Climbing Out One Family’s Adventure in Becoming Debt-free

On the way to any goal I think it’s natural to wonder whether or not one is doing all one can to get there. It is probably rare, however, to have the release of a piece of free software trigger real doubt about it.

This past week I have counselled three separate couples on their financial decisions, each in a different phase of acceptance/denial about their situation. Each time I found myself questioning my own actions. Am I doing everything I can to get out of debt as quickly as possible?

We are in our fifth month living on a written budget and focusing intently on getting out of debt. We see progress with every paycheck and talk about the steps we’ve taken to get the ball rolling. I am afraid, though, that we have settled into a new status quo and are not actively looking for ways to squeeze our budget.

We are making a tight budget work, but should it be tighter? Should we have more intensity?

Some of our dear friends who started their own financial makeover just last month impress me every time we talk. The wife has taken on a night job at a local car dealership answering phones to kick their debt snowball into gear. The husband is putting the two-month-old leased truck up for sale and taking a loan for the difference. These are lasting sacrifices that change the bottom line every single month.

When we started this whole thing we made some real changes to our monthly bills too. Cell phones, magazine subscriptions, the gardener, the exterminator, house cleaners — all were reduced or eliminated to bring our spending down. Now it’s been a few months and although we are plodding ahead, I miss those easy gains and big strides.

The satellite dish, for example, remains securely fastened to the South eaves of the house and I am beginning to question our need for it. We did reduce the plan from $100/mo to $65 by cutting it to the lowest offering with an IQ above 70, but then Hulu comes along last week with its desktop player and I have to wonder: do we really want to stay in debt $65 more each month?

If you’ve never heard of Hulu, it is an online streaming video service with minimal 30 second commercials. We have an older Mac mini hooked up to our television and I must say, it works quite well.

This week I challenged The Wife to live without the dish and see if we can’t just squeeze another $65 out of this old budget of ours. After all, Dancing with the Stars is available on Hulu as is The Dave Ramsey Show.

And that brings us to my part. I am feeling the need to go out there, kill something and drag it home. Is there a second job in my future? Three or four nights a week for a year I could answer phones at a car dealership, couldn’t I? Sling some pizzas? Photoshop some web banners?

I should see if there are any inspiring shows on the dish about that before I tear it down.

First I gotta go out and spray for spiders; miss you Orkin.

the Dad