DEBT FREE!!!

For the first two years of our marriage we lived in a mobile home. It was cozy and convenient -- being right across the street (and owned by) my employer at the time. Rent was cheap and came directly out of my paycheck. Being across the street from work meant I could just walk to work and we got away with owning just one car (which we paid off with money we were gifted with when we got married).

Two financial decisions we made early on in marriage: #1 we were going to tithe at least 10% of our gross income back to God and #2 as best we could, we were going to live debt free (if a loan was needed -- home/car -- we were going to pay it off as quickly as possible. Over the past 23 years, we've kept those two promises.

We were completely debt free the first two years of our marriage and even though I wasn't making much, but we were able to squirrel away a decent nest egg into savings. 

We decided the time had come to buy our first home and start a family.

Being cheapskates with limited income (with plenty of ignorance in regards to home prices); we found out that the homes in our budget just needed too much work. We're not handy people and a "fixer upper" was way too daunting of a thought for us.

Our realtor and friend came to us once, after showing us several homes, with a thought. "There is this one house, it is out of your range, however, it's a duplex. You can rent out the upstairs and that will cover most, if not all the mortgage."

After walking through the house we decided we wanted to make it our own.

Long story short: we got the house we wanted! 

We moved in before any of the kids were born and we both wanted to be debt free as soon as possible.

We lived the first several years still owning just one car (the new company I worked for allowed me to bring my company vehicle home at night). Once the kids started entering the picture, we lived off of hand-me-downs and second hand stores.

We drove out of our way to go to grocery stores that accepted double coupons and we would buy hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for pennies on the dollar.

We invested in clothe diapers for our first two kids . . . but as soon as we found out that we were going to have twins we decided that would be to much laundry to do and sold the clothe diapers for a pretty good return. We put all the money we made selling the clothe diapers into disposable ones we bought on sale and with coupons. 

Side note for having twins, we were gifted several items and got our second crib for just $5 on the last day of a church rummage sale.

We realize that babies and toddlers could care less about what brand of clothing they wore or what toys they played with (the box was always more of a draw to them anyway). We never went extravagant with them or ourselves.

Meanwhile, we were hammering away at our mortgage . . . and we were making good progress. 

Around 2010 we decided to start traveling. The kids were getting to an age where they would be easier to travel with (travelling with 4 babies/toddlers was just out of the question -PLUS- they were now at an age where they would hopefully create some memories that they would retain into adulthood). 

It was always on our agenda to travel as a family - first it's educational. Learning history and geography first hand and on site. Second, and more importantly, it would be making memories, as a family, that would last a lifetime. We kept Christmas gifts to a minimum and would put the "Christmas money" into our vacation fund. Toys that would be played with for a time and then break, or be forgotten about, would be replaced by family time on the road.

Even then, our travels have always been on budget and as cheap as possible. I'm constantly amazed at the amount of money we save via various rewards (cash back or free hotel nights) and how cheaply we can see America. Our hotel nights average out to about $30/night because we have so many free nights. We also save up our "cash back" rewards on our credit card and redeem them as soon as we return from our trip and that pays off a significant amount of the trip.

We never lost sight of being debt free, and continued to pay extra on our mortgage every month, but "life" did impact how much extra we paid (esp. as the kids got older and more involved in extra curricular activities). 

Two more things played into paying off the house: having to get a second car and major work done to the house (new roof, new windows, blown in insulation, new siding, enclosing our front porch and adding a large deck out back). We took advantage of government rebates that were being offered at the time to save money and energy every month. 

But as a result we went from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (and practically tasting that Market Fresh Sandwich - *see next paragraph*) to being right back where we started. After all the home renovations, our mortgage was literally about the same amount that we bought the house for in the first place. This was very depressing. 

We moved into our home in February 2001 and in May of 2001 Arby's introduced their Market Fresh Sandwiches. The sandwiches looked absolutely delicious . . . but expensive. I started joking that "when we pay off our house I'm going to get myself a Market Fresh Sandwich from Arby's." 

I even turned Becki down a couple of times when she offered to get me one (because we had a coupon or something). I always said, "no, not until we pay off our house." Having this sandwich became a benchmark of achievement for me.

At some point, I have no idea when or where, I found out there was such a thing as triple-ply toilet paper. That, also, was added to my "when we pay off the house" list of things I wanted.

It was a short list, actually, I just kept it at two items: the Market Fresh Sandwich and triple-ply toilet paper. What luxuries! 

Years passed and we continued chipping away at our mortgage and car loan(s) (we have purchased multiple vehicles over the years). And then in late 2019 my parents sold off a portion of their land and gifted us enough to pay off our car. What a huge blessing, and relief, that was. We were able to then add our monthly car payment to our mortgage payment and make better progress on the house.

Then 2020 hit.

With the world a mess with Covid, our lives didn't change much. Both of our jobs were deemed "essential" and we carried on as usual.  We did miss out on a lot of things, as did everyone else; birthdays and Kaitee graduating from High School were pretty high on that list.

