Chapter 6

KEEPING THE CASTLE CLEAN

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.

PHYLLIS DILLER

MOST DAYS OF THE WEEK, I’m an absolute mess. I’m not talking about an emotional mess or even a spiritual mess, although there are certainly days when those tags apply too. I am, however, a physical mess. My whole life long, I’ve struggled to keep my world ordered. I was the kid with the crazy messy desk who never seemed to snag the elusive “Neat as a Pin” award. My locker was actually photographed and documented in my high school yearbook because of its atrociousness. My poor sweet college roommates knew that my closet would regularly throw up my dirty laundry all over the floor.

The King of Free? Let’s just say he got swindled when it comes to that whole “for better or for worse” agreement in this area of our marriage. I struggle to keep things straight. I hate to clean. I dust twice a year —right before I put out Christmas decor and when I put it away (sometime in late January). If it looks like my house has been cleaned from top to bottom right before you came over, it’s because my house was cleaned from top to bottom right before you came over. I clean only when we’re expecting company or when I’m avoiding some other deadline. Okay, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but I am no June Cleaver, vacuuming in my heels and pearls. In fact, for a long time, I didn’t even have a vacuum that worked, and that was fine with me. (I mean, what’s wrong with using a Shop-Vac now and then?)

I’d love to tell you that as we were paying off our debts, I magically began loving to do the dishes, clean the toilet, and take out the trash. I would like you to think that I whistle while I work, wearing my cute vintage-styled apron, laboring over each piece of laundry with extra loving care. If I told you that, I’d be a complete and total liar —except for the apron part. I do have two of those. To be honest, the only reasons I clean are so I can wear a cool apron and so my kids won’t look like Pigpen from the Peanuts gang when they go to school.

But while our debt-slaying journey didn’t spark a sudden passion for cleaning, that experience did teach me how closely paying off debt and keeping a clean castle are linked. I also discovered many ways to save money on everything from laundry to dishes to household appliances. While I am not sure I will actually ever enjoy cleaning, I have struck a happy medium in my approach to the systems in our home. Beyond scrubbing toilets and the grout in my 1950s shower —which doesn’t ever seem to come clean (suggestions are welcome!) —our family began to focus on reducing the clutter that can and will rule over us all. Stuff breeds stuff. The more we have, the more we want. The systems we have to keep our homes clean and clutter-free say a lot both about who we are and where we are going.

In this chapter I hope to challenge your thinking when it comes to your home. From how much (or how little) you have to the way you pay your bills to maybe even how you wash your clothes, slaying the debt dragon requires a complete paradigm shift. When you begin looking at every aspect of your life as ripe with the potential of eliminating debt, momentum builds. Being willing to make changes in the simplest of ways fuels your journey —and the literal change you save as a result can be used to help you pay off what you owe.

A New World Order

A week before I was due to give birth to our older daughter, Anna, I walked around a full five centimeters dilated. Want to really freak out salesclerks at the mall or grocery store? When they ask how far along you are, answer with that little piece of information. Immediately people will scurry toward the nearest sources of hot water and scissors, thinking they are going to have to deliver your baby. I probably divulged a little too much private information just to see people squirm uncomfortably or at least look at me in utter confusion.

Similarly, if I want to get a rise out of someone who wants to know how we paid off so much debt, I tell them, “I quit my job.” While not the full explanation, in many ways this truth was an essential catalyst for our journey. (Wait a minute! Hang up your phone. I did not just instruct you to dial your boss and scream “I quit!” into the receiver. What worked for me may not work for you.) In August 2008, about four months into our debt-slaying journey, Brian and I decided it would be best for me to become a stay-at-home mom.

This was incredibly complicated because

  1. I loved what I was doing and even felt called to my job.
  2. I knew I would let down a great number of people outside of my family when I stepped out of my job.
  3. Even though the job was part-time in pay, it was helping us whack away at debt.

Despite the apparent drawbacks to quitting my job, my heart, brain, and soul wouldn’t let it rest. Not only did I realize that we just might be more effective in paying off debt if I channeled my energies into managing our household well, I also wasn’t happy with my response to the question, If I had hired me to run my home, would I fire myself or give myself a raise?

