food for finance: e-fund re-established + new goals

We've been on a roller coaster ride with Dave Ramsey's baby steps. We had things come up and as of today, we re-established our emergency fund! All we have left to pay off is the house. WHOOT! I went on a rant a couple of months ago about my frustration about being stuck in baby step 3. But today, I'm feeling accomplished!

 

I told Kyle that we needed to re-visit our goals back in December. I told him we should run the numbers to see when we could pay off our house and be completely debt-free. We live in a 3 bedroom, 1300 sq ft starter house with our 2nd baby due in 6 weeks. We don't plan to be here 5 years from now but do know that we can't sell our house now in this market. So...just for fun, we figured out that our house could be paid off in March of 2020. That is 6 years from now! Once we buy 2 cars (with cash) we will throw all of our other money on the house.

 

We kid around with each other and say that we'll just stay in our house since the house will be paid for in 6 years. Who knows what crazy thing we will do. But for now, it is fun to see what could be if we are disciplined! I am a big fan of long-term goals. I am a big dreamer and if I have it written down, it gets me through the days when I want to throw my hands in the air and give up. Or when people look at me like I have 3 heads when I tell them what we are doing.

 

Kyle and I are meant to be with each other. We have so much fun talking about saving cash for a "newer" car. I mean, who gets excited about that? We do! I would not have it any other way.

 

Now, our emergency fund is strictly for emergencies (which is why we had to re-build it, we had emergencies come up). But if one of our 12 year old cars decided to bite the dust, that would be an emergency and we'd take some of that money to pay for a car with cash. So we have a back-up plan just in case.

 

So please ask me how it is going. The more people that know about our plan, the more accountability Kyle and I will have to stick to our guns. We just want to be able to be financially free when we are in our 40s. We want the best for our kids and being completely debt-free will allow us to do so much. We'll be able to give more, allow me to have my dream job of just working 2 days a week, buy our RV, and much more!

 

I want to document this journey so that our kids can see how hard we worked when they were younger. How much we said "no" to many things so that we can say "YES" in the future!

 

I'm excited to see what is in store!