Our Journey to Financial Freedom – Part 4 – Sacrifice and Stimulus Money

As we rolled into 2019, we had a goal to continue the momentum and snowball building. The first curveball that hit was a cold snap that caused a water pipe to burst in our basement. While we assessed the damage and began cleaning up, mold was found hidden behind wall paneling. This led us to continue looking behind every nook and crevice, only to find more mold and previous water damage from years ago. 

Thankfully our insurance company responded quickly and provided a substantial check to clean up the water damage. However, they would not fully cover the mold remediation as their “preferred company” was much cheaper. This caused our momentum to temporarily pause to properly remediate the mold and renovate the basement. Even though this was a set back to our financial goals, it was offset by having a clean area where the kids could play and I could work from home. 

While we continued to pinch pennies throughout 2019, little progress was made on paying off debt due to the basement renovation. This was a critical juncture in our journey as it would have been easy to throw in the towel due to the set back. There will be setbacks and unexpected expenses during every debt free journey, but it’s important to stay focused on the end goal of financial freedom.

The importance of staying focused and continuing to push through every hurdle has been the biggest lesson learned throughout the long journey. The road to financial freedom is a long one with many twists, turns, downed trees that need to be moved and other obstacles that need to be overcome. Each time a fork in the road appears is an opportunity to push even harder towards the goal. 

The year 2020 will live in infamy for many reasons, but for our financial journey we turned it into an opportunity. While there are many things to say about COVID, we’ll stay focused on the financial side here. We were blessed to skate through the COVID situation without major issues, and it allowed us to get the snowball rolling at an unexpected rate.

At this stage in our journey, nearly all of our debt consisted of student loans. This allowed us to throw every Trump Check and Biden Buck at the snowball. Some people used those government checks on themselves while we did the opposite. We pretended they never arrived and threw all of it at the debt which made our debt shovel much bigger. On top of a bigger shovel, most of those student loans went to 0% interest which meant all the money we put on debt went directly to the principle, making that snowball bigger and bigger.

Additionally, I learned the value of investing in yourself during this period. A colleague obtained his Project Management Professional certificate and suggested I do the same. Around this time I also found Ken Coleman.  Ken works for Ramsey Solutions and focuses on career objectives. His podcast is great and allowed me to see the value of knowing your worth.

In September of 2021 I took the Get Clear Assessment to figure out what I really wanted to do for work. It reinforced that I was close to a desired career, but a few tweeks would help. Between a colleague suggesting, Nikki encouraging and the Assessment, I decided to take the plunge of $1,200 to obtain my Project Management Professional certificate.

I signed up for the required class and planned to take the class in December. I took PTO to fully concentrate on the class and began studying for the exam. Most people who take the PMP exam study for a few months after the required classroom learning to ensure a passing grade. Around that same time, a COVID vaccine mandate was announced by my employer. I applied for an exemption, but did not hear back for an extended duration.

This kicked me into high gear knowing that I could lose my job at any time. I completed the classroom portion on December 21st and signed up to take the PMP exam on January 8th. I spent every spare moment studying for the exam, taking mock exams and doing everything I could to pass. The mock exams from TIA helped tremendously to pass the exam with Above Target in all three categories. 

Prior to passing the PMP, I was applying to jobs on LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter and every other job board out there with little traction. After passing the PMP, adding it to my resume and LinkedIn, interviews increased tremendously. Within a few weeks I had multiple job offers and wrote up a resignation email. Prior to sending the email, I called my boss as a courtesy to let him know it was coming. 

The primary reason for taking another job offer was tied to the vaccine mandate and not knowing if I would be employed as my vaccine exemption was still not approved. The next 24 hours were a blur due to the amount of phone calls back and forth. Ultimately, I ended up getting the vaccine exemption, a significant raise and stayed at my current employer. Similar to the COVID checks, this additional money was thrown directly at the debt and allowed us to continue the momentum.

Between COVID checks, work bonuses and continuing to pinch pennies we were able to knock our debt down to one remaining student loan as of this writing. This has allowed us to handle many emergencies that have popped up, to plan for the future and to further solidify what’s really important. 

Throughout all of the situations that arose from 2019-2023, it’s easy to see God at work. At the time, a burst water pipe seemed insurmountable, but it was a blessing in disguise as we were able to fix the mold problem that was hidden. Finding Ken Coleman allowed me to push past the drudgery of work and know my worth, which is also critical for the Christian. Standing my ground against the vaccine mandate has allowed great conversions with colleagues on a multitude of topics. Though it may be difficult to see at the time, God is all knowing and allows us to be tempted to reach a level we never thought possible. 

The entire debt free journey has been an eye opening experience and has paid off massively. It would be easy to say “look at all our hard work” instead of giving God the glory for all of the blessings He’s provided. It would be easy to spend all of the extra money on stuff that doesn’t really matter, but keeping focused on the ultimate goal is key. Our debt free journey has not been about getting nicer things. It has been focused on how being debt free will give us the freedom to serve God more. Getting rid of debt allows us to help more people, attend more church functions and will allow us the freedom to go when called. The next post will show how our intentionality over the past five years has paid off.