Some wonderful things happened in 2020

 Yes, I know for many 2020 did not turn out as you had hoped. I can honestly say there were things about it that did not turn out like I had hoped. Many have lost jobs and lost loved ones. It's been rough. But I would like to challenge you to think back on some things in 2020 that were good, some things that did work out. 

1. I became a PhD!

That's right. I graduated. I defended my dissertation in May ( via Zoom) and then actually graduated ( again virtually) in August. I am ALL DONE! My PhD is in Family and Consumer Sciences Education and my dissertation dealt with empathy towards food insecurity. It was an exhausting2 journey, but again, it's over. 

Pictures from my Graduation Finally Finish Fish Fry- my family had for me when I graduated. 

2. I completed a half marathon. 

I didn't say I RAN in, but I did complete it. This was in January of 2020 and it was cold and sleeting and a trail run, so lots of hills and valleys and all the things. It was HARD. It was VERY HARD. But once I started I couldn't stop. So I am very happy to say I finished. 

3. My oldest daughter ( now 15) started schooling from home. 

This was not the typical virtual option that many schools are doing. Our public schools actually have had a "normal" school year where students attend in person. However, we have told our daughter that when she got into 9th grade, if she wanted to do a virtual school or even homeschool we would let her. The school we went with is a public charter school that has been around for over 20 years. It has been WONDERFUL for her. She's quite advanced for her age and she was spending the majority of time in school reading anyway as she got her work done so quickly, so this has worked out so great. She is very independent and can manage herself, she is getting to take some options that our local , small rural school doesn't offer like Marine biology and German! It really has been a great experience for her and we are so glad we finally took the leap of faith. She is like a different child. 

Some lunches packed for my hubby and I while we still worked at an office

4. We paid of over $38,000 of debt

I wrote about there here if you want more information. But we buckled down, stuck to our budget and did a great job paying down our debt. We cut back on even more items  ( like we changed to Consumer Cellular, reducing our cell phone bill by $85 a month) , we reduced our car insurance slightly ( $13 per month less) and just stayed away from stores, cooked from home etc. 

So while, I know that it was hard. Let's try to find a few good things we can celebrate from this past year. Anything you all had that was worth celebrating?

Last Financial Update of 2020

 You may recall that my husband and I have been trying to get out of debt for some time now. It started with  $152,852 in debt in January of 2018 which is when we decided that was enough. You can read about that here. 

We have made some progress and had some downfalls, but we are on the right path. As of today, December 30th, 2020 we are down to (insert drumroll in your head) $85,575. That means that THIS year alone we have paid off ( drumroll again please) $38,269. That's HUGE for us. So how did we do that?

1. COVID helped. 

Covid forced us to stay at home, and I tried very hard to stay out of stores, my husband and I both started working from home around March ( my husband full time) I went to work 1 day a week most weeks, but the gas we saved from his commute was fantastic. We weren't of course vacationing or taking day trips or traveling for anything really. We stayed. at. home. And I rather enjoyed it. I have a few posts from our "early" social distancing days here on my blog if you want to see what we were up to:

Social Distancing Day 20

Social Distancing Day 11

Social Distancing Day 10                 

So all of that did help save us money. 

2. All EXTRA money went to debt. 

We had a few "snowflakes" this year- meaning money we weren't planning on. In the past, we might put half to debt and half towards something else, or half to debt and half into a kid's college fund or something. But this year- it was GAME ON. All extra money went towards our debt. That helped of course with the balance quite a lot. 

3. I picked up some extra work. 

Not a ton, as I still have a full time job, and a family to take care of, but the opportunity arose for me to teach an online course for a Christian University and I applied for it and started in October. So I only taught one course for them this past year, but it went to our debt, and I'm hoping ( and praying) that I get more courses next semester starting in January. I'll know about mid-January if they are going to need me or not. I also have been working on another project ( editing some test bank questions for a textbook published) which I won't get paid for until February. But again- that helps. My husband used to fix personal computers for people he worked with for some side money, but since he has been at home, he hasn't been able to do that. 

4. We stayed on budget!

Cute picture of our rooster for fun. 

For most things... Christmas was budgeted with cash we had saved, and we stayed within budget. We stayed on budget with our groceries and our other spending as well pretty much each month. It's amazing what keeping to the budget will do. 

5. I amped up my Swagbucks and Bing rewards. ( read about those here)

I made more concentrated efforts to earn gift cards, which I saved in our Amazon account and used for things like birthday gifts, school supplies, and things we needed for the house ( exciting items like batteries and light bulbs). So that was super helpful in keeping our budget on par. 

I'm excited for this new year and what it holds. We have been blessed beyond measure and are looking forward to 2021. I do want to add ( and please don't think I'm bragging) that throughout this time we have continued tithing 10% and just have prayed for wisdom with our money and have asked the Lord to help us be good stewards. I feel like he has certainly blessed that prayer and our faithfulness to tithing.