Spring 2020

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SPRING 2020 HOMESCHOOL IOWA 11
my husband and I had good jobs, we didn’t
havemuchmoney in the bank. It didn’t make
sense. I thought I was good at handling mon-
ey because we could make all of our pay-
ments, and we didn’t have any “credit card”
debt.
The reason I have “credit
card” in quotes is that I didn’t
consider it credit card debt
because I wasn’t writing a
check to Visa, Mastercard, or
Discover. The bulk of our debt
was in vehicle payments, but
we had also bought a house,
and then there were all of
those store cards I mentioned
earlier. In my mind, none of
those were “credit cards,” but
that’s exactly what they were.
The payments were draining
us. When we sat down and
added it up, we had accumu-
lated $64,000 in debt. I am
embarrassed to say, we did
it unknowingly. We had no
idea how much debt we had
gotten into because we were only looking at
the payments.
We got on a plan, got embarrassed and
mad, and went to work about getting out of
debt. We figured out the correct way to cre-
ate a budget, or spending plan. This was one
of the most instrumental things we did in
gaining control back. I didn’t realize you had
to make a plan BEFORE the month started.
What a concept!
I wish I could say that we were committed
and intentional about our get-out-of-debt
journey, but we wandered for a while. We
didn’t take on any new debt during this time,
but we took vacations and still did a lot of un-
necessary spending. We have now been out
of debt for 5 years. We drive a 2007 Chevy
Impala and a 2010 Chevy Traverse, both with
over 170,000 miles on them. I can tell you
that I wish we would have been more inten-
tional about getting out of debt. Actually, I
wish I would have listened to my parents
in the beginning. Getting out of debt has
changed our lives, our marriage, and our out-
look on life!
I find that many people are in the same boat.
We wander into debt because, in all honesty,
that’s what society tells us to do. We aren’t
looking at the big picture, just the small bite-
sized snapshots advertisers tell us to look at.
We are trained not to ask about how much
it costs, but instead, how much is the pay-
ment. We are told that of course we deserve
the big house, the nice car, and all the things
our hearts desire. I am not here to tell you
that you don’t deserve them. I think you do. I
AM here to encourage you to approach these
purchasing decisions with patience.
My parents modeled fiscal responsibility
and patience, but those are two lessons I had
to learn on my own. Patience is one of the
best lessons we can learn when it comes to
managing our money well:
Patience to save up for what
we want, patience to know
that where we are spending
our money is where we truly
wanted it to go. Learning pa-
tience as a principle of money
management helps us avoid
buyer’s remorse the day after
a shopping spree or the next
month when that first pay-
ment rolls around.
Patience is easier to learn
when we are shown why it
is valuable. Looking back, it
would have been so helpful
for me to have had some in-
tentional training in money
management to showme this
before college, a course that
would have prepared me for the decisions
that I would have to face, a course that would
have shown me the consequences of mak-
ing those decisions, decisions that seemed
harmless at the time, but ended up having
long-term consequences. My parents were
great examples and they talked with me
about money, but I still entered adulthood
ill-equipped to deal with the sales pitches I
encountered every time I shopped, to sign
up for a store card in order to get a discount,
to go ahead and finance that car that’s a little
more than I should spend and lock myself
into a 6-year payment plan, or to “buy now,
pay later” to get the living room set I wanted.
The older we get, the harder it is to make
changes. The deeper in debt that we get, the
longer it takes to dig ourselves out. I chal-
lenge parents to not only take control of
their own finances and model good finan-
cial management, but to also make sure that
their kids are taught financial management
in an intentional way. Teach your kids to shop
for groceries with a list and a budget. Teach
them about utilities, and explore ways to re-
duce your utility usage. Talk about howmuch
time and money interest adds to a loan. Look
for money management courses for your
teens that teach them about the value of
budgeting. Help set your kids on a path for
financial success in the long term by being as
intentional about their financial education as
you are about teaching them to read.
Emily Barber, Financial Coach with Take Control Financial.
Learn more at
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Patience is one
of the best
lessons we can
learn when it
comes to
managing our
money well...
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