Provident Living–March 2014

I got busy last month with life and did not keep track of things I did to save money, like pick up a free one dozen eggs or that free two liter bottle of root beer, but rather I have a very short list of things we did that were financial milestones for us and show that we are making real changes and staying on the right track with our money.
We paid off our van a few weeks early and received the title in the mail.  We are car payment free now!  Hooray!  Both cars are all ours.
We got our emergency fund fully loaded again.
We found that we were in need of a new refrigerator.  We looked around on line to get a feel for what was out there in regards to reviews, product and price.  We went in to the store and got an even better deal in person than the sale they had going on that was advertised.  We paid for the refrigerator with cash… first time!  And there are no credit card bills to cause headaches this month.
We went on a wonderful vacation renting a fantastic cabin for cheaper than the two hotel rooms our family is required to have when we travel anywhere.  Our spring break coincided with the last week of pre-season rates in the Smoky Mountains.  The cabin was bigger than our house with more bathrooms and had a fully equipped kitchen.  It was so nice!  We brought our own food for eating in and taking picnics during our free excursions to the park for hikes.  In the evenings the cabin was equipped with pool, air hockey, foosball, TV/DVD, a hot tub, and of course there were stars and bears for outdoor entertainment.  We paid for everything on our trip outright.  No upcoming bills.    While vacations are an “extra” I realize, we felt that it was important to create some fun family memories and take the opportunity to get all five of our kids to the Smoky Mountain region before our children start leaving home.  This was our chance.
Also, very cool, we looked ahead and realized we were not only on track with our goal but actually moving our credit card payoff date up closer by one month.  We are looking at some more ways we may be able to move this date up by several months.  It is a really good feeling to be working toward a financial goal all together and to see the progress being made.  Knowing that becoming “debt free” is in the foreseeable future is fantastic.  We have all been working really hard at this and our kids have done without things that they want.  We are finding life to be fulfilling without spending so much and by relying on and concentrating on what we already have been blessed with though.  Working at the financial goal of becoming debt free has really been, and continues to be, a positive experience for us.