From the beginning of this blog, I have practiced financial transparency in hopes that the debt free journey my husband and I are on will inspire others to pay down their debt as well.  I wrote extensively about our finances when I first started this blog in this post http://www.jennajeske.com/1/post/2011/09/i-want-to-scream-were-debt-free.html.  I want to kick our society's trend of keeping up with the Joneses in the face.  It is ruining our financial, emotional, and spiritual health.  It is causing us to seek after materalism instead of the God who created us.  I wholeheartedly agree with Proverbs 22:7, which says, "...the borrower is slave to the lender" (NIV).  Yet, I speak not with a spirit of condemnation.  I speak with battle scars on a path marred by mistakes, tears, and redemption.  Growing up in a wealthy area, I learned to seek hard after wealth, beauty, and status.  As a result, debt followed.  When I married my husband, our debt combined, and we struggled to make ends meet.  We made financial mistake after mistake, and we had no idea how to budget.  Then, we stumbled upon the wisdom of a man named, Dave Ramsey.  Through his book, "The Total Money Makeover," Dave taught us how to do a paycheque allocation, draw up a realistic budget for our family, and how to live on a cash only, envelope system of managing our money.  He also taught us how to follow his debt snowball plan for paying off all of our debt.  I would like to say that our financial walk has been easy since then, but I would be a liar if I said that we haven't had any setbacks.  We've had plenty.  I am happy to report, however, that as of May 4, 2012, Andy's Manitoba Student Loan has a balance of $168.39.  Praise God!  In my original post detailing our finances on September 7, 2011, his loan had a balance of $2,292.45.  We've come a long way, baby! 

Above, Andy's actual note made while talking to someone at the Manitoba Student Loans call centre, and my comments afterwards

Soon we will be at a status of one student loan down, three to go.  We will then be able to take the $68 per month we are paying towards this loan, and apply that to the loan with the next lowest balance, thus accelerating our debt snowball.  If you are in debt, and feel like you are drowning financially, there is hope!  Check out Dave Ramsey's website: www.daveramsey.com.  He has plenty of resources to help you get back on track financially.  No matter how far in debt you are, you can have peace again... check out the "We Did It" success stories on Dave's website for some inspiration:
http://www.daveramsey.com/articles/article-list/category/lifeandmoney_wedidit_user_generated/

Everything that we have financially is really God's, not ours, and we need to honor Him with our finances!  I thank Him for the journey my husband and I have been on financially, and what we've learned over the past few years.  May our story inspire others to honor Him financially as well.

What do you think about debt?  Why?