The resounding answer was that I would have given myself a big boot and exclaimed, “Don’t let the door hit ya on the rear as you exit.” I was not managing our home well. Though my job was considered part-time, I was working long hours, and I didn’t want to cook or plan meals when I got home. We constantly had to wash a small load of laundry just to have something to wear the next morning. I was exceeding the monthly limit on my cell phone plan because of all the work calls I was making. I had to line up child care for our daughters while I attended staff meetings. I had to spend extra money to fill my car with gas and buy work attire. I was purchasing items for my job on our dime, often waiting long periods of time for reimbursements. On top of that, the Princess Youngest was just a few months old and rarely sleeping at night, which was stretching me to my limits mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Bedraggled, confused, and overwhelmed, I began to examine our finances and debt-repayment progress. Could God really be calling me to stay home full-time? I did the quick-and-dirty math on how much I was bringing home with my part-time job and contrasted it with the “extra” money we were able to pay toward debt because of my part-time income. The totals were nearly identical. That meant if I quit my job, we would still be able to pay the minimums on all of our bills, no problem. We could stay afloat without the aid of credit cards or loans. But we would have no extra funds to devote toward the huge chunk of change that we owed. In other words, after being able to pay off a few small debts in the first four months, we would return to square one.

I began to ask myself several “what if” questions. What if I ran our home like a business? What if I looked for every possible way to increase our productivity? What if I began streamlining our spending?

We were already fairly frugal, but what if I investigated ways to reduce spending further? What if I reexamined everything from the utility bills we paid to the toilet paper we were buying and ran every purchase through the filter of the bottom line? If I intentionally managed our home in this way, would I actually make up my part-time income?

Because we had paid off those first small debts in the previous four months, we now had enough cushion in our budget to cover all of our expenses. It gave us the breathing room I needed to take a leap of faith and quit my job. Resigning from something I loved to do was a sacrifice. When I thought about leaving my job, I realized that even though my job was part-time, much of my identity and feelings of worth came from being successful at it. It was a way for me to express my love for God, and I could see that I was making a difference in people’s lives. Walking away meant I would need to lean on God to truly shape who He wanted me to be and to trust that He had a plan for me as I re-imagined how our home would run.

I want to acknowledge again that it’s not possible for everyone who is paying off debt to stay at home. Some households are dual income earners by choice; some are by necessity. It was a tough decision, especially given the fact that we had only socked away $1,000 in an emergency fund and paid off three minor debts at that time. But the call on my heart was so strong that I felt I had no choice but to resign.

God can take your passion, no matter how silly it seems, and use it to create a path you never anticipated.

{Callout 6.1}

Oddly enough, that very same month, I had begun the hobby of sharing my love for free stuff on my blog, Queen of Free. At the time, I had no idea that this hobby would become a lifeline, a platform, and a unique calling of its own over the next five years. I honestly began simply because I wanted to tell people when to get free sweet tea from Chick-fil-A and free undies from Macy’s. It’s a prime example of how God can take your passion, no matter how silly it seems, and use it to create a path you never anticipated. And mind you, that path is always marked with much more grace-filled awesomeness than the one you could ever lay out on your own.

Take Charge of Your Utilities

So in September 2008, I laid down my “good” part-time job for what could have seemed like a demotion but ended up being nothing short of a fairy tale. Of course it felt nothing like a fairy tale at the start. It felt hard . . . and lonely . . . and sometimes like complete and total drudgery. But it made a difference.

In those early days, I spent a lot of time focusing on ways we might trim our utility bills. I’ve found that tidbit seems to surprise many people. After all, when thinking about where to tighten the budget, people often turn first to couponing to trim the grocery budget. If we’re incredibly focused, we eliminate the extras of vacations, date nights, and going to the movies. But rarely do we think about what we can do to reduce those monthly expenses that appear to be “set.” Certainly we must pay utility bills. I like heat. I like light. I like that water comes out of our faucets and that someone comes and takes away our trash every week. Also, I big puffy heart the sewage system because “eww” without it. I fancy using a telephone on occasion, especially for emergencies or to call my mom. It is possible to overpay for these basic, life-giving services, though. In my quest to run our household like a business, I dug through our old bills and read the fine print. We then made some difficult choices about our lifestyle and those monthly bills that some might consider “necessary.”

