5:50 AM

Its 5:50 in the morning and I'm feeling good. I hear the birds chirping and I'm in my new office listening to the Kirk Franklin "Hello Fear" album. This is my last full week of working as a teacher. The students are gone, yearbooks are given out and tomorrow is graduation.

I haven't posted much but I feel like I'm back for good. Baby is good, husband is good, rental property is good and I have a new job. I'm going to be an Assistant Principal at a high school with a salary in the low six figures. My family is very happy about this because we will be able to give more, help my little brother pay for college, and pay off debt and save.

This job is a prayer answered. Many years ago I prayed to God and asked him to give me a job that would help me build a legacy for my family including my little brother and sister. Last month my little brother, who turned 18 last Thursday, called me and told me some things that broke my heart. The only place I could turn was to God. I cried and cried, and prayed and prayed for a breakthrough so that I could help him. I prayed that God would heal the hurt in both of us.

And he did.

My little soccer player is kicking up a storm.........and I need to get ready for work.

Blessings

Can I live off $900 a month?

I am quite sure that I can, I just have to budget. I may have to do this until at least August or September which is after my wedding and when my second pay increase goes into affect because I will have a second Master's Degree. At the present time I have $62000 in student loan debt which will increase another $20000 in January leaving me with a grand total of $82000. I want this paid of within the next two- three years so I have started a debt snowball specifically for student loans which is my only other consumer debt besides my mortgage.

Why Now?

1. I have significantly more debt than my fiance and I don't want to start my marriage "unequally yoked". As a couple we are going to spend or first year of marriage getting completely out of consumer debt and just having fun ( My FI has less than $20,000 in debt).
2. We would love to buy another rental property within the couple of years or right after we get married so I need to get my debt to income ratio down a bit and they only way to do that is to get rid of the bulk of my student loans.
3. I will be 26 next month and would like to start having children by 30 or 31, and in preparation for that we feel that it is important to get rid of all debt and have a husky personal savings of at least $50,000 ( more on that later).
   
4. I want to be able to max out my retirements, my student loans are a hindrance to that process.
   

I am wondering if I should go back to following Dave Ramsey's baby steps, but the first step is seeing if I can live off 900 a month. I do want to enjoy the finer things of life.