That’s the best way I can describe our current financial situation. A lot of people compare getting out of debt to climbing a mountain. As of Tuesday’s paycheck we will only have one more thing to save up and pay for before we can tackle that mountain. I am so excited to be at this place!
I tried to explain things in our money story. We have two sources of income: regular income from our jobs, and irregular income from the farm. When the farm gets random checks it is so tempting to throw them at our debt. However, that would be a really bad idea. When bills come in for seed, fertilizer, or land rent we need to have the cash to pay them so we don’t take on more debt. So a lot of the farm income needs to be set aside for those things.
Besides predictable expenses we also needed to cash flow any improvements. The electrician starts on our house rewire tomorrow morning (he had to reschedule last week due to an injury) and the builder plans to have our new barn finished this week or next. We were very fortunate to have Brian’s Mom gift us some money to use on the rewiring project, we just have to cover the difference. That’s what Tuesday’s paycheck will do: finish paying those guys. It feels so good to pull in the driveway and see that new barn out there and know it’s completely paid for.
The next and final improvement we’re saving for is a semi trailer. We got a once in a lifetime deal on the semi tractor and last year we were lucky enough to have a friend loan us trailers to pull behind it. Having our own trailer(s) is very important because we need them in the fall when everyone else is using their own. If we can’t find any to borrow we’ll be stuck relying on friends to haul our grain. Starting this week any extra income will go straight in the bank for a trailer. Our goal is to purchase one by early to midsummer for the wheat harvest, or by fall at the latest.
The sooner we knock out the trailer the sooner we start paying extra on our debt. Depending on how the harvest goes we might, just MIGHT, be debt free before 2011. I’m going to drift off and dream about being in that place…
How are things going in your financial life? Do you feel like you’re in control and heading in a good direction? Any encouraging words? Any specific questions or information that would help you?
