How We Cancelled Debt and Built our House in 5 Years
We had college degrees and a heap of debt when we got married. We were living on love in our one-bedroom apartment in the city. We had taken no financial courses or seminars and were trying to live by God's principles. We understood that it was important to save, give, reap and sow. Here is the story of how we went from debt to homeowners.
In July 2001, we were married. Maurice had already rented our apartment and I had started my first nursing job. With one income we survived for almost nine months when Maurice finally landed a great job in his field. Our first lesson was that we were ONE. I didn't plan on being the breadwinner, but my husband had saved enough prior to our wedding so that our financial life would not depend solely on me while he searched for the right opportunity.
KEY POINTS:
* Save lots of money before you get married (for AFTER the wedding and honeymoon). Do not go broke or in major debt for this one-time event. Focus more on the marriage than the wedding festivities!
* Our money was OUR money from the start. One of the first things that we did was to open a joint checking and savings account.
* We agreed not to go over a certain spending limit in our checking. We were free to spend on whatever we wanted within that limit.
* No credit cards. We paid for everything cash or debit card from our bank.
After that first year, we made it a point to live low. We would not purchase a new tv or cable. We did not have fancy cars (at all!). We began to tackle our college debt and pay off the cars we had already purchased. We had to assess our current eating habits too. We decided that one thing that we would do for ourselves was to eat out since we were saving money in other ways. Our second lesson was learning to do life without comparing ourselves to others. We had to strive for MINIMALISM.
KEY POINTS:
* Buy at the thrift stores. We knew how to be abased and we knew how to abound. The higher end stores were off-limits to us for a long while. I also did a lot of sewing. We mended socks and borrowed clothing for special occasions.
* Stretch meals. We often saved our leftovers from restaurants and made them a different way to avoid boredom with food. We also used coupons and discounts when we could. We did not order out much at all.
* We said NO to many things like trips, retreats, church events (it would require extra gas), conferences or anything that was not required. You have to learn to discern between what is good and what is best.
* Keeping all of our dental and doctor appointments helped us to maximize our insurance and stay healthy. Getting sick is one of the fastest ways to lose money!
Those five years flew by and our goal was to have a house by then. I was expecting to purchase a nice used home and to have already started having children. That was not God's plan. We lost our first child. Read about that HERE. We were devastated, but got pregnant again just 3 short months later. It was time to move.
Maurice felt that the Lord was leading us to build a home. I was very surprised. I didn't think we could afford it. We still had college debt, but it was rapidly shrinking on our plan. We began to research, pray about it and look around.
KEY POINTS:
* Do not jump at every financial opportunity. We almost missed our blessing because other home offers were tempting. Patience is key. Only your house is your house.
* Trust each other to hear from the Lord regarding big financial purchases, especially wives. My job was to fast and pray for my husband to not move until the Lord said so and we both had peace.
* Be careful not to compare your money status to those around you. We had friends who had all the things but were drowning in debt all around us. They bought the truck, were taking trips and taking pics at all the fancy restaurants. We had to stay in our focused lane.
* Your commitment to your marriage will show up in your money. God was first for us. We gave to our church and to the poor together. We saved our money together. We were honest about purchases together. Without our mutual goal of homeownership, we would have strayed from our commitment.
* We decided not to buy each other gifts for a while. We agreed that our home would be our gift to each other. After all, who can top that?
In a serious of nothing-but-God events, we found the perfect location with the first home on the lot! We were given the option to have our home custom-built in a design that we could choose ourselves (which is rare). Once the decision was made, we actually had the funds to begin work right away.
Foregoing all those other nice things and living a minimalistic lifestyle was finally paying off! NO ONE we knew had EVER built a home from scratch like this. We negotiated our mortgage based on the income that we were making at the time. Knowing that we were trying to squash debt, we decided on payment plan that was a bit of a squeeze. Our ultimate goal was to be homeOWNERS (not homepayers) for the next 30 years.
* Mark out exactly when your mortgage payments will be complete. You need to see it on a calendar. Goals are goals no matter how far away.
* Do not accrue more unnecessary debt. I wanted to go back to school for another degree. We could not afford it, so I prayed about it and got tuition reimbursement from my employer. If the blessing is yours, the Lord will make it known.
*Negotiate. If you do not do your research, you can end up hurting yourself. We talked with several banks until we got the terms that we were at peace with.
The only people that I knew that actually paid off their home were my grandparents who were genius entrepreneurs. However, we couldn't even credit that wisdom to what was happening with us. We saw God guiding every step.
Our first home was built quickly and we got more house for our money than even the builders expected. They literally could not build what we agreed on without making our home more spacious on their dime! Nothing but GOD. Our new home had almost 2k square feet, three bedrooms, a storage room, 2.5 baths, an attached two-car garage, a front and back porch and a basement within 5 years of our marriage. In about 3 years after that we paid off ALL of our college debt.
We know that everyone does not have a story like this. Life happens, but when you seek first the Kingdom of God, all these things will be added unto you. We praise the Lord for our home, but it is just a thing. We wanted to use it for the glory of God and we feel that this is the reason that we were blessed in this way.
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15
We want to hear your story and answer your questions too! Please leave us a comment and we will respond as soon as possible.
