About two years ago when I was pregnant with my Daughter we came to a spot in our lives where we really needed to figure out what to do about finances since I wouldnt be able to work as much and besides that I really feel that it is important to stay at home with my children. I own and operate a construction cleaning business and do fairly well with it, and only have to work part time to accomodate what we need. But it seemed that no matter how much I worked or how well we thought we were doing, we just kept getting further and further behind. This got me looking into it more. turns out we were not living within our means.. YIKES!... and whats worse is that we were doing this for a while, we soon found ourselves in a heap of debt, and nothing really to show for it. I mean, we have our mortgage and what not... but that is not what I consider debt, rather an investment. I am talking about that consumer debt that is comepletely unnessecary.

Since January 2012 My husband and I have devoted ourselves to becoming debt free! I sold my Classic 1969 mustang fastback (tear),  and anything else that would fetch a price, my husband sold some items as well. this made a sizable dent for sure, however; we have a long way to go yet. All of this really got me stressed out and it was very consuming. So I came to a realization... an epiphany really! CUT BACK!!!! Why do I need to spend so much on groceries? I will do it myself!, grow it, raise it, butcher it... whatever it takes. that will help, what about toiletries? I will make those too, and little things like making my own bread, granola bars, etc. what's next... we live 30 minutes from the next big town, so cut back on my trips to town... I was going to town 3 days a week... that adds up quickly! So now I go in once or maybe twice if needed. which also gives me more times for my crafts... which is another thing that has began to generate income (our fun money). Our goal is to be out of debt within a year... so that we can start enjoying our life again without this big elephant in the room!

I believe that we can do it, and that through all of this we will grasp a new understanding for finances, and lifestlye. Because above all else I have already learned that you cannot change your finances without first changing your lifestyle. And in our Western society we have grown accustom to spending money that isnt ours, and desiring the newest cool thing on the market, or FAD shopping, updating our homes or wardobe every season... YIKES!

I truly desire a simple life that is well within our means, which in turn will mean less time stressing about money and enjoying the season of our young family! Life it far too precious to spend it trying to get ahead, when we should really be trying to be here in the moment, and not waste our most precious commodity... LIFE!

The more we can do ourselves, the less we spend having someone else do it for us, the less we spend trying to make money to have everyone else do it for us! Do it yourself, and you won't have to work as hard to pay for it! This is my goal! This is my old fashioned living dream!