One big up-swing for the year is that my parents sold their Bybee Springs Estate out in Oregon. They blessed us in a HUGE way by paying off the remainder of our mortgage!! 

On October 26, 2020 (my brother's Birthday) we became Debt Free!

What a blessing!! We are still speechless.

Here's how we celebrated:

We went to Cheddar's in Iowa City (while there on a day trip) and bought three Cookie Monsters to share (first picture was found on the world wide web). 

Next, we splurged and got the triple-ply toilet paper. If you ever come into money, I recommend you treat yourself to this luxury at least once in your life. For the record, we just bought this one package. Also for the record, it isn't necessarily good for your septic system, lol!

Next we wanted a fancy steak dinner. 

Covid was in full swing and as a precaution we decided against having a large gathering at Thanksgiving. As a result, our family would be celebrating the holiday as the six of us at home. 

I'm not a huge fan of turkey, and while ham is a viable alternative, we decided to go totally against the "norm" and have our fancy steak dinner for Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving Dinner 2020:

The final thing I wanted to do was enjoy a Market Fresh Sandwich from Arby's. I had a few opportunities throughout the months after paying off the house, however, 2020 was the year where you could get food through a drive thru, but you had to take it home or eat in the car. I wanted to wait until I could eat inside of a restaurant again.

On June 9, 2021 -- 20 years after I first said, "when we pay off our house I'm going to get myself a Market Fresh Sandwich from Arby's," we stopped at the Arby's in Ogallala, Nebraska (on our final day of vacation) and the lobby was open for DINE IN!!

It was time. I enjoyed my Market Fresh Sandwich immensely. May or may not have gotten a little emotional (I'm not kidding -- 20 years of saying, "when we pay off the house . . .").

It may be another 20 years before I have another one -- they are expensive -- but I will always remember the satisfaction that sandwich brought me.

This post isn't a post of bragging - at least we hope it doesn't come across as that. It's a post of gratitude. Gratitude first and foremost to God for His many blessings that He has allowed us to be a part of. Gratitude to my parents for their sacrificial gift(s) to pay off our debts when we did nothing to deserve that (sounds like a great God analogy, right!). Gratitude for our family - for understanding what it meant to sacrifice (not shopping at the mall but at Goodwill), sharing meals when out to eat, eating leftovers, shopping generic brands instead of whining about not getting name brand groceries, etc. For understanding that when we got free passes to an activity (baseball game, movie, zoo, etc), we weren't going to "splurge" to buy snacks at the venue, etc. We tried (still do) to show the kids that blessings like that aren't reason to throw caution to the wind.

As we move forward through 2022 and beyond, we are now planning to move 2 of the kids upstairs into the rental. They will pay rent, but it will be a small portion of what we could collect based on the market value. They will continue to learn the value of a dollar and we will teach them how to save money (both by actually putting it aside in their Roth or savings accounts as well as teaching them to look for deals, coupons and discounts). Becki has been known to say (to the kids) - "If I've taught you anything in life, it is that you never pay full price for something". 

"'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty. 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,' says the LORD Almighty. 'Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,' says the LORD Almighty.'"   -- Malachi 3:10-12

"From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." -- John 1:16

Morton Arboretum - October 2020

We purchased tickets to the Morton Arboretum last October. We were hoping to walk the grounds to explore and do the "Troll Hunt" on the same day as we had tickets for Illumination (Christmas lights display throughout the Arboretum)  While we weren't able to use the tickets that day (it rained all day), we were fortunate to have a full year to use them. We figured that wouldn't be a problem since the Troll Hunt was scheduled to be there through June. 

Well, life had other plans! By March, all of Illinois was shut down due to Covid. That was okay though, we can use them over the summer (the Trolls were extended through 2021)... Haha! Again, joke was on us. Covid stuck around and kept things closed. 

We were finally able to figure out a date that worked for all of our schedules and it was within the year expiration date (by 2 weeks!). 

With Matt working 2 weeks on, 1 week off of the on-call rotation at work, we knew our days/weekends were limited. Looking at the calendar we had one weekend that was open in October and we planned around that. We had hopes to eat Chicago style pizza, shop at IKEA and find some letterboxes too. Our priority though was to visit the Arboretum.

We left the house around 8, planning to arrive in time for our 11-12:00 reservation time slot (reservations needed due to population limits because of Covid). We grabbed lunch on the way and arrived at the arboretum a few minutes after 11. There was a sign that welcomed us, stating that the tickets were sold out for the day. Yikes, we knew it was going to be a busy place. 

I had printed the map of the park as well as the Troll Hunt map with directions. Because of this, we were able to bypass the Visitor Center which was extremely busy.

As we started our journey around the park, we all commented (multiple times!) about the beautiful trees. 