Cable —always first on the chopping block. We had ditched basic cable years prior to beginning our debt-slaying journey. Our choice was based on finances and my complete lack of self-control when it came to watching a marathon of shows on the History Channel. (I know, I know, I am just filled with surprises and thrilling habits, but then again, I did major in history back in college.) To cut back on my intake of documentaries about the six wives of Henry VIII, I called our cable company and requested the “poverty package,” which is sometimes referred to as the poor man’s package, though anyone can choose this service. While embarrassing, those were probably some of the best words I’ve ever spoken. For us, this very stripped-down, basic package included local channels and —most importantly for our household of little people —PBS Kids programming. At the time, the price was roughly $12 a month, and the services more than met our needs.

Gradually, the poverty package crept up to a little over $19 a month, and we decided to eliminate it entirely. Luckily, as the years passed, online streaming offerings like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and even network websites began offering us many of the options that cable provides. When choosing a streaming service, be sure to take into account both cost and which shows are available. You might also consider any additional benefits. For example, Amazon Prime offers streaming but also two-day shipping as a part of the cost. Netflix and Hulu Plus are billed on a monthly basis, but Amazon requires an annual fee. Netflix best fit our budget and television tastes, but your choice may be different. Don’t forget that many networks also offer their shows on the free version of Hulu or the network website. Yes, programs may air a day or even a season late, but the cost savings are worth the wait, I promise. In fact, after breaking the hold that television has on your routine, you might not even miss it.

For a year and a half, we went without local channels. However, after we were debt-free, the King of Free followed a YouTube tutorial and constructed a homemade antenna. We can finally watch NFL games and my weekly news segment without crashing someone else’s pad. The antenna cost him a grand total of $3.49 to build (he still has the receipt) and pulls in more channels than we will ever need. It kind of looks like a modern art sculpture of a cat, too. After a wee bit of “debate,” we decided it would look best sitting on the back deck rather than in the middle of our living room.

As you consider how to scale back or eliminate the television programming in your home, remember that the costs of TV come not only in the form of the monthly bill but also in time wasted and desires created. Instead of watching TV in the evenings, our family often concentrated our time and energy on working from home or building our marriage. We’ve played more games of Phase 10 than I care to number. Plus, our brains were not constantly bombarded with commercials or movie trailers, letting us know exactly what we were missing out on. Turning off the television just might be your best first step in living a life of contentment and eliminating debt.

I’m certain that switching off the cable might feel like a major sacrifice to members of some families. But while it can stink to have to give up certain things, it’s another opportunity to focus on the greater vision of the “why” of your debt-slaying journey. Not only that, but the sacrifice might be only temporary (unless you’re like us and decide not to return to it) and is for a greater good. Whether it’s the promise of a vacation someday or a college education, help the members of your family dream big dreams in the midst of this change. I promise that after a month or so, the perceived “need” for television will probably slip away. Our older daughter, Anna, became a voracious reader, and our younger daughter, Zoe, discovered she actually preferred the swing set. Our family has read more, played more, and been more active thanks to the flip of a switch.

Leave the lights on for me (and the heat, too). I once heard a fellow debt slayer say that his family had turned off their power to save money. I’ll be honest. I’m much more of a pansy than that guy. I like the comforts of the modern world. I live in a climate where heat is required in the winter. My idea of camping is staying in a luxury cabin or a cute B and B before hiking. Pioneers were rock stars, but I’ll keep my modern conveniences and cough up the change for the utility bill. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not intentional when it comes to energy consumption.

Obviously, you need to monitor your usage of lights and heat. Simply making a daily practice of turning off the lights and, in the winter, adjusting your thermostat to a lower temp at night and when you’re not at home will help your bottom line. Also, regularly unplugging small appliances can help you save big bucks. Taken together, space heaters, lamps, toasters, coffee pots, desktop computers, and TVs eat a whole lot more energy than dryers and refrigerators. So take an extra step or two to pull the plug nightly or before you leave home for the day. You can even easily save money by opening your curtains during the day to let in natural light and pulling them shut in the evenings to keep your home well insulated.

I highly recommend seeking out an energy audit, too. An energy professional will walk through your home with you, making suggestions to increase your efficiency (which will decrease your bill). You also often receive a complimentary box filled with lightbulbs, showerheads, sink aerators, and more. Our technician even changed our lightbulbs for us. In most states, it’s completely free! Don’t forget to seal up cracks and close the vents in your house before winter weather arrives too. Setting aside an hour to caulk and apply weather stripping may seem like a hassle, but it will save plenty of money in the long run.

