Double Check Your Work

Hi!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

So, our adventure continues...

We had a huge bummer come out over the weekend about our progress. We have a running calendar up at our place that shows our starting debt for the month and our ending debt for the month. Basically, just to keep us motivated and remind us to keep on trucking. My dad saw our calendar one day, the torn off page from July, and was so surprised at the number that we had paid off. So, we decided to review our our remaining debt again. According to our calendar, and excel worksheet we created, we had paid off $3,085.72 at the end of July! That did not add up. We only paid off my David's Bridal Credit Card ($300), his parents ($417) and his Best Buy credit card ($801), without even having to do the math, obviously that does not add up to $3,085.72. It adds up to only $1,518.00. Ugh! It is such a bummer! We had credited an excel spreadsheet and were subtracting each debt from the total as it got paid off. Turns out, there was an error in our formula that we inputted into excel.

So, if I learned one thing from that let down, although technology is so AWESOME and I would personally be lost without things like excel, we always need to double check our work on this! If we had used a simple calculator or even looked at the numbers, instead of just assuming that the number that auto populated due to our (incorrect) formula was the correct answer, we would have never hit this bump. I reflected on this a little and released how much I do that. I type in what I need to do and always trust that the right number will apprear. In my personal as well as work life, I am definitely more aware that mistakes can happen, even in this world with the best technology! For this error we made, luckily it was in our first month of the experience and we are still learning our own system and assigning each dollar to something, but nonetheless, bummed us out.

One great thing about us doing this together is having each other to lean on. When that happened we were both a upset, so we just talked it over, fixed the excel spreadsheet and jumped back on track. Things like that would have been so much harder if I did not have him in my life. I feel so blessed that we are able to have support from one an another. Its moments like that, that make me realize that together we can do anything! So, currently we are back on track. We were able to discuss our financial temptations that came up over the weekend and in the end, we both had being debt free on our minds! It has only really been 5 days and it has already been a challenge to us both. But, it makes it so clear to us both that this is only making us stronger as newly husband and wife.

In church on Saturday night, the message was so amazing and so relevant. We must trust in Jesus and not fear what lies ahead. We heard about this whole debt free thing and we both trusted that this was the path we needed and were supposed to be on and we realized we cannot fear the challenges that may be coming, for at the end of the day, we know if we face a challenge and fail, He will be there to pick us up. "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." -Matthew 14:27.

Have a great night all! Thanks for stopping by! Talk to you soon!

XOXO

Renee Farrell