March DEBT! Let’s start again, shall we?

 

Beware: long read. Welcome to the financial FIASCO of my life.

Okay, so for those of you that were following last year when I started this debt journey,  I left you all hanging in November with a grand total of $33,509.93 in debt. (This is combined debt for my boyfriend and I –  including st. loans, credit cards, medical expenses, business start up debt, etc…) During the last couple months of the year, that’s when life started getting really hectic and then BAM!

Now…

 

Yes – you read that right! That’s a $24,496.41 increase in four months! How in the world!?!?

Let’s get into the nitty gritty of it:

• We just plain lost track. With actual great business sales during December, we were so busy that I was lazy with budget, lazy with cooking, lazy with handling my money, and lazy with cutting costs all while having to purchase bulks of more materials and shipping supplies to make it through the season.
• I had to have another kidney surgery (out of flipping’ pocket, no insurance) for a large stone in December, with additional ER visits for associated infections.
• MORTGAGE. You heard me. We bought LAND! We found an amazing piece of property right down the road from our parents’ houses and couldn’t pass it up. We knew it was THE most immature, stupid, terrible, horrendous (you get the point) financial decision and timing – but hey – we are young and stupid, and we eventually want to have children and move up there. We knew we can take our time over the next few years, pay it off, and move up debt free. It’s an investment, right? 😉 Can’t take it back now, papers are SIGNED.
• Legal fees. It’s been a fun few months for my legal fees and the overall situation I was in, but the good news is… IT’S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So there you have it. This new grand total is the absolute HIGHEST we will EVER see our debt. We included everything in it, including the mortgage and business debt – because it’s DEBT that needs to be repaid. We can’t hide it in another category and pretend it doesn’t exist. I wanted to wait until now to share – Everything is over now, caught up, and at peace (knock on HARD wood, haha). I want to combat this debt with a new mindset.

Debt repayment plan:

This is the GOOD NEWS out of all of this chaos… Cody got a raise and I got a new RN JOB with lots of OT opportunities. Wahoooo flippin’ woo. I officially start next Friday and am so thankful and blessed for the opportunity.

This not only means insurance if I have kidney issues again, but also means every penny of my paycheck can go towards debt. EVERY PENNY. Cody’s raise allows us to live off his income (barely), cover bills/food/other expenses, and still be able to put a small amount on debt. Mitten Made’s income is going to go towards paying off the business debt, land mortgage (where we will build our woodshop up there) and eventually building our tiny home.
I’ve calculated this, and we may  be able to pay EVERYTHING off after ONE YEAR.

This is a hefty goal, with no room for slip-ups. But I want to strive for it. Even if we don’t succeed at the end, we would have worked so hard during the year KEEPING within budget and minimizing costs that the end will be so close I could taste it anyway.

Life will be INSANELY busy this year, but I’M SO READY. It’s going to be a breath of fresh air from the last year and 3 months of stress, legal issues, surgeries, family health problems… well – you’ve read about it all. A different and good type of stress.

Keep me in line, readers. Call me out on my bullshit. I can be good at it – often I’m fluent in justifying things and making excuses. I’m young, but I want to live the rest of my life FREE of the chains that debt binds us in.