LOOK! The tile is done! And for the record, all appliances are back in place and working order! I'd love to say we are cooking dinner tonight to celebrate, alas we are going to Chick Fil A to support my friend Whitney!
With a wonderful tiled floor and working kitchen also comes a very exhausted hubby!
Poor guy! He worked so hard this week!
Yesterday he got a much needed break while we attended our prenatal appointment. Appointments are so quick: a quick check in with the nurse, a chat with the midwife, and in our case, another ultrasound to finally find out if he was really a he or a she!
Yup! We finally know! We left the appointment with two envelopes in our hand. One for the balloons and one for the cake later in the week. We had a box filled with pink or blue balloons and...
...well, we're not telling yet! Sorry!
It can't be internet official until after our reveal party on Friday!
No, what I really wanted to talk about today has nothing to do with tile floors or gender reveals actually! This topic is a little less fun.
This somehow became our afternoon. I know you may think we are crazy but there is not a single credit card in our house...again. Four years ago we attended Financial Peace University. I truly believe it set our marriage on the right foot. We began a budget, monthly "budget meetings," and had a plan for paying off debt. We cut up all our credit cards and in 4 years have paid off over $25,000 of debt.
Two months ago we found ourselves debt free except our house and one small student loan payment. We were excited to move into mission work and being debt free made that so possible. And then this summer happened. Extended vacations, home improvements, and the need for maternity clothes. Combine that with "too good to be true" credit card offers and now we find ourselves nearly $2,000 in credit card debt!
HOW DID WE GET HERE?! Certainly we have our excuses: new tires, mold in the bathroom, etc. However, if those credit cards didn't land themselves in our top kitchen drawer, I promise we would have never spent that $2,000. We would have found a different way.
So this morning's budget meeting was a little more stressful than our usual monthly routine. We had some decisions to make. Does the cash back make it worth it? Are we responsible enough to keep the card and not continue to spend? How are we going to pay this off while also saving for a new baby and pay for all the medical bills and new maternity insurance coverage? Oh yeah, and birthing classes, and Live School, and-and-and-and-and!
Clearly you see the decision we made. It is too tempting at this point in our lives to use the cards for purchases. Some of them seem very necessary at the time, yet with all the baby stuff coming up, I know we will quickly get carried away. Especially now that we can start buying gender specific items. So we cut up the cards and we set to work applying all of our extra money toward paying off the debt we've incurred.
Already I feel a sense of relief and a weight off my shoulders. I know we made the right decision. Of course I am being very detailed here about personal issues and that might seem taboo. However, I share this for the accountability. And now I have 2 questions for you...
Boy or Girl? What's your guess!?
And how do you handle credit cards? Do you use them? Are you responsible?
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