One of the oddest yet simplest energy money-saving tips I’ve learned is to sweep the dust from the back of your refrigerator. You might as well vacuum the vent at the bottom in the front too. Often these areas clog up with dust and hair. Not only do they look like part of a haunted house, but they also cause problems both for your energy bill and the refrigerator itself. Prolong the life of your appliance while you cut down on kilowatts. I’ll wait here for you while you go and do that so we both feel like we accomplished something. (Pause). Oh good, you’re back! On to the next utility.

Don’t drown in your water bill. Have a leaky faucet or a toilet that runs nonstop? Fix it now. Do not waste one second. Your leaks could be doubling your water bill. Even while you are paying off debt, it’s worth hiring a professional plumber to fix your water woes. Of course, if you are a DIY whiz, then make the repair yourself. Get on it immediately. If you keep telling yourself that you’ll get around to it “one day,” your money will literally run down the drain. If your bill suddenly spikes, call the water company straightaway and ask them for an explanation. It’s unlikely that your rates will increase astronomically in a month’s time, but the company might have some insight into why your bill went up, along with tips to help you make course corrections.

Ring ding, ding dong. Even before we began whacking away at our debt, we had ditched our telephone landline after a family of squirrels chewed through the outside wire. Repeatedly. Even though we’re now debt-free, we still use only cell phones. While we were getting out of debt, I chose the plan with the fewest minutes and no texting. Until very recently, I also had an old iPhone that I used while on WiFi. Though we had no data plan, I was able to download a free texting app, and I could connect to WiFi almost everywhere I went. (I admit that I did get strange stares when I attempted to explain that I had one number for calls and another for texts.) After watching prices and finding a sale recently, I received a free smartphone when I signed up for an unlimited talk and text plan that costs less than my previous service. Hooray for finally living in the same decade as everyone else. Hooray, too, for waiting for a very good gift. I appreciate the ability to text and call from the same number, to be able to carry only one phone, and to even be able to use the Internet from time to time much more than I ever would have if I hadn’t gone five years without a smartphone. Delayed gratification, bargaining, and intentionality paid off for me.

Shopping around and asking lots of questions about discounts and deals will go far when it comes to managing your phone bill. Repeatedly ask, “Is that really the best we can do?” Be kind but firm in your negotiations, and don’t be afraid to ask for a manager if you aren’t getting anywhere. The worst someone can tell you is no.

Internet. We decided to splurge in this one area. Obviously Internet isn’t a necessity to life and can be incredibly expensive. Still, there are ways to control the costs. First, remember that in certain parts of the country, the families of students who receive free or reduced lunch qualify for inexpensive high-speed Internet service. And every one of us can call and ask our cable provider the “Is that really the best we can do?” question, which may enable you to save quite a bit on your monthly bill.

When our Internet bill recently crept up another two dollars per month, we considered switching to a fiber optic company. I called our service provider one last time and asked to be transferred to the “retention” or “loyalty” department. These must have been magic words because after another forty minutes on the phone, the company agreed to drop our bill by twenty dollars a month for six months. I know that spending forty minutes of your life on hold may not seem worth it, but if you need an additional $120 to swing at the debt dragon, it turns out to be a pretty good hourly rate.

Don’t fall for the bundling marketing strategy. Convincing yourself that it is not that much more per month can doom you.

{Callout 6.2}

At a bare minimum, don’t fall for the bundling marketing strategy. It might be only an additional ten dollars to add cable or even a phone line to your Internet service, but ten dollars a month works out to $120 a year. You need that $120 to slay your debt dragon. Small changes can make a big difference. Convincing yourself that it is not that much more per month can doom you —especially if you repeat that logic in several areas of your finances. Don’t fall for the bundle.

The Laundry List

I like wearing clean clothes. I’m convinced that being handed a towel fresh from the dryer as I step out of the shower is a piece of heaven right here on earth. Combine that towel with a pair of freshly laundered jammies, clean sheets, and my favorite blanket? My world goes into orbit. But as much as I love the luxury that is clean laundry, I despise the actual process of “doing” the laundry.

I know, I know. It’s a first-world problem, and people all over the world wash their clothes in a stream, beating them on a rock. I should probably quit my whining and be thankful. The fact remains, however, that I tense up every time I walk past one couch in our home that is almost always piled high with clean laundry. That’s right. I will wash the laundry; I will put the laundry in the dryer. I will even take it out of the dryer and neatly fold it. I just have trouble with the “putting it away into drawers” phase.

