Day 1 of Money Hell.

It has come down to the wire. We have a scheduled date of November 30th to be 100% out of debt. We will hence forth be Amish. Levi already looks the part and his name fits quite well too.

No out to eat....zilch. No movies. No ice-cream outings. No beef. Maybe no chicken. We may even have to use our dish soap for body wash. But the funny thing is....we don't care! We are so excited we would wear holey underwear and eat peanut butter straight out of the jar every day b/c we know what lies ahead. Freedom.

If we did not have a goal and a plan for our money then going without the above things would depress us. We would sulk and be bitter and hate YOU if you did any of those things and we couldn't. Life wouldn't be fair. I would complain about how we can never get ahead. Something always goes wrong. Levi has to work too much. Gloom would loom over our family and it would reflect in our faces and our attitudes. Our children would sense it. We would be irritable. Money is powerful whether you have it or you don't.

Although for the next 3 months we will not be eating out it is amazing to me how much MORE fun it is to go out to eat when I have cash already set aside for that specific purpose. Before our financial overhaul we would go out to eat and feel a little guilty...a little stressed....a little uncomfortable....because we weren't sure whether we had the money to be sitting there or not. Sometimes we KNEW we didn't need to be there so we pulled out the plastic.

We don't feel that way anymore. If we are at a restaurant you can rest assured that we planned to be there and we have the money for it. No more guilt. The food tastes better. We are more relaxed. The kids can tell we are having more fun so they have more fun. It is a completely different experience.

We no longer feel deprived or feel sorry for ourselves when we can't do something. We tell our money what to do, where to go, and how to get there. If we don't go out to eat it's because we know we filled our car maintenance fund so that in 6 months when our registration is due we will be prepared. If we don't get to buy that purse from Banana Republic that is like 75% off right now...sniff...sniff....then we know it's because the clothing fund will still have money in it when it's time to buy the kids winter clothes.

It's all about perspective. We will have a great story to tell and laugh back on. What good is it to live your life always being comfortable and never being able to say that you walked in the snow 10 miles uphill with no shoes on just to get to school.

Most of young families in America want RIGHT NOW to live the lifestyle it took their parents 25 years to attain. Getting what you want when you want it no matter what the cost (or means of how you pay for it) is childish. Delayed gratification is maturity according to Dave.

Here is a good example of delayed gratification:

I needed a poster sized white wooden picture frame. If you don't know.....any wooden picture frame bigger than 8x10 is pricey. I had a little cash so I went to Aaron Brothers who was running their penny sale. I found one. It was on clearance. Only problem is I was a few dollars short. I had it on the counter to purchase and decided that I was being childish. I wanted it RIGHT THEN. I walked out empty handed. I was sad for a little while. I think I dreamed about it too. But then I was fine.

Two weeks later I went back in for old times sake and lo and behold it was still there. The price was still the same though. But I decided I would try to bargain with them b/c it looked like it had been there for a while and it was a little scratched. I simply said "Excuse me, but this frame has been here a while and the price is still the same. Do you know why it hasn't been marked down again like the rest of the frames?" She did a price check and by George! it was marked wrong! $7.32 ladies and gentleman. That is what you call reaping the benefits of delayed gratification.

Join us PLEASE! When you are down b/c there is no money...think about the Amish Swinneys...we are right there with ya. Everything is going to be alright! We don't have a house. We have an 88 Buick. We have no cable. For a very long time we had no cell phone until Levi's work provided him with one. God is good.

Be Amish with us.

We aren't scary like the Duggers (I know they aren't Amish but still).