The Resurrection

B on the trail in our new state.

Nobody said the journey would be smooth.

When I started this blog in March of 2008, I was in debt. And I wanted out.

By the time I wrote my last post in May of 2010, I had almost made it. A few months later than I had planned, but still, I was so close. And then I stopped posting. I'm not sure why, except that I had a wedding and a honeymoon which probably threw me off my game for a while. But once we were on that honeymoon, my inner gazelle went on a little vacation of her own. While I didn't go hog wild I did forget how important financial freedom was to me. And so ever since, we've slowly gotten deeper and deeper in debt. Until today.

In 2011 I went back to school to get a masters degree (paid for with student loans), which I will complete in May. In 2012, I quit my job to focus on school, and got a part-time graduate assistantship to help pay the bills. Then last month, my husband and I moved 1,000 miles away to the place we have always wanted to live, where he was hired for a new job. A dream come true! But financially? Not a great time. Our old house is on the market, but for now we are paying a mortgage and rent. Oh, and did I mention I haven't gotten a new job here yet?

This is the part of the story where inspiration smacked me upside the head and brought me back to my senses. A week ago, I discovered an amazing blog called And Then We Saved, which reminded me that, oh yeah, people can get out of debt! Then, my lovely cousin posted a status update from a financial class she was in that said something like, "Children want things right now. Adults have to SAVE UP for what they want." Genius. These two pieces of inspiration sent me off to update our debt snowball, now significantly bigger than it was when I started the blog the first time. But when I was done, with some belt tightening and me working part time (and our house selling in the next five months), the debt snowball says that we will have all of our debt paid off by November 2016. WOW. I was beginning to think we would never do it. But 2016 isn't that far away. And just like that my gazelle has not only returned, but taken up residency in my blood.

So I'm back, and I'm more determined than ever to gain financial freedom without skimping on my values.