If you had $1000 extra dollars a year, what would you spend it on?
Electronics 10%
Clothes 10%
Charity
Myself
Pay off bills 60%
Other 20%

I was pleasantly pleased to see that the number one way a person would spend an extra $1000 a year would be to pay bills. I was also surprised that there wasn’t even one vote for charity.

I am going to make a few assumptions here. First, most of the people who read this blog, including Joe and me, have some debt. Whether that be a mortgage, car loan, student loans, credit cards, or whatever. I would like to know how many people are aggressively trying to get out of debt versus just pay down their debt. We are trying to get out of debt and have a budget that we have been following on and off since we were married. (I will share the spreadsheet with anyone that would like to see it. Just email me.) At one time we were debt free then had to make some investments in our house so now we are back on track to be debt free in a few months.

The question for us is…what is a “need” and what is a “want”?

When we ask ourselves that question, our decision to not spend money and pay off debt becomes much easier. For example, I “want” a new car. Driving our Xterra every day to work is getting old – it is a stick and is based on a truck chassis so it can be a rough drive every day. BUT, our goal is to get out of debt so instead, we are putting extra money toward our mortgage which we figured out could save us $36,000 by paying it off early. That is more than a new car!!!

As I pointed out, I was also surprised that not one person said they would give anything to charity. This is one of the issues that is close to my heart so even though we are on a budget and trying to get out of debt, we sponsor a child through a missions organization called God Loves Kids. The young lady we sponsor is named Cissy and she is going to high school in Uganda. I pray that one day she grows up and is able to pass on a blessing to another child in her home country.

Many things to think about this week. Another poll is coming soon.