Our Journey?

First, I better back up a little bit and explain a little about us, the Porters. I met Ryan 5 years ago at work. We started seeing each other, got married after 2 years of dating, bought our first house six months later, got pregnant 3 months after that, and had our first child 14 months ago. She is going to be a big sister in a few months, and doesn't understand, of course what that means. But she's excited when we say it, non the less.

8 months ago Ryan and I decided that we wanted to cut back on my hours at work, to spend more time as a mother. We came up with a plan on how to do that, a budget, so to speak. And decided that after 5 years we would have almost everything paid off, and I could cut back my hours.... It didn't quite happen that way, I started part time work hours 7 months ago, and our budget became very strict. We sat down just recently and have been trying to come up with a way ever since then to cut costs from everywhere. Not to survive, not go get the bills paid, because we have enough to do that, but to get things paid off. I have been working in the finance industry for the last 3 years, and I have become obsessed with the amount people pay in the long run, for life. Interest rates, finance charges, loan fees, over the limit fees, late charges... I could go on and on. I will look at someone's credit, page after page of debt, and wonder how much they will spend in the long run on things. It has come to the point where I can't see myself doing it. Yes, there will always be a need, most likely, for some type of financing. But shouldn't it be a rare thing? Something that happens in an emergency, and not just every day life? Can you imagine how much more money a family would have to do what they wanted if they didn't have to pay so much in charges? So this is our quest, everything we've been talking about lately is centered around how to shave money from different areas of our lives, to get things paid off quickly, and eventually be debt free.

Another motivating factor is todays economy. There are so many people losing their jobs, so many people in debt, losing income of some sort, and ruining their perfect credit score. They get behind, have less money, then have to start over, with high interest rates, more charges, and get themselves, inevitably, in a huge hole, possibly never to get ahead again. What if that were us?

So this blog is our journey. I decided to write it all down, for myself, for my family, and maybe for someone else who is trying to get ahead in life. Maybe we will succeed, and maybe we won't. But either way I'm in for the journey. I'm committed to changing our lives for our future, and not following in the steps of the majority of America today. Join me?