*** Congrats to the couple who won our Valentine's Day giveaway!! It was just in time for their anniversary. Yay!!
In July 2001, we were married. Maurice had already rented our apartment and I had started my first nursing job. With one income we survived for almost nine months when Maurice finally landed a great job in his field. Our first lesson was that we were ONE. I didn't plan on being the breadwinner, but my husband had saved enough prior to our wedding so that our financial life would not depend solely on me while he searched for the right opportunity.
KEY POINTS:
* Save lots of money before you get married (for AFTER the wedding and honeymoon). Do not go broke or in major debt for this one-time event. Focus more on the marriage than the wedding festivities!
* Our money was OUR money from the start. One of the first things that we did was to open a joint checking and savings account.
* We agreed not to go over a certain spending limit in our checking. We were free to spend on whatever we wanted within that limit.
* No credit cards. We paid for everything cash or debit card from our bank.
After that first year, we made it a point to live low. We would not purchase a new tv or cable. We did not have fancy cars (at all!). We began to tackle our college debt and pay off the cars we had already purchased. We had to assess our current eating habits too. We decided that one thing that we would do for ourselves was to eat out since we were saving money in other ways. Our second lesson was learning to do life without comparing ourselves to others. We had to strive for MINIMALISM.
KEY POINTS:
* Buy at the thrift stores. We knew how to be abased and we knew how to abound. The higher end stores were off-limits to us for a long while. I also did a lot of sewing. We mended socks and borrowed clothing for special occasions.
* Stretch meals. We often saved our leftovers from restaurants and made them a different way to avoid boredom with food. We also used coupons and discounts when we could. We did not order out much at all.
* We said NO to many things like trips, retreats, church events (it would require extra gas), conferences or anything that was not required. You have to learn to discern between what is good and what is best.
* Keeping all of our dental and doctor appointments helped us to maximize our insurance and stay healthy. Getting sick is one of the fastest ways to lose money!
Those five years flew by and our goal was to have a house by then. I was expecting to purchase a nice used home and to have already started having children. That was not God's plan. We lost our first child. Read about that HERE. We were devastated, but got pregnant again just 3 short months later. It was time to move.
Maurice felt that the Lord was leading us to build a home. I was very surprised. I didn't think we could afford it. We still had college debt, but it was rapidly shrinking on our plan. We began to research, pray about it and look around.
KEY POINTS:
* Do not jump at every financial opportunity. We almost missed our blessing because other home offers were tempting. Patience is key. Only your house is your house.
* Trust each other to hear from the Lord regarding big financial purchases, especially wives. My job was to fast and pray for my husband to not move until the Lord said so and we both had peace.
* Be careful not to compare your money status to those around you. We had friends who had all the things but were drowning in debt all around us. They bought the truck, were taking trips and taking pics at all the fancy restaurants. We had to stay in our focused lane.
Your commitment to your marriage will show up in your money
* Your commitment to your marriage will show up in your money. God was first for us. We gave to our church and to the poor together. We saved our money together. We were honest about purchases together. Without our mutual goal of homeownership, we would have strayed from our commitment.
* We decided not to buy each other gifts for a while. We agreed that our home would be our gift to each other. After all, who can top that?
In a serious of nothing-but-God events, we found the perfect location with the first home on the lot! We were given the option to have our home custom-built in a design that we could choose ourselves (which is rare). Once the decision was made, we actually had the funds to begin work right away.
Foregoing all those other nice things and living a minimalistic lifestyle was finally paying off! NO ONE we knew had EVER built a home from scratch like this. We negotiated our mortgage based on the income that we were making at the time. Knowing that we were trying to squash debt, we decided on payment plan that was a bit of a squeeze. Our ultimate goal was to be homeOWNERS (not homepayers) for the next 30 years.
* Mark out exactly when your mortgage payments will be complete. You need to see it on a calendar. Goals are goals no matter how far away.
* Do not accrue more unnecessary debt. I wanted to go back to school for another degree. We could not afford it, so I prayed about it and got tuition reimbursement from my employer. If the blessing is yours, the Lord will make it known.
*Negotiate. If you do not do your research, you can end up hurting yourself. We talked with several banks until we got the terms that we were at peace with.
The only people that I knew that actually paid off their home were my grandparents who were genius entrepreneurs. However, we couldn't even credit that wisdom to what was happening with us. We saw God guiding every step.
Our first home was built quickly and we got more house for our money than even the builders expected. They literally could not build what we agreed on without making our home more spacious on their dime! Nothing but GOD. Our new home had almost 2k square feet, three bedrooms, a storage room, 2.5 baths, an attached two-car garage, a front and back porch and a basement within 5 years of our marriage. In about 3 years after that we paid off ALL of our college debt.
We know that everyone does not have a story like this. Life happens, but when you seek first the Kingdom of God, all these things will be added unto you. We praise the Lord for our home, but it is just a thing. We wanted to use it for the glory of God and we feel that this is the reason that we were blessed in this way.
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15
We want to hear your story and answer your questions too! Please leave us a comment and we will respond as soon as possible.
*** Congrats to the couple who won our Valentine's Day giveaway!! It was just in time for their anniversary. Yay!!
What a beautiful home! I thank God even more so for your beautiful TESTIMONY Of faith in your marriage. As I reflect on my own marriage I feel as though I’ve wasted so much time and opportunities (blessings) that God has given to us. I pray thankfulness for your sharing so that I can pray grace and LEANING how to cherish the blessings of God in our marriage.
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