Why We're Getting Out of Debt: (Or, why drive when you could walk?)

About six months ago, John and I really began to feel that we should be paying off our debt. This was a new feeling to us (well it is a new feeling to us) and only weeks prior, I was telling someone that our combined student debt (six years of combined schooling entirely on loans), plus our car debt, was healthy debt. You know, debt you need. So it's healthy.

Shortly thereafter we got kicked in the pants by our brains and our God and and had a transition into realizing that no debt is healthy debt.

It might be necessary. But it's not healthy.

Here's the analogy I came up with, and it's not perfect and it has flaws, so please don't get stuck on the details:

If I want to get from one place to another, say from my house to the park, I need a means of getting there. I have three options:

1. I could walk to the park.
2. I could bike to the park.
3. I could drive to the park.

The distance of the park will determine whether I choose option 1, 2 or 3.

1. If the park is down the street, I will probably walk. 
2. If it's across town, I'll bike. 
3. If it's in another city, I'll drive.
   
   That's the logical thing to do.

However, the options for transportation are not fixed.

I don't have to walk to the park that's down the street... I could drive there. It would be a short drive, and it would only use a little gas, and I'm getting exercize at the park anyways, so why not drive?

Or, I could bike down the street - it would get me there quicker and I would still receive the benefits of the outdoors.

However, (and this is the point that I suppose I never considered) even if I'm going to another city, I could walk. I don't have to drive. I don't have to bike.

It would be a long walk, and it would require some preparation (I would need to pack snacks and water bottles, and maybe a change of clothes for when I get to where I'm going), but I could do it.
I could walk to another city. I don't have to drive.

The same is our life with debt.

1. Imagine with me that my "walking" is living with cash. 
2. Imagine that my "biking" is a partial reliance on credit - in the same way that a bike is a partial reliance on technology. You're still using your legs, but your wheels are making them move faster than they otherwise could. In my analogy, the bike is debt that you use and pay off before interest accrues. Using a credit card to book a plane trip, gain the points & pay it off. That kind of thing.
3. And, imagine that the car is debt - full debt, major loans which are larger than any income you've seen at once. For me, this is a car loan. A mortgage. Things like that.

What I've come to realize is that it is possible to "walk" everywhere. No matter the income level of a person, if there is appropriate planning and a 0-sum debt balance, you can actually walk... everywhere. You might need to pack some snacks and it'll take a lot longer to get where you're going, but think of all of the fresh air you'll get on the way.

Of course, when it comes to a mortgage, I might drive most of the way. But I can walk much more of it than I thought.

I've started to look at verses like this in a new light:

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." - Romans 13.8

"The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender."
- Proverbs 22:7


“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God."
- Leviticus 25:35-38

God did not intend for us to need to borrow from each other. God intended for us to work and live in community with each other.

This means giving where it hurts, to each other. This means living together. Beside each other. Living without interest. Sharing. Really, it means sharing. Because although God did not intend for us to need to borrow from each other, He knew that in this life we'd face troubles. He knew we'd be poor sometimes. Or a lot of the times. But He knows that we have it in ourselves to protect each other from the storms of poverty.

I think that God is merciful, and He understands your financial situation. I think He's going to work with you and answer your prayers, and if what you need is financial breakthrough, He's going to give it to you if you ask for it and do what you can to see it.

In our lives, this means taking extra work sometimes; selling items that might be easier to simply drop off at Goodwill; shopping at Goodwill (thankfully thrifting is cool now); and budgeting realistically.

I'm not saying to have an entertainment fund of $10 a month - or to sit at home and be bored out of your eyes - or to live off rice - but I'm saying to set realistic goals and limits for yourself and ourselves that are achievable and, well, limited. When the money's gone, it's gone. Come back at the beginning of next month. I'll talk more in an upcoming post about how we're doing that with the envelope system, and share some tips from people who have been succeeding with a cash lifestyle for much longer than we have.

What we're learning is that we can walk everywhere we set our minds to. We can realize the benefits of getting the fresh air, of having a world that is, for us, cash based. (And yes we still have a bank account, and no we don't keep anything under the mattress, we're not that extreme. Props if you are.)

John and I are choosing to get out of debt because we don't want anyone to rule over us, and we want to be able to share with those around us. Please pray with us that getting out of debt is going to be a reality in our lives, and send me an email or message below if you'd like me to pray with you that getting out of debt is going to be a reality in your life.

God never tells us to do something we won't be able to do.