Let’s start by saying that we love our friends. We really do. Many of our friends are like family – Framily. Moving from New Jersey to Southwest Michigan has afforded us the opportunity to expand our circle of love Friends have graduated and moved across country but we are all still in contact thanks to social media. It is a blessing and we look forward to visiting them now that we are debt free.
During Mr. HutchLife’s time in seminary we had a friend who invited us to be there when he proposed to his now wife. It was a beautiful sunset proposal that I am glad we did not miss. We were invited to their wedding in Houston, TX which was 4 months into our debt free journey. I love our friends, truly I do but I struggled with attending because I’d rather throw that money at our debt snowball and send a lovely gift instead. There were more costs that just attending the wedding. Because the wedding was in Houston, TX and we had to find a place to stay, rent a car, pay for flights and get a gift. I struggled with choosing to spend that money. Mr. HutchLife wanted to go regardless.
Now if you know my husband, he’s always been the saver between the two of us and has no issues saying no to anything but he wanted to go and be there for his friend. I was a new saver and aggressive with it because I wanted to get out of debt as soon as possible. We discussed attending and looked at the total cost of going and how far that would put us back on our journey if we went. Mr. HutchLife was fine with putting it on hold to be a part of an experience and a moment. We were still on one income and it was a pit stop on the journey even after the promotion. When we got married we agreed that we wouldn’t move forward with anything unless we were both on board 100% and he knew that we both had to agree if we were going to go.
I️ prayed on it, he prayed on it, we prayed on it. We went to the wedding because Mr. HutchLife wanted us to be there for our friends and still try to enjoy the debt free journey and not hate it by not having any fun. We agreed that we valued our friendship and the fact that we were invited to be there for the proposal to his soon to be wife. It showed how much we meant to him. We agreed to go. But there were stipulations. We set a budget for flights ($350), a budget for where we would stay ($120) and a budget for a gift ($50). We agreed to spend $100 during the trip on food. If we didn’t find these in that price range we wouldn’t go. We both agreed 100% on these guidelines.
Then we prayed for cheap flights and a cheap place to stay. We prayed, searched and looked. We found flights for both of us to Houston out of Chicago for $334. We found a place through Airbnb that we shared with friends that was $110 per couple. We spent less than $100 for the 2 1/2 days we were there. The entire trip was $550. Being there for their big day meant a lot to them and I’m glad that Mr. HutchLife pushed for us to go.
While working to be debt free you have to determine what is important, weigh the costs and benefits, and decide what will matter when you look back on your journey. People don’t remember what you say, they remember how you made them feel. That is what matters to us.
Have you had to make decisions on your journey that puts your debt snowball on pause for a short while? What was the moment/experience? How did you decide to pause? Are you glad you did/didn’t go?
