My backstory with personal finance
The beginnings of my learning to “adult” with money took place in college, when I was working part-time in a work-study position as a student, never seeing the money I made as it went straight to tuition, taught piano lessons to one school-aged little girl, and while also finding myself rationing money I had saved my whole life for “college spending money”. My savings had amounted to so much in my mind, but ended up being just enough to give me about $500 per semester to spend on gas, groceries, seeing movies, or dinner out, and sometimes even side expenses for music students. My mother had already rationed it per semester, but I sat there trying to figure out how to make this cash last all semester, because once it was gone, it was gone!
That’s when I developed my own crude version of what I came later to know as the “envelope system”. I found some blank envelopes in my stationery set—yes we still used those back in 2007—and wrote “Gas” on one, “Groceries” on another, and “Fun” on the third one. That was it. Here was my shiny “adulting” moment!
Sadly, I also had to “adult” in different ways. Like when college hang-out girlfriends, whose parents paid for all of their college and whose parents gave them credit cards for daily expenses wanted to go out to BJ’s for the second time in a week…. and then go out to a movie, and then go to an ice-cream shop….and then go buy some clothes. I had to shrug my shoulders and say “no”. I had to go to work-study and watch on a Friday afternoon as all my funnest friends walked out the music department laughing on their way to Sonic for weekend jollies. Those were the times it wasn’t so easy or fun to “adult.”
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Lurking in the background of my financial life were 7 student loans—one for each semester that I had parental help and scholarships out the wazoo, but not enough to cover all tuition for my private university. The 8th semester, I had received an amazing one-winner scholarship from the Music Department at my university that incidentally covered what I and my family couldn’t.
I was too busy worrying about grades, taking an average of 17 hours per semester, and the heavy event schedule that I carried as a music student, to be devising a pay-off plan for my loans that totaled about $38,000. But toward the end of my time in college, my mother began to mention Dave Ramsey and a “Financial Peace University” discipleship class she was taking at church. My mom was excited about what she learned every time she mentioned it. I was sure this was something for senior citizens planning for retirement, or for stodgy people who like spreadsheets and using financial terms that nobody knows. However one day I finally relented and visited one class where I watched the lesson video and found that Dave was actually an exciting guy, someone who was shooting out common sense and a lot of things he said weren’t really just about money. As soon as I graduated and began my teaching career, I registered for the Financial Peace class myself and learned all about the Baby Steps, how debt is really a thief in your life, and that the envelope system is a thing.
I got so jazzed up that I committed to living—gasp!—at home until I could pay off my then $38,000 in student loans. By accepting my parents’ generous offer and making the monthly sacrifice of my full independence, I was able to pay my last payment of the student loans just 15 months after I started, and that was just 15 months after I was even required by the loan company to make my first payment following graduation. There was no time wasted.
I paid those loans off in 2012 and immediately made plans to move into an apartment 3 months later once summer vacation began. Did I mention that I had been driving a car for 6 years, that my parents had gifted me my senior year of high school? It was a Saturn SL1 and was only $5,000 when they bought it (2005). No power windows, no power anything. Standard transmission. This is a car that I had PRAYED over many times as I entered it, hoping I would get to my next commute destination without an unwanted adventure on the side of a road. There were about 2 years in college that I had become friends with my father’s long-time go-to guy for minor car repairs and check-ups. During those two years, there were at least 5 times that my car wouldn’t start. This car was just one step away from being a “trash bags over the window holes” rickety hooptie, so I named him “Rick”. Sorry to all the Richards out there….
All this to say: I wanted a better car. So, I saved up everything I could after these loans were paid off and I had an emergency fund of $1,000 so I could finally get a car with power windows, automatic transmission available, and no surprises when I turn the ignition key. By October 2014, I had saved $18,000 on a $40,000 income. I went and got this baby and named her Lucy. She was classy and modest, but drove quiet like a mouse and had rear back-up cam, and “eco” mode and a full display!
Ever since the day I paid off loans, I have operated life entirely debt-free, using no credit cards for purchases. Renting cars, booking hotels, paying for all manner of things online (debit cards have the same fraud and identity theft protections), and booking international trips. In my world, cash really is king and I live off of less than I make.
When my husband whom I married in 2014 received an opportunity to stay at his then-current post in Texas, or change station to Germany, he asked me what I thought and almost without skipping a beat, I said “Germany!!”, likely with stars in my eyes. Because we were slotted to arrive in January of the following year, I had to make the decision to either teach for one semester (while the craziness of an international military PCS and all the “to-do” lists it brings loomed over us) OR take a semester off. Because my husband earn E-5 pay and we had a fully funded emergency fund, I had the freedom to take the fall semester off of my crazy music teacher schedule in order to teach voice lessons a few days a week in two of the public high schools in our district—one of which where I had just taught for four years—and substitute teacher a couple days per week as well. I took the extra time this afforded me to fully prepare our household for this huge move, study German, actually clean my home more often, and make many more home-cooked meals, and dream.
After one whirlwind year of learning German in free time, planning, selling all excess possessions, attending all the appointments, and filling out ALL THE PAPERWORK, embarked on a 46-hour journey to our hotel in Germany. We stepped into our 40-days hotel room home on January 7th, 2016. In our 3 and ½ years there, we cash-flowed three “beater” cars under $9000 for my husband, one Master’s degree at a German music Hochschule for me (pretty much free), a new baby (Eve), two years of almost full-time daycare for my daughter while I was in school, and over 6 international trips we planned and booked ourselves. At the time we were in Germany, we lived solely on my husband’s income. We learned to plan together, communicate, and get the syncing Google sheets app for our budget. We learned how to navigate using two currencies while living in “Euro-land”. We experienced first-hand a world in which cash is preferable to swiping—also where air-conditioning is seen as superfluous and indulgent—but that’s another story!
But can you see what the big deal is, here? I was able to say “yes” to a dream adventure with my best friend and husband, because we both said “no” to a new shiny SUV, said “no” to homeownership for a short time, said “no” to a new phone every year, said “no” to a yearly cruise vacation, said “no” to luxurious decorations for our apartment. And that was the “yes” of a lifetime.
Everyone has a story and this is mine. These are the highlights of the reason for my passion for personal finance. I aim to inspire others to see their dreams as something actually achievable, to devise a plan and follow it, to discover a part of themselves that says “no” to some things so they can say “yes” to the things that really matter. I want to be the person that can hold someone accountable to their declared dreams or goals, to celebrate with them in triumphs, and to walk with them through hard decisions or crises. I’m here to help others redeem their dream.
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