What’s up with that? I might not ever get beyond my laundry quirks, but thankfully, I at least found some ways to save on this “necessary evil” during our debt-slaying journey.

Let everyone own it. You might be a bit like me and make yourself out to be more of a martyr than necessary at home. In my less-than-best moments, I’ve been known to grumble under my breath that no one else does anything to help out. While that might be true, often I haven’t asked anyone for help either. Of course, after I let that emotion build up, I eventually blow my top and yell, “Bring your clothes to the laundry room!” in a voice unfamiliar to my children (and even a little scary to me). Rather than going to that ugly place, I suggest you begin encouraging your family to pitch in with the laundry on a regular basis.

Eventually I set up four baskets and a hamper in our laundry room for easy sorting —one for brights, one for darks, one for whites, and one for light-colored clothes. The towels and sweaty gym clothes go into the hamper. Even the Princess Youngest (age six) gets in on the “fun” (because it can be fun if you frame it that way). When everyone does their own sorting, life is a wee bit easier for me. Not only is it a time-saving tip; it saves money, too. The less time I spend picking up and sorting laundry, the more time I can spend working on more profitable projects. Bonus: my attitude tends to be better.

One minor piece of advice and a life lesson learned from experience: Don’t try to set a new expectation in the middle of chaos or a problem. Standing knee deep in towels and underwear in your bathroom isn’t the ideal occasion to scream at convince everyone that it’s time for a change. Instead, cast the vision during a calm moment outside of the issue at hand.

Don’t try to set a new expectation in the middle of chaos or a problem.

{Callout 6.3}

Make your own laundry detergent. If I had a nickel for every time someone marveled because we make our own laundry detergent or asked for my recipe, we would have gotten out of debt much more quickly!

I’d like you to think that I’m a frugal superhero and began this process because I knew it would save me lots of money (which it does). However, I was compelled into this practice rather unwillingly. Our family had been loyal to a particular brand of detergent for over a decade, but a change in its formula forced my hand. Everyone was sneezing and sniffling even though I was using the “Original” scent.

I had to find a fragrance-free alternative. I settled on a basic recipe I found on Pinterest that called for one cup of borax, one cup of washing soda,[30] and one cup of grated Ivory soap.[31] After all the ingredients have been mixed together, you just add one to two tablespoons per load. (Typically I go with the higher amount for towels or stinky clothes.)

Here are a few additional tips:

Over the years, I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit. Now I use a half cup of a generic Oxy cleaner in lieu of the grated bar of soap. I typically combine 13 cups of borax, 13 cups of washing soda, and 7½ cups of Oxy cleaner, and mix it in a five-gallon bucket —enough for up to 832 loads! Making such a large batch keeps me out of the store where I would be apt to make other purchases at the same time. Best of all, I save a great deal by making my own detergent, which costs about 1.6 cents per load, compared to 8 cents to 23 cents a load for store-bought detergent.

A few years ago we ran the numbers on how much we save by making our own laundry detergent. We calculated that by the time I’d used up one batch, I had saved between $58 and $166 (depending on the brand) on detergent alone (not counting the impulse buys I might have made when I ran out just to get this household essential).

Swap vinegar for fabric softener. Okay, I admit I was skeptical initially. I had latent fears that we would smell like Easter eggs or salad dressing. But I’ve discovered that white vinegar is a miracle cleaner and a perfect substitute for liquid fabric softeners or dryer sheets. I simply fill a Downy Ball with vinegar rather than softener. Bonus: the vinegar also brightens and whitens clothes. It won’t damage your darks, either. We have a set of the spiky dryer balls to help cut down on static and increase the efficiency of the dryer, too.

Hang ’em high. One beautiful summer afternoon, I decided to hang jeans on the curtain rod in our living room and let the lovely breeze blowing through our windows dry them. Since then, we’ve rarely finished drying a pair of jeans in the dryer. I tend to toss them in the dryer for five to ten minutes to knock the wrinkles out and then hang them upside down on pant hangers in our laundry room (although our “redneck living room clothesline” suits me just fine too). I also dry sweaters or sweatshirts on hangers in the laundry room or lay them flat.

Not only does this cut down on the electric bill, but the fabrics hold up much longer and don’t shrink. Because of the aforementioned allergies and Indiana’s high pollen count, I doubt we’ll ever be poster children for an outdoor clothesline, but the indoor version suits us just fine.

