January 2025 Debt Free Journey Update
Welcome to my first debt-free-journey update! We officially began our crazy, serious debt-free journey on January 1, 2025. I learned a lot this month, so buckle up for a long update. At the end, I share our real January numbers and stats!
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January Recap
This was a great first month of the year. There wasn’t a lot of progress, but we lived below our means and were able to move slightly forward, so I count that as a success.
We Can Live Without It
My motto this month was to say no to as much as possible. Meaning, if we could live without it, I didn’t want to spend money on it.
We lived without a microwave this month. Shortly before Christmas, our microwave gave out, and we decided to hold off on getting a new one. Which means I have been warming up all of our food on the stove or in the oven. I also usually have to warm up my coffee on the stove once a day. Most of the month, I haven’t felt too bothered by this. We could have found a second-hand microwave for probably $20 if we wanted to, but like I said, I was very motivated to see what we could live without. After the horrible month we had financially in December, I did not want to mess this month up. I also enjoyed getting some extra counter space back in my small kitchen, but I am starting to think about buying a new microwave once we receive our tax refund.
Another thing that broke this month was my vacuum cleaner. It still sucks things up, but as soon as I turn it off, everything falls out of it. I started turning it off while holding it over a garbage can, so the debris doesn’t end back up on the floor. I looked up my vacuum model to see if I could buy a replacement part because I know what part is broken, but I couldn’t find replacement parts. However, I did see that my vacuum comes with a two-year warranty, which would expire at the end of February 2025!! However, I was supposed to register my vacuum within four weeks of purchase, which I did not do. I’m planning to call customer service just to make sure, but I may be buying a new vacuum cleaner soon… Lesson learned — keep track of warranties!!
I Cut up My Credit Card!
When I say that I’m serious this time about our debt-free journey, I mean it. I finally cut up my credit card this month. I also called Discover and asked to close my account. You are able to close a credit card account, even if you still have a balance on it. This was scary because it felt like a security blanket. My husband and I liked knowing that we had a line of credit in case of an emergency. But it’s not very useful if it’s almost maxed out.
We did close my husband’s card shortly after beginning our first debt-free journey a few years back, but we kept mine because it was older and we wanted it as a security blanket. But we have racked it up AND paid it off multiple times now, so I just finally hit my breaking point.
Closing the account has scared us into being more serious with our money management. Overall, I think Dave Ramsey really knows what he’s talking about, and I am glad I shut it down. Only wish I did it years earlier.
Giving Goal
This year, we have a goal to consistently give to our church. We want to build the habit of giving a portion of all our income, so we are starting with 1% this year and adding 1% each year until we reach 10%. We achieved this goal this month, and it felt so good. Because I had to be more strategic and frugal this month, I have been walking with God more closely in how we manage money, and I can see how He has blessed us by having even just the smallest of faith.
God Moments
One God wink happened at the end of the month. We were running low on groceries, and I was beginning to wonder how I was going to have enough food to pack lunches for my kindergartener for the next week and a half (Our next pay day is February 10). My son has a lot of food allergies, so I mostly pack his lunch. But sometimes, I get a break when the school serves something he is not allergic to. I don’t think he was able to get the school lunch at all in January. So our lunch food for this month was running real low, and I was trying to decide what I was going to do when my son came home with the February lunch calendar. Five out of the first seven days of school in February he is able to get the school lunch! I immediately praised God because I knew He had to have played a part in this. This is a serious blessing.
Don’t get me wrong, even though we had a lot of good things that happened this month, I was not full of joy and contentment the whole month. I had many, many days where I cried and felt hopeless. We had to really cut back this month, and I know we are only in the middle of a long, long journey. However, little moments like the one above are enough to restore my hope and keep moving forward. Now, let’s get into the stats for this first month.
Stats
I recently wrote a post about our monthly budget for our family of 6, so that can give you a good idea on what our budget currently looks like.
Current Baby Step: Baby Step 1 — We started the year with a little in our emergency fund, but we need to replenish it. Unfortunately, we were not able to complete this Baby Step in one month. Our minimum debt payments are quite high, so our progress is going to start off very slow. Download the printable Baby Steps tracker I’m using here!
Giving: 1.03% (Goal: 1% of income)
Groceries: $1,074.01 (Goal: Less than $1,000)
Amount Paid Towards Debt: $536.45 (Goal: Minimum payments until emergency fund is complete).
Amount Saved: $482.87 (Goal: Refill our emergency fund).
Debt Free Journey Update
Starting Balance: $63,375
Current Balance: $62,902.95
Change in Balance This Month: -472.05
Change in Balance This Year:
Total Change in Balance:
How I Track Our Budget
Here is the Google Sheets template I use to budget and organize our personal finances. Use Code HOUSEHOLD for a discount!
Other Financial Resources I Used This Month
- Faithful Finances: Daily Devotions for Godly Money Management by Jessi Fearon
- Breaking Free from Broke by George Kamel
- Printable budget planner
- Debt free trackers
- Debt snowball calculator
Next Month
I filed our taxes at the end of January, so I already know what to expect for a tax refund. Since we have a low income and we added a fourth dependent last year, we are getting a pretty significant amount. If we receive it in February, we will be able to make some serious progress on our debt as well as finish filling our emergency fund and maybe get a microwave!
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