We are debt free!!

Congrats Nat. I remember when I paid off my CC and two student loans and how great it felt. When I worked I had a savings that I would dump $$ for big expenses so I wouldn't carry any debt. I am working on DH's now and one CC should be paid off in a few weeks. Then we can work on the next one.

Originally Posted by Russian Blue

Enjoy your debt free status now while you can! Once you get a house, there will always be something to spend your money on. As you can tell, I'm talking from experience. We've owned our home for 6 years and we still have projects to sap our cash.

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Originally Posted by Winchester

But having a house also means upkeep, maintenance, and re-dos. We're in the process of renovating our basement (family room, fireplace, extra bath, laundry room, etc.) and it's been challenging not to use the cards, but so far we've done well. After the basement is finished, we plan to start on the bathroom on the main floor. And then, finally!! the kitchen. (And boy, do I have ideas for my kitchen!)

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Congratulations, Nat! I've got to agree with the above posts. It's not just the cost of a house, but the upkeep and renovations that really add up. A new roof, furnace, bath, windows, etc.. can really eat up savings.

congratulations

What a wonderful feeling and awesome reality! Way to go!

Every one deserves to have a new car at least once in their life.

My financial expert says find one that you really like and drive it into the ground. With proper maintenance of course.

I bought my first new car when I was about your age. When that was paid off (two years) I bought a house. Since then I have always had a mortgage but never a car payment.

My current truck is 13 years old. I did buy it used but it took me over 10 months to find the one I wanted.

Now my next big thing is to get the mortgage paid down.

Originally Posted by CheshireCat

Every one deserves to have a new car at least once in their life.

.

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My problem with that is the "new car" depreciates almost twenty percent in some cases just for driving it off the lot brand new! No thanks, I would so much rather spend that on a nice vacation or on doing something I really love, or to go into savings to grow bigger as the years pass, rather than buying a brand new chunk of metal, but that is me

Originally Posted by cococat

My problem with that is the "new car" depreciates almost twenty percent in some cases just for driving it off the lot brand new! No thanks, I would so much rather spend that on a nice vacation or on doing something I really love, or to go into savings to grow bigger as the years pass, rather than buying a brand new chunk of metal, but that is me

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The thing about depreciating "when you drive it off the lot" though is, it doesn't actually affect someone if they buy the RIGHT make of car.

I work in auto claims, and I have to pay people money for what their cars are worth when they total them. I am consistently seeing Hondas and Toyotas worth MORE than what people owe on them. Consequently, domestics depreciate quite alarmingly and people end up getting less than what they owe.

My point is, when you buy the right vehicle, the depreciation doesn't affect you. Plus, I do plan to run my new car into the ground so I could care less if it depreciates

Debts make me sick!

That's awesome Nat!! DH and I worked hard to pay off a ton of credit card debt we assumed with a business a while back. Then we saved and saved for our house. Now we only have the house and one car payment as debt. We'd like to keep it where we only have the one car payment. And we pay extra on the house too.

Hope you get to buy a house soon. It's been wonderful for us; though it is scary taking on all that responsibility/debt. Still good though!

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

I work in auto claims, and I have to pay people money for what their cars are worth when they total them.

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insider knowledge, I love it!

That's amazing Natalie!!! I'm sooo happy for you and your hubby!