Wash full loads; use cold water. Washing full loads of laundry rather than small loads will dramatically help cut down on your water and electric bills. Sometimes, small loads are unavoidable. In particular, the King of Free’s dress shirts really need to be laundered in smaller loads or they get mangled and wrinkly. But when you can, fill up the washer —though maybe not too stuffed or you might end up with a repairman at your house. (Oh, that’s never happened to you? Um, me neither.)

As I mentioned above, I use warm or hot water during the winter months, but go with cold water whenever I can. It’s a tried-and-true money saver.

Don’t get taken to the cleaners. Avoid “dry clean only” clothes like the plague. If you have any amount of debt, you don’t need someone else doing your laundry for you. Even dry-clean-only items like men’s suits don’t need to be professionally cleaned more than once per year or the fabric may be damaged.

The King of Free’s professional attire looks sharp, and except for that annual trip to the dry cleaner with his suits, he launders it all himself. That’s right, ladies, he does his own laundry, and he’s all mine. He is also intentional about hanging things up after they’ve been worn and not letting anything get trampled on the floor.

More Cleaning Solutions

Erma Bombeck once noted, “Housework, if you do it right, will kill you.”[32] At this point, you probably realize Erma and I are kindred spirits. I’m not much into any cleaning craze. I do my best, though, to keep things in our home orderly by using some frugal cleaning products. I love that each is not only affordable but also nearly fragrance-free and much more friendly for the environment, too.

White vinegar, the miracle elixir. I’m not sure there’s anything white vinegar can’t do when it comes to cleaning your home and taking care of your family. It’s a disinfectant. It makes awesome window and glass cleaner. It’s my go-to fabric softener.

I use it in the rinse dispenser of my dishwasher. I use it to kill weeds. Seriously, Google “white vinegar” and you’re sure to find nine million uses.

Baking soda —for more than just chocolate chip cookies. Baking soda, another of the classic cleaners, can be used for nearly everything from homemade toothpaste to carpet deodorizer. If one of your kiddos is prone to car sickness, it can work miracles at removing those odors too. (Experience, yo.)

Scrub your toilets and sinks with baking soda, or in the weirdest of twists, make a paste by combining it with water to relieve itching or bee stings. Find it in the well-known small box in the baking aisle or in bulk in the cleaning aisle. We keep a box on the stove top for my cooking “mishaps” too. Probably one of the oddest cleaners I’ve concocted with baking soda is a homemade jewelry cleaner that left my wedding ring gleaming.[33]

Rubbing alcohol. Removing ink stains, cleaning hairspray off mirrors, keeping your windows frost-free during the winter, and even dispelling fruit flies are in rubbing alcohol’s bag of tricks. It’s incredibly inexpensive and typically located in the pharmacy. A simple Google search reveals there are many more uses that I’ve never tried before too.

Borax. There is nothing new under the sun. Borax has been used to clean homes since the late 1800s. This naturally occurring mineral can be used to fight odors and stains, scour and shine pots and pans, wash dishes, and cut grease. You will find borax in the laundry detergent aisle of your grocery store or big box retailer. Look for it near the powdered detergent.

Many of its uses and recipes for cleaning are right on the box. It’s a key ingredient in both my laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent recipes.[34]

Washing soda. It’s easy to confuse washing soda with baking soda; after all, Arm & Hammer makes both. Washing soda has a bit more oomph, and it sudses up too. Again, it’s found in the laundry detergent aisle, is all natural, and makes a great detergent booster to give any laundry soap extra cleaning power. It can also be combined to make your own home cleaners. It plays a featured role in our dishwashing detergent recipe.

Reusable towels, bottles, and scrubbers. Rather than purchasing products that will be pitched in the trash after one use, try using reusable towels, squirt bottles, and sponges or scrubbers with multiple-use potential. While we were paying off debt, I rarely purchased paper towels or other consumable goods. Instead I tried to use towels that could be washed and reused. Sheets of newspaper make a great alternative to paper towels for cleaning windows and mirrors, too.

Boiling water. Have a slow drain? Soap scum built up on your shower walls or sink? Your first line of defense should always be a teakettle filled with boiling water. That’s right —for a penny or less you might be able to take care of your problem without even purchasing a cleaning product. Look at you go!

