I had a Plastectomy.

MisterKidd and I recently accomplished a feat that only a few adults ever will (and even fewer will ever want to). It took sweat, tears, crushed pride, and lots of NO, but we made it.

Except for the mortgage on our home, the Kidd family is debt free.

We don't owe any of you fools any money. We're square. We've cut up the cards (plastectomy), burnt the envelopes, and reallocated that income to bigger and better things. Our items are officially ours, we're finished borrowing them, and

we are never going back.

We shared this news with 1,500 of our closest friends last night and got a ton of feedback, so much that I decided to share a little about our journey so far (no, we're not finished yet) and give some practical tips. MisterKidd and I agreed that we wouldn't share in detail about our journey until we were completely finished, but I am realizing how big of an accomplishment this step is from all of the questions we've had today. I think it seems so far away for some of you, and I want to help you understand how attainable it actually is! You can do this!

We have always been money conscious people. We both come from families that taught us to work hard. My mama taught me that if you don't pay your bills early, they're late. Before, we were broke college students, then we got married and became a broke college student and a server at IHOP. Now, we are a SAHM and a non-profit worker. Fortune 500 has never been a part of our description.

Because of our "try hard" nature, I have always pushed myself to manage our money well and cut our expenses where I could. I have grocery shopping down to a science; we are conscious of our energy and water usage; we don't make large, frivolous purchases. But something just wasn't adding up. Money was slipping through the cracks somewhere every month, but I had no record of where it was going because we have always used cash (after over-drafting our checking account several times early in marriage).

We were so tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Our bills were always paid on time, but it seemed like we could not get a handle on our money. Then we began the home buying process and were forced to scrutinize our finances. Everyone involved, including us, wanted to know if we could actually afford to buy a house.

Enter: Dave Ramsey

I checked a book out from the library, and MisterKidd was given a copy of it. We stayed up late every night for a few days reading and talking and planning and getting angry at our debt. It was a magical time. 

That was six months ago. We are now on Baby Step Three of Dave Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps to Financial Freedom as outlined in his book, The Total Money Makeover. We're not even halfway through our goals, and I already feel like our financial life has been completely changed for good. There are only great things to come.

I don't want to repeat everything from the book and/or website that you could read on your own, so I will just share a few things that have really changed our viewpoint when it comes to our finances.

Debt is Debt.

If you have a loan from a bank for a car, truck, boat, house, business, or scooter, you are in debt. You have a thing that you use that belongs to someone else. If you have a credit card and you use it to pay for furniture, clothes, food, or toilet paper, you are in debt. You have a thing that you use that belongs to someone else. If that loan or credit card has interest of any kind, you are paying extra to borrow that thing until you finish paying for the thing. You are in debt. You might be $3000 in debt, you might be $85,000 in debt, but debt is debt. (This might be obvious to some, but it wasn't to us. Be encouraged if it wasn't to you, either.)

Debt is Bad.

Proverbs 22:7 says "...the borrower becomes the lender's slave." Before Christ, I was a slave to my sin and my flesh (Eph. 2:3). I did whatever my sin wanted, which was ultimately to destroy me. In Christ, I am to be a slave to no one but Him. Thankfully, he only wants my good (Romans 8:28). By being in debt, I am choosing slavery to someone or something else. I am saying that what I want right now (car, boat, house, furniture) is more important than the freedom Christ offers me in Him.

Romans 13:8 tells us to "owe no one anything, except to love each other..." WOW. Does Capital One count, Paul? I think it does. The only thing you should owe to another person is love. In our culture, our money and good credit are owed to us for our hard work, and our love is reserved as a gift. I think we've missed the mark on that one as well.

Don't Bible, Bro?** Let's explore "Debt is Bad" from a logical standpoint. You need a new car (or you feel like you might possibly want a new car), so you go to the dealership and pick out a brand new [insert car of your dreams]. You sit down at the desk with the guy, get approved for the loan, sign the papers, get the keys, and drive away. BAM. Your car is now worth half of what it was 20 minutes ago, and you will pay thousands more for it than the sticker price. 

It's called "interest," which makes it sound harmless, good even. I mean, it rhymes with Pinterest...but it should be called "the extra money you have to pay because you actually can't afford to buy this car." It's like a penalty for poor planning. 

Here's Dave's solution to the cycle of debt that is car buying.

Budgets are Essential. 

The old me thought that my "budget" was a list of my bills. We needed to bring in more than that number, and what was left over was just ours. I've learned that a budget must be zero-based to be effective; every penny must be accounted for and told where to go. I hadn't been doing anything close to that, so I was always left wondering where our money had gone. Now we have a strict budget and use that in conjuncture with the envelope system. The results are guilt-free purchases, personal discipline, and the ability to set and attain financial goals.



Later in the week, I'll post some of the actual myths and lies our ears have received about money management in the last six months, our plans moving forward, and maybe a word or two from my sponsor (MisterKidd) on how we plan to aquire things while remaining debt free. 


**Bro, you should Bible. Ask me anything.