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Our New Debt

If you've been following us, you may have an inkling as to our next financial challenge. We paid off our student loans, had a glorious 16 months or so of being debt-free, then bought our first house (for much less than we could afford...see posts here on that topic). After about 15 months in that house we saved up for a new down payment, we sold our home for a bit of a profit then bought a house that we plan to live in for a long long time. Yes, this house was more expensive than our last and we did not successfully pay off our mortgage on our last before selling it (our original goal). That is the thing about financial goals, it is a great thing to set them and stick to them...but sometimes life changes and your goals have to as well.

Although we could have paid off our mortgage on our last home before selling it (thanks to saving, working multiple jobs, not buying unneeded baby items and buying a house for significantly less than the bank said we could afford). We realized quickly that rather than put our extra money towards our mortgage, we wanted to have cash set aside for a new down payment. Our new goal was to save for our next home. To our surprise, our next home came up much more quickly than we anticipated. Thanks for that change of goals, we had the money set aside to be able to do just that.

Now we are setting a new goal. We are going to make every effort to pay off this home as quickly as possible. Per our financial philosophy, we want to do so in a way that we are still able to be content with life and enjoy every precious moment.

What does that look like for us?

We love to travel. We still want to do that, but will continue to travel in a way that works with our budget. We give some great budget travel tips here. This includes traveling on the off-season, staying with family or friends, being flexible with our travel dates (which has been made so much easier now that we only have 1 job to be working around).

We enjoy movies and embrace $5 Tuesdays at our local theaters. We love Broadway shows and often buy student tickets (as I'm still finishing my MBA I am considered a student) or work for the company that puts the shows on as a way to finance our tickets. Eating out "intentionally", making eating out an event rather than an expensive convenience. We take joy out of saving money.

In short, we take on the "work hard, play hard" philosophy. I am learning to work photography around more of my new mom-life--planning sessions during Lorelai's naps and in the summer when it stays light out, after she goes to bed. I only edit photos when she is asleep, to make sure I'm not taking away from time with her.

We will be paying off our mortgage the same way we were able to pay off our 6-figure student loans...with extra weekly (that's right...every 7 days at a minimum) payments, putting every extra dollar we have towards our mortgage. We will find creative ways to save money, make money, and do it as a family! We are excited to start this new journey, and share that journey with our readers!

Be on the lookout for the start of our "No Spend Month" staring in January! Perhaps some of  you would like to join me?

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