The cleaning product aisle is filled with items you simply don’t need. Coupons for new cleaning products clog your Sunday paper, but more than likely, the same basic, earth-friendly products that your great-grandmother used will work for you, too. If possible, avoid going down the cleaning product aisle altogether so you don’t know exactly what you’re “missing out on.”

New Eyes for a New You

Frugality has long been considered a spiritual discipline. It is profitable, too. Frugality will help you

Thriftiness means looking at every item in your house with new eyes. How could you use it again? Could it be a blessing to someone else? Could you sell it to pay off debt? Do you really need it? These are vital questions in maintaining your home.

[Insert Debt-Slaying Story 6.1 somewhere in this section]

Thriftiness means looking at every item in your house with new eyes.

{Callout 6.4}

Say one has a particular passion for books. (I’m not talking about anyone in particular. Or someone who may have typed these words. Just a hypothetical situation, you know.) Anyway, such a person could look at the many books lining her shelves and begin to ask a couple of key questions about each volume: (1) Will I read it again? (2) Would I want to keep it to loan it to someone else? If the answer to both of these questions is no, that “hypothetical person” would probably either want to donate or sell that book.[35]

Maybe you’re not a bibliophile but have amassed way more of something else than you need. Reducing the number of toys, bowls, blankets, dishes, books, clothes, shoes, or [fill in the blank] in your house is sure to lighten your load. You will have less to manage and less to keep clean. Fewer dishes in your cabinet will equal fewer dishes to wash. Fewer toys in the closet will equal fewer painful moments after stepping on them in the middle of the night. Fewer clothes in your drawers will mean less laundry. Seriously, how could anyone advocate against less laundry?

Clearing the clutter may give you the opportunity to be a huge blessing to someone else. After all, slaying the debt dragon doesn’t mean you can’t be generous. As you pay off debt, you must realize that you —like almost everyone else in our nation —have an abundance of blessings. Practicing frugality means that sometimes you will be blessed with the opportunity to get creative with how you give. Honestly, in some ways giving money can be easy. It requires little forethought or personal effort. Sure, there is always pain in parting with cash. However, giving away your “things” can be much more difficult and require more of you. I’m not talking about the shirt with a stain on it or the shoes that no one would want to wear. Sometimes we are called to lighten our load both to bless others and to give ourselves breathing room. You may have to change your lens on what you believe generosity to be, though. Maybe you’ll be called to give up your stuff. Maybe you’ll feel led to give up your time. Whatever the call, looking beyond what you don’t have helps you focus on your goal of kicking debt in the teeth.

DEBT-SLAYING DUO

PETER AND JEN, 32 AND 36

PAID OFF $107,100; DEBT-FREE, INCLUDING THEIR MORTGAGE

Peter and Jen are our debt-free heroes. Brian and I long for the day when we can include the mortgage in our debt-free total. I hope their story inspires you as much as it does us.

Why slay the debt dragon?

When Peter and Jen got married in 2006, they started off their lives together without any debt except a mortgage. Jen had purchased a home in 2005 and rounded up her mortgage payment an even hundred dollars from the get-go. In 2008, this dynamic duo decided to try living on one income for their regular expenses, allocating extra dollars to the mortgage. They then calculated what their house would cost over the duration of a thirty-year loan. Even with a low-interest mortgage, they realized their home would end up costing more than double the original loan amount if taken to term. They said this discovery was “simultaneously ridiculous and truly motivating!” They knew they wanted to put the money they were earning outside of monthly living expenses toward paying off their mortgage. In 2013, they reached their goal of paying off their home, owning it free and clear in eight years and one month. What a relief to slice off the thousands of dollars’ worth of interest they would have paid had they taken it to term.

What surprised them most about paying off debt?

A huge loan shrinks quicker than you think it can when you focus on paying it down. You need to know where your money goes, which definitely requires budgeting. Peter and Jen were also shocked at the contentment eliminating their mortgage brought. “When we paid off our house, the desire to move into a bigger house and take on another mortgage faded. This is ours now! It may not be big. It may not be fancy. But even if we both lost our jobs, we would still have a place to live. That feeling is very comforting.”

What kept them going?

Peter and Jen carefully tracked where extra money went while committing to work long hours. Anytime their balance decreased, they felt an emotional high. Together they created a chart and a graph, showing how long it would take to pay off their loan. Every time an extra payment was made, the line got steeper, which indicated a closer pay-off date. Making that line steeper and steeper became a game for this pair. Combating debt together further encouraged teamwork in their marriage.

