The weight of debt… it can feel absolutely crippling, can’t it? I’m guessing many of you reading this understand that heavy feeling in the pit of your stomach. Our story isn’t some unique, never-before-heard tale, but I truly hope that by sharing our struggles, you might gain some insight into why we finally decided to grab the bull by the horns and tackle the massive mountain of debt we’d built. Looking back, it was all a result of being incredibly financially irresponsible throughout our twenties.
It started innocently enough, didn’t it? A swipe of a credit card here, a little online purchase there. We’d tell ourselves, “We have plenty of time to pay it off,” or “Oh, it’s just $20, I could pay that right now if I wanted to” – and then, life would happen, and we wouldn’t. Those small amounts started to snowball, slowly but surely.
Then came graduation in 2014. Between the two of us, we walked away from college with almost $100,000 in combined student loan debt. Now, I know that there are many people out there facing significantly larger student loan burdens, and my heart goes out to you. However, even with that amount, we were already setting ourselves up for failure by consistently living well beyond our means.
And that’s the crux of it, wasn’t it? We were both earning good incomes – I was working as a registered nurse, and my husband is an engineer. On paper, we should have been doing just fine. But somehow, we just couldn’t seem to get our spending under control. It felt like we were stuck in that exhausting “rat race,” constantly trying to “keep up with the Joneses.” If our friends were doing something, we felt like we had to be there too, regardless of whether it actually fit into our budget.
Looking back, a big part of this was that we had both drifted away from our faith during our teens and twenties. Without that grounding, we lacked a sense of accountability or responsibility when it came to being good stewards of what we had been given. Our focus shifted to instant gratification and keeping up appearances. We weren’t just accumulating possessions; we were accumulating burdens. As Proverbs 22:7 starkly reminds us, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” We were certainly servants to our lenders, and it was a heavy yoke to bear.
When our son came along, that desire to give him everything amplified our spending habits. We wanted the “best of the best” for him, no matter the cost. It wasn’t about need; it was about wanting him to never miss out on anything we thought was important. This desire, while well-intentioned, edged dangerously close to what the Bible warns about in 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” While we didn’t love money itself, our pursuit of what money could buy was certainly leading us astray and causing us a great deal of distress.
We were also incredibly impulsive buyers. The moment a thought popped into our heads – “Oh, I want that!” – we’d just buy it. And let’s be honest, those shopping apps that promise delivery in just a few days didn’t help! With that ease at our fingertips, we never really had to wait for anything. For me, that impulsiveness led to a particularly significant financial misstep: buying a brand new Bronco in 2022. That single decision was a huge setback and added considerably to our debt load.
So, what finally made us say, “Enough is enough”? What was the turning point that made us want to tackle this overwhelming debt? It was a gradual awakening, deeply rooted in rediscovering and reinvesting in our faith. As we grew stronger in our beliefs, we started to see our debt for what it truly was: a massive hindrance in so many ways. We realized we had been living our lives centered around selfishness, consumerism, greed, and a profound lack of responsibility. Even more sobering was the realization that we were inadvertently teaching these same bad habits to our son.
For me personally, a powerful desire began to grow within me. I knew I wanted to be the one to raise my children, to be home with them during those precious early years. Our debt was the very thing standing in the way of that dream. As we embarked on the journey of having our daughter through IVF, that desire intensified. I didn’t want to have to rely on childcare for her, partly because we simply couldn’t afford it with the way we were living, but more importantly, because I didn’t want to miss out on those irreplaceable moments that I felt I had missed with my son due to my work commitments.
Something had to change. And that’s where our journey to freedom truly began. Stay tuned for Part 2, where I’ll share the first steps we took to start chipping away at that mountain of debt along with our fair share of setbacks and mistakes.
Let’s Connect!
I hope sharing our story has resonated with you. I truly believe that by opening up about our financial struggles, we can all learn and grow together. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
- Have you ever felt the crushing weight of debt? What was your “enough is enough” moment?
- What are some of the biggest financial struggles you’ve faced, and what lessons did you learn?
- Do you have a favorite scripture or guiding principle that helps you with your finances and stewardship?
- What’s one small step you’re taking or considering taking towards financial freedom?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences!
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