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Money and the simple life.

It’s time to talk turkey… Project Debt Freedom is on… again.

Brooks and I have always been weird when it comes to this topic – of money and keeping up with the Jones’. We are that weird couple that enjoys a simple life and NOT because it’s a romantic idea. We do it because we genuinely love it. We love not being on the hamster wheel that so many find themselves on today, unable to jump off.

Brooks and I drive old cars, live in houses that are ample for our needs and nothing more. We wear clothes that we’ve had for only the Lord knows how long. I am still wearing shoes & clothes I bought over a decade ago… Yes, I’m dead serious. And yes, I still get complements… “I love your jacket!” Uh, yea I’ve had that sucker for 10 years.

We only buy food that we will surely eat. I shop with a grocery list in hand so to carefully manage the money that we earn and spare us any waste.

All of this we do because we like having the freedom to put our monies into something else, like starting a business, investing in real estate, or my being a SAHW. These are the things we do instead of having our income pay for stuff we don’t need. It’s just the way we are. It wasn’t always like this, but that discussion is for another post.

Brooks and I have been spending a lot of time in thought, prayer, and study over our next chapter. With the miscarriage behind us, we can finally move forward and in the direction the Lord has laid on our hearts.

We’ve been scrutinizing our budget with resolve and a pencil… definitely not ink.

Before I became a SAHW and our IVF adventure, we had nearly become debt free! In our personal life, landscape business, and farm business. Seriously, almost no debt except for a couple thousand dollars {excludes mortgages}. But, with IVF, the SAHW transition, and some other unforeseen circumstances, we’ve accumulated more debt.

UGH! We had it all together! So frustrating. Ever been there? That moment in your life, when you’ve worked so hard and for so long for something, you obtain it, and then circumstances force you to backslide a bit? So. Incredibly. Frustrating.

Now, we find ourselves in the quietness of being on the other side of this summer’s drama with some work to do. Which is why we are taking some time off from IVF and embryo transfers. We need to recoup emotionally but also financially. IVF funding is no joke, y’all!

So, these next few months we will be tightening our purse strings and enjoying those things that celebrate the simple life! Like I’ve touched on, we have lots of little things we do to scrimp & save. Over the summer, those habits have gone by the wayside. But, all of them will be given new life again as we embark on paying off our new debts and getting life back to {a version of} normal.

In my time of recouping, I will be sharing more of my life outside of TTC and IVF. I’ll be writing about our journey to obtaining debt freedom… again, our farm and SAHW/WAHW lifestyles, and the like.

TTC and IVF will still be discussed, of course! I am anticipating writing about the financial impact of IVF and TTC. It’s sure to be a humdinger! Here’s a little nugget to whet your appetite… we got our ER bills in from the miscarriage… $2,000. {Shakin’ my head… #SMH} It’s obsurd y’all! We were there 4 hours and we are responsible for $2K??? AND they’ve already gotten a large share from insurance??? Wonderful…

But seriously you guys, it is going to be a joy for me to write about these other aspects of life and it’ll serve as a part of my healing process.

I always profess, there is life outside of infertility and I plan to show you just what ours looks like.