How did they celebrate?

After slaying their debt dragon, Peter and Jen hosted a mortgage-burning party. Once popular, such celebrations are nearly unheard of in the United States now. During the 1970s and 1980s, mortgage-burning parties even made their way into television episodes. Characters on Eight Is Enough, All in the Family, and M*A*S*H all celebrated paying off their homes. Peter and Jen happily brought this tradition back in style. Gathering together friends, they served a delicious meal and then brought everyone outside to literally burn the mortgage documents. They had their friends write the names of their favorite charities on slips of paper, which were then placed in a jar. The name of one charity was drawn at random, and Peter and Jen donated the amount that would have been their next mortgage payment to that charity. In addition to the party with friends, the pair celebrated with a nice dinner out on their own.

Their encouragement and advice for you

“Society might say a mortgage is normal and paying off your house is impossible,” says this dynamic duo. “Make slaying that mortgage your goal, then focus on it and budget to see what impossible feats you accomplish!”

Peter and Jen suggest following some of the same concrete steps they took to fuel your own debt-slaying journey:

  • Cut out cable TV.
  • Drive old cars.
  • Pay with cash.
  • Visit the ATM only once a month.
  • Live in a small house, so you are less tempted to buy stuff because you have no place to put it.

The catalyst that launched Peter and Jen’s journey was the bottom line. They encourage you to use a mortgage calculator to estimate exactly how much you will end up paying if you take your mortgage to term. That number might surprise and motivate you at the same time.

Peter and Jen attest to the fact that even the smallest “extra” payment can make a big difference. Paying an extra $100 early in your mortgage is like doubling your money —the $100 goes toward your principal, saving you around $100 in interest. Rather than focusing on what you can’t do, channel your energies toward making a small difference over time.

How has paying off debt changed their marriage?

Peter says, “Paying off debt gave us a joint project to work on, something we could battle against shoulder to shoulder. It gave us a common purpose and goal. Every financial discussion became easier and easier. After paying off $100K, it is pretty much impossible to have ‘money fights’ anymore. What is there to argue about?” Jen adds, “Once you take on a financial goal together, talking about money and budgeting becomes second nature. The budget word loses all its scariness and negative connotations.”

Two Christmases ago, a friend of mine sent out a plea on behalf of a refugee community living in our midst. Recently relocated, many of these families lacked the most basic household items. Immediately I sprang into action. Digging through the back corners of my cabinets, I cleared out an entire eighteen-gallon plastic tote of kitchenware in less than thirty minutes. The number of dishes, bowls, measuring cups, baking pans, and kitchen gadgets that we either had duplicates of or had never used was embarrassing. You know what? Since giving them away, I haven’t missed or felt the need to replace any of those items. I’ve had fewer dishes to wash and fewer “things” to manage. Plus, I prayed over those items before I handed them off to my sweet friend. I prayed that the items would be put to good use by people who really needed them, knowing whoever received them would find them to be more useful than just back-of-the-cabinet “stuff.”

Lest you think me some sort of saint, I must confess that I still pray to be delivered from debt every single day.

It’s in those times that I often remember a favorite Scripture of mine: “A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out” (Proverbs 25:28). Once you’ve pared your belongings or blessed someone else with your abundance, you must not purchase more items to replace what you’ve sold or given away. This requires extreme self-control. Self-control is a hedge around your soul.

Proverbs 25:28 points out that when we lack self-control, we leave ourselves incredibly vulnerable. Anything or anyone can sweep into our “windows and doors,” robbing us blind. The winds blow easily through our home, completely destroying what is inside. Our families are left without protection from the physical elements of life. And we’re left wide open to the schemes of the thief who comes to “steal and kill and destroy” us all (John 10:10, NLT).

Plain and simple, while none of it was grand or expensive, Brian and I came to realize that we had too much stuff. The more we continue to give away, the more we refine and value what we have. Yes, even though we’re debt-free, we still fight the battle against accumulation every single day. We strive to purchase only items we truly love and need. As a result, our household runs much more efficiently. Plus we have more actual money left in our pockets to give away, save, or invest because we’re not swept up in the culture of needing that new and improved, next best thing.

Delayed gratification is a virtue that may leave you with less stuff but certainly more self-control. Scrubbing your home clean, in fact, might be more of a spiritual practice than you realized when you began your debt-slaying journey.

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