I have been trying to write for over a month.....my goal was to write one post a month and you see I missed January. I have lots to say, but its just finding the time to get it down and then making it have some sort of main idea has been hard for me.....BUT I do have a topic to discuss this month because I feel like it is a testimony #thedertings need to share.....we all have a story, we just have to tell it!!
It is once again our debt anniversary.....I tell this story a few times a year to random people because there is hope to be debt free, there is a chance to live a life without living pay check to pay check, I dont promise or pretend to promise that it is easy because it, in no way is....BUT I do have promises in this....
As I am getting older (because lets face it, I am getting older) it is becoming more and more evident that I don't care about pleasing others, making others happy, having what others have, etc....I read in a magazine just last week that 68% of people say that they care less about what others think the older they get and that is so true for me...
So, what does this have to do with being debt free? Well, for me back when I hid ALL of that credit card debit ($33,000++ remember?) I was living for others, putting myself, my family and my life in jeopardy! It still haunts me, that I spent $33,000ish on "things" and I honestly have no idea what those "things" are or were??? I don't know if I still own them, I don't know if they are gone with garbage, if they are sitting at the goodwill donated...I don't know, but I do know, those things were not worth the debt they cost!!!
I have said it before and I will continue to say it.....we buy, what we need......when you come to a point where you are happy with what you have and not lusting for what others have, the actual "things" you have........ mean more....I PROMISE!!
And since and I am off on that tangent I will relate this to our home.....we (everyone of #thedertings off of Wood Bridge Road) work HARD daily to take care of what we have! I fully believe the less mess, the less stress! and if you have too much "stuff" you have too much mess and then you have too much stress!!! Its a correlation ;) I can't function in a mess, nor can my kids and I pretty happy to say nor can Brooks Derting (it only took about 15 years)!!
February 10, 2012 has etched details in my head forever.....the what ifs, the whats next, the how will we ever make it....there are a handful of days in my life that I know minute to minute details and this is one of those days....things changed, FOREVER, our (mostly my) mindset changed....we no longer lived to be like others, we no longer bought "things" we didnt need.....we became appreciative of even the littlest things! And today we are beyond grateful for the blessing that was uncovered in my debt mess!!
I can PROMISE you that if Brooks had not discovered my awful secret when he did, there may not be #thedertings, we would probably not own a home, IF we were even still together....our kids certainly would not have experiences over "things" and they probably wouldn't even have "things"...
I write this because there are people out there that need encouragement, that need tricks and tips and that just need to know YOU CAN OVERCOME, I PROMISE! I also PROMISE that when you do the life on the other side of all of that debt and all of those "things" it is so much sweeter than any shopping trip you could go on!!! I PROMISE, cross my heart!!!
Our life is budgeted, everything we do is in the budget or we dont do it!! Life takes discipline in so many ways.....and you have to conform to that discipline or it will never work! (its a hard truth)
Thanks for reading! Much love, Alysha
