Getting Real Real

I find that sometimes, in the blogiphere, people forget that real life happens to real people.  Yes, a very large part of my life right now is growing vegetables, sewing children's clothes and cooking new (to me) foods, but there are other parts as well.  In an attempt to become "more" in my blog voice, more realistic, more honest, more open, I am going to start talking about a few things that are also very real to me every day.  The first is debt.  Come along won't you?


If you have ever spoken to me for longer than 4 minutes, you know that I have student loans from my time at University.  It was stupid- I didn't even need them, but I felt, at the time, like I would be guaranteed a job after I graduated and I could just pay them back.  Plus I'd have real live credit!  And a credit score!  At 20 years old I thought this was a win-win-win situation.

Now those student loans haunt my sleep.

It's not even "a lot" of money, $9,686.42 to be exact.  This amount is broken down into several smaller, individual loans that I have been paying more than the minimum on for the last 18 months.  Now it is time to get serious.

I cannot think about these loans any more.  I am determined to get myself, and my family out of debt while simultaneously trying to build my small business.  I took a huge pay cut (ahem, like 99%) when I chose to leave my job at the public library, but I am still able to pay on my debt each month.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who provides for our family and is so wonderfully patient and understanding as we learn these lessons together, but the debt I pay comes directly from me each month.

So far I have been able to make enough cash each month by selling my dresses in my Etsy shop, taking on "remake" or alteration clients, selling items I find or no longer use at our booth at the Antiques Depot here in town and by doing the odd babysitting job or custom sewing.

Plus, any and all extra money I come into each month going directly to my debt as well.  In fact, I am about to pay off $1,200 of my debt in just a few minutes- the entire amount of my tax return, directly to my debt.

Why am I suddenly confessing all of this??  Maybe because I've been closely reading several money based blogs lately- CarefulCents.com, MoneyVsDebt.com, AndThenWeSaved.com are my current favorites- but also because I realize that several of my (our) life decisions are based upon the way we spend money and the way we want to spend money.

Marco and I are not going to be able to make it to Italy in June this year because we are choosing instead to finish a few projects on the house.  We have not been having date night dinners out because we are choosing to put more money into our savings.  I have not bought some things because I am choosing instead to dig myself out of debt.

It is all a matter of perspective and preference.  I prefer to make sacrifices now, so that I know later, we will have the freedom to "live a little."  There is nothing wrong with the way we live now- it is merely our current choice and we still drink plenty of wine and have wonderful adventures together.  But I say all of this to help shed some light on a few new topics that I will be bringing up over the next few months.  This will be my own Debt Pay Off Year and I thought I would share some of that journey here.  The decisions to buy/not buy/DIY are where many of our ideas for our home/garden/lifestyle come from, so I think the beginnings are equally as important as the endings.

I say all of this with the hope that you will come along and encourage.  Maybe you will find your own debt and be inspired to pay it off as well.  Here's to the next 9 months of debt down payment.