Beginning

While on a trip to Toronto recently, my wife Brittaney and I heard a story about a young woman who decided to initiate a self-imposed year-long spending freeze in order to tackle all of her debt. Within that year, she paid off all of her debt and came out on top.

You don't hear stories like that anymore. In fact, far too often we hear just the opposite (especially in college towns like Kalamazoo): young adults acquiring massive amounts of college and credit card debt (among others) and setting themselves up for financial failure at a very young age.

Brittaney and I have only one mode of debt: college tuition. And it is a hefty sum.

With a baby on the way and a new business we are getting off of the ground, we decided we wanted to tackle this challenge ourselves. We sat down with a notebook and made a list of things we consider "essential" to spend money on. After doing this, we vowed not to spend money outside of this list for 365 days, starting today.

We have created this blog for accountability reasons. If others are invited to see how we are faring in this challenge, we will be accountable not just too ourselves, but also to the people closest to us. We will post on the blog once each week to detail how well we are (or are not) doing.

I hope you will join us on our journey and offer your feedback, advice, encouragement, and prayers.

The list:
(1) Food (groceries - no eating out)
(2) Rent
(3) Insurance (auto, rental, health)
(4) Gas
(5) Pet food
(6) Baby supplies
(7) NECESSARY clothing purchases (maternity, replacement, seasonal)
(8) Business expenses (tax deductible)
(9) Toiletries and cleaning products
(10) One date per month (under $50) - we feel this is a necessary relationship expense
(11) Doctor, Dentist, & Veterinarian visits

We may add things to the list later in case we left something out or we get good advice, and we will publish changes here.

Blessings!