We found our first Troll! Unfortunately, all of the Trolls were quarantined and not allowed outside of their quarantine fencing. This was super disappointing to us - we've seen lots of fun pictures of visitors interacting with the Trolls and we were hoping to do the same. We had to remind ourselves to not be too upset but be thankful that we were able to visit and see them in the first place. 

Stop 1: Troll - Niels Bragger

Stop 2: Troll - Little Arturs

This was a stop that disappointed us a bit. We were really hoping to climb in and have some fun with the opened mouth and pinched fingers. We did have some fun (the kids did) running through the grove of trees just beyond Little Arturs.

Here's a picture taken by our friends Steve & Zoma (used with permission). They visited last fall and Steve nearly got eaten alive!!! We had hoped to recreate this classic shot;

We drove the full loop of the West Side of the Arboretum, enjoying the beautiful trees, lakes and sunshine! We stopped to admire this amazingly vibrant golden tree! Wow, we couldn't believe how colorful and full it was! 

Stop #3: Godshalk Meadow

Will climbed up into the tree to get some different angles with his camera. The pictures he took are below (he zoomed out then worked his way in).

While the rest of us admired the big yellow tree, Kaitee found a shiny red light! lol

While at this stop, Will & Matt noticed a hawk perched on a tree across the drive. We walked over only to find he had flown away...then we found him on another tree. We waited in anticipation, hoping to capture him in flight. He did finally fly away and Will was able to snap a few shots before he disappeared.

Once we reached the end of the loop, we headed back to the entrance gate and started the East Loop. 

Stop #4: Troll - Rocky Bardur

This stop was by far the most frustrating of the day. Rocky was right beside the main lot, which was very full of cars, bikes, people with little kids and strollers, etc. After driving around the parking lot a few times, we were able to find a spot close to Rocky and snap a few pictures, but we didn't stick around this area for very long!

Stop #5: Troll - Sneaky Socks Alexa

Stop #6: Troll - Joe the Guardian

This stop was the longest walk of the day - 1 mile roundtrip. It was a great day to get out and walk though, enjoying the beauty around us.

Joe is visible from Interstates 88 & 355. We had seen him on previous trips (from the road), but it was especially neat to see him as we left town Sunday night. 

 

Stop #7: Family Pictures

As we drove around the East Loop, we drove through a quiet, picturesque grove of trees. We noticed another family a bit off the road, taking some family pictures. I asked Matt if he would mind stopping so we could try to get a family picture too. 

Well, we ended up waiting quite a while for the first family to be done (they were taking their own pictures, but we didn't anticipate them taking more than 10-15 minutes). After waiting for 20 minutes or so, we decided to find a different spot in that area to set up the tripod for our pictures. 

This is what we saw from where we sat in the van. I set up the tripod but we decided to keep looking.

Matt turned towards the street and saw this tree. We decided to give it a try. I loved how the pictures turned out - the juxtaposition of the tree branches and how the kids sat/stood, it really made the picture a great one!

We left the tree area and headed back towards the road and the original spot (the family had left in the meantime). I loved the way that the road snaked through the trees and the sun shone through the tree canopy. Unfortunately, the pictures we took didn't turn our as good as I had in my mind. It didn't help that we had to set up the timer and snap the pictures with no cars coming through. It was pretty busy!

We then headed over to the first area we were looking at, set up the tripod and took quite a few pictures. Here is the end result. 

Stop #8: Troll - Furry Emma

Our last stop at the Arboretum was Furry Emma. This was another troll I thought we'd have fun with...pre Covid. Put a few of the kids under the trap, etc. Instead, we got to enjoy her from a distance. Getting to this troll was also a bit of a hike, about 1/2 mile round trip. 

The kids found a very long stick, so they had a competition of who could jump the highest. I think Will won!

Kaitee tried. Sadly, she landed in a hole and hurt her ankle (Will helped her back to the car).

This meadow was so peaceful and the colors surrounding us were amazing! We spent quite a bit of time at this stop - just enjoying the day and the beauty.

We left the Arboretum and headed north towards Schaumburg. We were looking forward to eating some Chicago style pizza at Lou Malnati's and then shopping at IKEA. By the time that we arrived at our hotel, we were pretty beat. What a wonderful day though!

We woke up Sunday to a very overcast day. If all went as planned, it would be overcast but no rain all weekend! The only 2 things on our agenda for the day - Letterboxing and eating at The Silo in Lake Bluff. 

Here are some pictures from our day of boxing...

We came across this parking lot full of election signs. There was an early voting site just around the corner. We went back around the block to snap some pictures - a piece of history. Voting during a pandemic.

We enjoyed our day of traipsing through the northern suburbs - even heading into Wisconsin for a few boxes. We ate sidewalk fries at The Silo and then started for home. 

It was truly a wonderful weekend - full of outdoor activities. Fresh air and minimal contact with other people. We were super excited to eat some of our favorite foods and just get away for a few days. It was so worth it!