The Savings Box

When we got married and moved into our apartment, we didn’t have a stick of furniture to our name. (Ok, I take that back…I had a black leather ottoman that I had during my teenage years to put “wedding” stuff in…so there. We had one ottoman.)

The best advice my mom told me when we were preparing to get married was, “Don’t think you have to live exactly like your parents when you get married. We’ve had years to get to where we are in regards to our home and the things we own.” That phrase stuck with me like crazy. She was right. We weren’t going to immediately start off with a beautiful back deck with the hammock flowing in the breeze in the yard…or the beautiful comfy couch…and that was ok.

Then came our amazing family and friends. You would not believe all the things that were given to us. One friend was selling a cabin and they let us come over to have whatever furniture we wanted – our now dining room table, our guest bed mattress and frame, dressers, coffee table, and more. Then another friend was also getting rid of a recliner, futon, and etc. Our little place began to take shape and we couldn’t have been happier! You simply don’t need the latest and greatest to make a house a "home."

Four years into marriage we decided we were going to do something fun. We were going to save for something big. We are natural savers when it comes to money anyway, but this was different. (We are Dave Ramsey fans at heart and live on the budget system and wow has it been AMAZING for us! Seriously, you should check him out!) This was going to be a special fund set aside for a certain goal and we would add to it whenever extra change came in. With this fund we were first able to purchase a much-needed laptop for Josh. “What should we save for next?” I’m pretty sure that we thought that while sitting on our crouton. Did I say crouton? Oh yes…our dearly loved futon was affectionately nicknamed “the crouton” by our brother. Because...that’s what it felt like. A crouton. That was it. We were going to save for a couch!

I can’t even begin to tell you how freeing it is to shop for something that you’ve purposely saved for and then you can buy it IN CASH! You should have seen us in the stores sitting on a million couches! Just close your eyes and picture the poor sales person trying to convince me that the white couch I was sitting on (it was super comfy but only came in that color) would be totally fine and bear up to having lots of teenagers on it if only I purchased the cleaning fee. (We have our church teens over to our place a lot.) Eventually we had our couch. Paid for in cash, and my brave bargain-hunting husband talked them into throwing a coffee table and 2 end tables in for free!  

And that’s how our first big furniture purchase ever happened. A little at a time. Extra cash here and there thrown into a special box set aside for the “couch fund”. You don’t need to have the latest and greatest and or just plain nice RIGHT AWAY. It pays to wait out the long game and not have a monthly debt on your shoulders. We challenge you to give it a try! It might start small. It might mean not going to your special coffee place one time this week just so you can set that little bit of money aside. Every little bit counts and you can do it!

So…what are WE saving for next? Our little box is now labeled “camera lens” fund. ;) What are YOU saving for?

- Andrea