Our Frugal Story

This year I've read the following books on frugality:

• Playing with Fire (Financial Independence Retire Early), by Scott Rieckens
• The Psychology of Money

I also took the 30 day challenge by Fruglewoods and learned nothing!  Which was strangely gratifyingly as it indicates we're covered all the basics and more in living a frugal lifestyle.

One thing that has stood out in both Fruglewoods journey and Scott Rieckens is both make it seem so easily attainable and I guess that's highly dependent on what choices one has made prior to making the decision to join the Fire lifestyle or just plain live frugally just for the sake of saving money.

It's taken multiple steps to get where we are today.  When the financial crisis of 2008/09 hit, I knew we  had to make hard choices to fix our lifestyle, but it would be many years before I'd see the fruits of our labor.

Our financial picture from 2005-13 was this:

* We bought a condo in North Lauderdale for 230K that was purchased with zero money down, a 100% interest only mortgage for 10 years, with the idea that we'd sell long before the 10 years arrived and avoid the balloon principle payment.  Basically we were renting from the bank.  

* We owned our Nissan truck by 2005, having bought brand new in 2000, before graduation.  I had high hopes.

* My Pontiac Grand Am was bought brand new in 2005, but my job covered the payments as part of my director salary

* School loans - we were paying $430 p/m

* Retirement - we had no continuous savings plan, some years my boss would put money into my IRA but it was highly dependent on how well the company did that year.  Mike had one through Petsmart but we didn't do much to match or exceed what the company put in.  

* HOA - every month we paid $272 just for the privilege of living in a condo.  

* AT&T - we paid $115 p/m to own iPhones that were under contract 

When the financial crisis hit in 2008, I was pregnant with our first child.  We were still of the mindset that we could sell our condo whenever we wanted and gain a profit.

By some miracle, I didn't experience a furlough (reduced work hours, reduced pay).  We were not prepared to deal with financial loss, we were soon upside down on our mortgage for years to come and the bizarre saving grace was our remarkably stupid 100% interest only mortgage that was adjustable interest, so when the market crashed the Feds dropped interest rates and our payment became easily affordable - but we knew it would only be affordable for another five years before the principle payments kicked in.  So we basically counted down the days until we could short sell our condo and get out of Fort Lauderdale.  

From 2009 - 2012, all I could do was figure out how to escape Fort Lauderdale and our growing crisis of a mortgage on a condo we were quickly outgrowing. What began as a "starter home" turned into a nightmare as year after year the local housing market refused to go back up.  To this day, the market has still not reached what we bought for in 2005!  We bought at 230K, when we sold in 2013 it was for 100K, it's now worth approximately 180K - 15 years later!  

In 2012, after our 3rd child was born, I worked up the courage to ask my boss for permission to move to Maryland.  I knew it was possible he could fire me, or make things difficult, he was surprisingly agreeable, and things worked out that we stayed an extra year to smooth out the transition.  I was able to leave with my full salary, plus what he was paying for healthcare, and what he was paying for employment tax.  

That same year, we found a real estate professional who specialized in short sales, and was able to guide us through the steps of meeting the government guidelines for a short sale.  Thanks to the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, we didn't have to worry about debt forgiveness and sold the condo for around 100K.

We moved to Maryland in August of 2013, and I began my journey as a Work From Home Independent Contractor!  We were fortunate to move into my mom's empty home, as she had remarried and moved into her husband's home.  We were able to live there rent free, while covering the house bills, for 5 years until my mother's husband passed away and she then wanted to move back.  The five years gave us enough time to rebuild our credit, and save enough money to buy a townhouse in 2018.  In this time we gained our 4th child!  

During these years, we drove old vehicles, and developed a great relationship with local mechanics. We brought them salsa, donuts, and tried to be their favorites so we could get on the schedule when needed.  

Over the years, we have had many blessings.  I look back at the road of desperate debt anxiety to freedom of owning an affordable home, in my home town with family to support our growing family, and I feel blessed beyond measure.  I could not have imagined my life would turn out so beautifully, so I give thanks and credit to God for paving the way.