Sometimes when things feel overwhelming, it’s hard to remember that this is only one chapter of our life.
When we got married 4 years ago, I brought over $100,000 of student loan debt with me. Jordan had about $20,000 of his own. Within our first year of marriage, both of our old clunker cars bit the dust and we bought new cars (fairly cheap, but regardless.. two car payments). Debt… LOTS of debt… has been a major part of our life together and most likely will be for a long time.
We took Financial Peace University. We did the monthly budgeting and the cutting out of “extra” expenses like vacations, cable, new things for the house, etc. We committed ourselves to paying off our debt. Every month, for the past four years, the debt has been the driving force behind our budget.
Debt has affected every aspect of our life. Nothing is untouched. We will be renting for many years to come because we can’t qualify for a home loan (and really, we have no interest in adding to our debt). We have to watch every dollar we spend because even one careless purchase could mean we won’t have enough to pay a bill. We buy most clothes and shoes used, and very rarely do we go out to a restaurant that isn’t McDonald’s or some other cheap fast food. Even with eating out, we only do that once a week. Everything about our spending is intentional and carefully budgeted… it has to be.
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the massive amount of money we still owe. I feel like a failure and feel like I set our family up for a lifetime of financial struggle. It feels like we will never know a life without a mountain of debt.
In those moments, I have to remind myself that this is only a chapter of our life. It might be a long chapter, but it won’t be forever. We hope to have the cars paid off in the next year, and that will free up a lot of money to put towards the student loans. The budget plan is working, even if it feels like snail pace. We are making progress. It will not be this way forever. One day, we can make our debt-free scream. 😜
Kristen Stewart, Writer 