(Image Source: 401kcalculator.org)

Money can be a tough thing to talk about.  Since we shared the about the combined debt payoff, we really want to be transparent about our money and hopefully help and encourage others.

Truth be told, we fail in the finance department frequently.  This is not meant to be a self-condemning post at all, just an honest one.

Buyer’s Remorse

It hit us square in the face the past couple of weeks.  You know those days when it was 20 degrees?  Well, we were having some SERIOUS regrets.

Regrets that we didn’t buy a used camper.

Regrets that we didn’t spend half the money we did.

Regrets that we didn’t save up and pay cash.

Now don’t get me wrong, we love what we’re doing and we love our camper.  Our regrets were purely financial.

In the whole scheme of things, we’re on the fast track to being mobile, we just see how the amount of debt is still slowing us down.  There are multiple ministries we’d love to go and help out with but are unable to do so just yet.

Decision Time

Let’s backtrack though to 2 nights before our camper was delivered.

Mark was reading a forum on RVing and figured out the size of the truck we will need to pull this beast.  A 3500.  Ugh.  I immediately got cold feet and asked Mark if we could cancel our RV.  Neither of us wanted to cancel it, but both of us wanted to stop the process right then and there.

I had already had some reservations about the money for it and now the cost for a big enough truck was another factor.  In addition, it ended up costing us more than we thought it would after all the taxes, awnings, extended warrantees, & options.

We laid in bed discussing the situation.

How were we going to pay it off quickly?

What was a reasonable amount of money to budget for a truck?

Could we even cancel the RV?

We had renters moving into our house in 2 weeks.  What on earth were we going to do?

Needless to say, we consoled ourselves and felt like we were stuck, I think the RV was scheduled to leave the wholesaler early the very next morning and our salesman was not working at that late hour in the night.

Desperate Times = Desperate Measures

So this past week, I actually *almost* conceded to Mark taking a job overseas for a year.  A year away from us so we could pay everything off and have good size savings.

But that was in a moment of panic.  A few days later, when I woke up in the morning, I was overwhelmed with peace.

The peace that our Heavenly Father was going to take care of us.  I was impressed with the words, “You haven’t even asked me to help you!  Ask me.”

So now that the dust has settled…

What would we or should we do when faced with another big financial decision?

1. Pray.
2. Wait – don’t rush.
3. Ask others for advice.
4. Don’t ignore our gut.
5. Move on if a mistake was made.

Where Are We Today?

So that big ole’ number 5…

Move on.

Mistake.

We firmly believe we made a mistake in buying our camper.  Pretty humbling to admit this to whoever may be reading, but we do.  Had we lowered our standards for a camper, we would be on the road by the end of summer.  As it stands we will be here (realistically) for 2 years.

We’ve thrown around the idea of paying down on our camper and selling it for a less expensive & used model.  Right now our focus is finishing the combined debt payoff. Still, we’re praying and keeping our options open.

We are choosing to not dwell on our mistakes.  It’s remarkably easy to beat yourself up for the mistakes you’ve made.  We are choosing to look ahead rather than behind.

We are trusting in God to supply all our needs and to take care of us.  I don’t know how this all plays out but one thing I know is He loves us and He IS GOOD!

So there you have it.  One final thought on the matter, we all make mistakes.  But the question to ask is, do we learn from them and turn them into something positive? Let’s hope we do.

*UPDATE*  We bought a used Class A for a super price, you can read about it, here.  We’ve listed our camper for sale and are busy focusing on renovating the newly purchased Class A for full-time living.