The Abundant Wife

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Today I met a frugal friend at the park for a play date.  When I came home, I put the kids down for a nap, and then decided to update “The Abundant Wife” for the first time since last June.  I believe the last post before that was in April.

I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long, and left without any explanation.  Frankly, I didn’t know what to say.  We were on reduced salary for almost half of last year.  We weren’t making any progress on our debts.  My frustration with our financial situation was hard on our marriage, and I needed to stop talking about money.  Period.

So I quit.  Lucky for you, I couldn’t figure out how to delete this confounded blog.  😉  I’m somewhat tech savvy, but I couldn’t figure it out.  In the meantime, I focused more on being a “wife,” and less on being “abundant.”  The break has been great for our marriage, and I’m happy to say we’re doing better than ever.

I also began homeschooling our oldest daughter for the first time.  This was a huge jump for me, as someone who did not grow up around homeschooling.  It’s been a difficult transition, but also a good one.  After 6 months, Naomi and I are finally starting to develop some routines that are working for us.

Lately I’ve been getting the itch to write again.  So here I am at my husband’s roll-top desk, sitting cross-legged in a creaky wooden swivel chair, tapping away on my laptop.  My kids are watching Disney shorts on the iPad (a Christmas gift from Grandma) in the next room.

Our finances are looking the best they have in years, causing me to cross my fingers lest some major expense set us back again.  As of today, we owe

• $1,185 on our last Student Loan (4.5% Interest Rate), and
  
• $103,979 on our Mortgage (4.125% Interest Rate),

for a Grand Total of $105,164 in debt.  We have paid off almost $133,000 in 9 years of marriage!  Wahoo!

I cannot tell you how relieved I am to be close to paying off our last loan.  If all goes according to plan (which it almost never does) we will be debt-free in the next 2-3 months!

If you are still following me, thank you for sticking around.  It’s been almost 4 years since I started this blog, and it’s been full of stops and starts.  It’s hard to believe I’ve published 475 posts about living abundantly on less.  Thanks for hanging in there, and cheering us on.

Love,

Jessie

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  Hebrews 12: 1-3