Introducing Cash, Aaron's New Ride!

After selling Duke and sharing one car, we were on the hunt for a second vehicle. We searched for about a week and found this: 

It's a 1997 Chrysler Sebring Convertible with 135,000 miles and we paid $2,200 for it.....in cash!  I've never paid cash for a car before and let me tell ya, it's fun!  Aaron named the car Cash. :)

We live very close to the beach so having a convertible is especially fun. I must admit, it's really fun to go cruisin' in. We're going to have to keep a eye on our gas envelope. ;)

My husband rocks!

If you listen to Dave Ramsey, you know he HATES car payments.  Once we heard his debt lesson, we totally understood why.  Although both of our cars meet the value ratio he sets (values on combined motors should be no more than 50% of your annual income), we did not think we met the other requirement, which is to have the vehicles paid off within 24 months.

We have (actually had) two cars:  I drive a 2003 Suburban named Tina; Aaron had a 2008 Dodge Charger named Duke.  Ever since I've known him, he's wanted a Dodge Charger.  And not just any Dodge Charger, a black one with a spoiler!  Sixteen months ago, he bought one - a black one, with a spoiler!  Actually, to be specific, he financed one.  {enter scary music here}

In FPU we were taught that the average car payment in America is something like $457.  I thought to myself who in the world would have such a big car payment?  That's crazy!  Then, I realized that we pay $130 every two weeks on Tina and $97 every two weeks on Duke.  Yeah, do some quick math on that and guess what?  I'm around the national average.  Sure, it's on two cars, but who cares?  That's a lot of money going down the drain on vehicles that are plummeting in value.  Not smart.

Because of grasping that lesson, we realized that we needed to sell Duke.  Today we did just that.  I felt so bad for Aaron although he seemed to take it really well.  I told him how awesome I thought it was for him to put his family first and sell his dream car.  Then, I sent my mom a text to tell her he had sold it and we had paid if off.  She responed with, "AWESOME!! I'M SO PROUD OF HIM!!" I showed him the text and he just grinned ear-to-ear.  I hope he knows just how awesome he is.  I think I'll bake him his favorite pound cake as a thank you.

Now the search is on to find him something different to drive.  I promised him that if we found an old lady car, he could drive Tina to work from now on.  :)  For now, we are sharing one car until we can find something dependable for him.  Yet another adventure in our journey to financial freedom...

Here's Duke. We will miss him!

We no longer OWE Lowes!

Thanks to the yard sale on Saturday, plus a side job at Mawmaw's house (raking, raking, and more raking) we were able to knock off the barn debt on Sunday.  We were so excited about paying it off.  Our favorite cashier, Jackie, has taken our last few payments.  She is also doing the Dave Ramsey plan so she didn't mind our jars of change one bit.  :)  After I told her we were making our final payment, she said we had to come back to see her and update her on our progress.  I assured her I would be back in but never using my Lowes credit card again! :)

Progress on the Barn!

I'm so excited about Aaron's new barn!  I've talked about it before, but I wanted to share a new photo of our progress.  We were able to install the front doors and it is starting to look finished.  We still need to work on a few things, but I just love the progress!

The barn debt (to Lowes Home Improvement's Consumer Credit) is our target debt right now.  We've also made a lot of progress on it!  When we started our debt snowball that account balance was $3,735.83.  Today we made yet another payment and the balance fell to $934.26!  We've made six payments in the last two weeks!  It's fun going over there with Aaron, hand & hand, and making payments on the barn.  :-)

When we first moved here to Wilmington, I worked at Lowes as a part time cashier.  I especially loved working in the Lawn & Garden Department.  Last week when Aaron and I went in to make a payment, my old supervisor checked us out.  He told me they were hiring and he encouraged me to re-apply.  I guess they're really busy and he doesn't have enough help.  I told him I'd think about it.  I did and decided to apply.  I haven't heard anything about my application but today when we went in to make our payment, he was there again.  He immediately said, "I've got a register out in Lawn & Garden waiting for you!"  I told him I applied but hadn't heard anything.  He said he was going to talk to the hiring manager and I guess he did.  By the time I got home, I had a message from her.

I'm not sure it'll work out or not because I am only available three days a week, however I've decided if they offer a position to me, I will take it.  :)  I'll keep ya posted!