We Can, Even if it's Weird

As of Monday night, Cliff and I have committed to each other to pay cash for our first home. After talking about it for months, going back and forth between having a really big down payment in a couple of years or stretching ourselves a bit further and going all the way, we're opting for the "all the way" route. It may not seem like a milestone, but for us, April 14th will go down in history as the day we wrote out a plan that seems close to impossible to the normal observer. But, like Dave always says, who wants to be normal?

We wrote out our (really, my) list of fears and then a list of reasons why we should. Here's what we came up with:

Fears

• taking longer than an allotted time frame (for any number of reasons)
• what people think/say
• looking stupid
• societal pressure
• getting frustrated or impatient with a lack of current space or just time

Why do it?

• no interest - save thousands of $$ in the long run
• don't pay $$ to the bank, our $$ is our $$ (well, really, we're stewards)
• less stressful on marriage in the long run
• makes more financial sense if you do the numbers
• standing on principles
• delaying gratification to hold out for God's best for us
• as much equity as we may gain on a house in a couple of years, that much ends up going out in interest

So, we've committed to working to try and be in a house in no more than four years, meaning Lord willing, summer of 2012. Our goal is to save $160,000 for a starter home that we'll probably live in until just before our (then) kids (Lord willing, again) start going to school at which point, we'll upgrade/settle in a long-term location. We've set stretch goals for each year leading up, with our target for 2008 being $8,000 (since we don't know what my income will be yet, and Cliff is releasing me from that pressure), $35,000 for 2009 ($43,000 total), $50,000 for 2010 ($93,000 total), and $67,000 for 2011 (bringing our grand total to $160,000 by Jan 1, 2012 and giving us several months leeway to find a home).

We're technically starting next month, but we've had an extra little store in our savings that we decided to roll over into the house fund. As you may have seen already, I created a handy-dandy little chart and posted it in case you're interested in keeping up with our progress. This may all bore you to tears, or cause tears of laughter to come as a result of your cynical humor, so you can just ignore it. But we hope our friends and family will be rooting for us and helping keep us accountable to dreaming big. We can't do this on our own, and to that same degree, are hoping to rely fully on the wisdom and provisions of God who has been so gracious to lead us this far.

Our FPU class this spring has been a huge motivator in this whole journey. We had our last class last night, with six of the seven couples graduating (and the other one didn't ONLY because they were out LIVING the principles Dave teaches and couldn't actually make it to all of the class sessions, but I know they will later!). In all, our class paid off $93,300 in personal debt and avoided opening up $1,899,800 in credit offers in a total of thirteen weeks. It's been so incredible to watch how the Lord has changed peoples' spirits, motivations, and levels of determination to walk in financial peace and to change their marriages. We shared our new goals with the class and are excited that we have the opportunity as friends and "classmates" to continue keeping each other accountable and checking in on how we're all doing. Way to go, guys!