it will keep me on my toes because the limit is only $500! I realize this is what true unconditional love is, to make a debt sacrifice for an animal to let them survive. Then I realized the debt God paid through sending His son to the cross to die for me and to pay all of my debts as sin. So this debt I am taking on is NOTHING compared to what He did for me! Sicilia will live, I will live and God will ALWAYS live through me. Thank you Lord for teaching me a lesson in the midst of all of this. Someone else pointed out to me you could also look at it as your stomach is full of junk and God came along to clean out all the junk and let you live! WOW! Now I am at peace with all of this because God is in control of MY life and I am not of this world! Amen!

February Update

I have been using mint.com and it has been great. God has really been showing some stuff to me. I feel that He is doing this for a greater reason that I don't even realize what His plan is. :) I read in the Bible the diligent prosper and we are not supposed to owe anybody ANYTHING. So, that makes me feel better about deciding to be debt free in 2011. It's a struggle, but with God's help, nothing is a struggle. God is amazing in how He shows me to just trust Him. God's will, I will have another credit card paid off the first week of March and possibly another one in April. With God, I could even possibly be paying off more that what MY plan is because HIS plan is much greater than mine. Thank you Father for showing me how to trust you and open the floodgates up for me to live a fearless life and show others how to trust in you with just a mustard seed of faith. I receive your blessings and believe there are more for me out there! In Jesus Name, AMEN!

January 30th, 2011

I am at almost $2200 in debt as of now. I have paid off a credit card as of January 7th! I was really excited about it too. It was $180 and I paid it off all at once, by listening to the still voice of God telling me to. After I paid it off, I was stressing over gas, groceries etc. I got $15 of gas (@ $3 a gallon) and $24 of groceries! The snowstorm came Sunday night, so I was not able to go to work Monday OR Tuesday. So, I only needed gas for Wednesday and Thursday because I get paid on Friday. THANK YOU LORD!! Now, why can't I use that example moving forward? I didn't pay my tithe this week, which I feel extremely guilty about. I don't understand why either because He has grace and mercy on me. I don't miss that often and when I do, I feel all this guilt. I guess it's because my love for God is so strong and He's never left me before, so why am I mistrusting him now? Bills got overwhelming and I didn't have enough left to pay everybody so I figured I would skip out on the tithe so I could pay my other bills. Now, I don't have enough for groceries and that's going to cause me to pay for groceries with my credit card. I THINK NOT SATAN! I have food in my household and I just have to keep trusting God to get me through this week. I have an abundance of everything, sometimes I just don't feel it sometimes. This year, I'm going to be DEBT FREE!! GET OVER IT SATAN! So, my plan is to pay one of my credit cards half the balance then call them and cancel the credit card. The last payment will be due by the time it is paid off. So, that will be 2 cards down, 3 to go. Firestone (which is $750) will be paid for a few months since the interest is so high on it then it will be back to another card that has to be paid off by October. Orchard Bank and a very small balance (below $100) credit card shall be paid off soon as well. Oh, and I owe Thrivent (my life insurance loan) somewhere around $560 and I am hoping to have them paid off as well, but the others are a stronger priority because the interest doesn't accumulate like it does on a credit card. I also owe Sharon $200 for my sofa bed-couch. I would like to have that paid off by March, but I'm not seeing how it's going to be done if I have to have another credit card paid off before April! *sigh* This debt is making me crazy. I never realized how poor I really am until I started paying debt off like this. I feel like I am paying it off in chunks (which is a good thing) but it is OHHHHH so painful to do. I can't wait to find out what it's going to be like paying my car off next. Speaking of car, I have been paying them like $250 instead of the $318 payment so that's going to build up and hurt me too. But I HAVE TO KEEP PRESSING THROUGH!! 2011 will be my year!! If I don't have it all paid off, at least MOST of it will be paid off and I will feel so free again!! COME ON GOD!! LET'S DO IT!! This will be YET another testimony I have to share with others after this journey is over! GOD YOU ARE AWESOME!! Thank you for the many blessings! Open my eyes and show me how to pay all of this off. You are the only one that can make this possible. I know it's a struggle, but how else can I remain faithful if it's not a struggle? You said it would never be easy and you also said you would never leave OR forsake me!! AMEN!!