I cannot begin to tell you how often people have said that our financial goals are impossible. It can sometimes be very discouraging to hear that what we want to do cannot be done. Here's a small list of what we have been told by various well meaning people:
- There's no way to NOT have credit card debt. Everybody has it. (Not us- and we've both had credit cards since 2001.)
- There's no way we can get by on my minimum wage cleaning job and my husband's 15 hour a week student job without help from parents or credit card debt. (Done June-September 2003. )
- There's no way we can live on our small grad school stipends. (Done 2004-2006)
- There's no way we could put down a decent down payment on a home after living on grad school stipends. It's impossible that you saved any money! (Done September 2007)
- There's no way one can afford a house-even a reasonably priced one- without two significant full time incomes. (So far, so good- 2007 to present.)
- There's no way we can pay off a student loan early. (Done 2009.)
If we had listened to what "could not be done," there's no way we would be in our current financial position.
I am a fan of the impossible. We're often told that our goals are not realistic, yet we continue to achieve our imposable, unrealistic goals. Even if it is unlikely that we will achieve every goal on our timetable, but that does not mean we don't try. Even if it does not work out, we'll be a lot closer than if we had immediately said "impossible!" and done nothing.
I want to encourage you to reach for those imposable goals. Many things are much more possible than you think if you're willing to sacrifice to achieve what is important to you!
I bring this up because I want to celebrate a fellow blogger's amazing milestone.
Crystal (of Moneysavingmom.com) and her family have achieved an "impossible" dream. She and her husband came up with the crazy, impossible idea of buying their first home in cash. No debt, no mortgage- impossible! But they did it, and with three kids, paying law school of pocket, and having a stay at home mom the entire time. It's not easy, it's not always fun, but it can be done!
What is your impossible dream?
1 comment:
My impossible dream is to support myself in my traveling lifestyle with my writing. People have laughed at me about that. Fast forward a little more than a year on the road and I make enough from my blog to pay for groceries each month and I have just been awarded my first professional writing contract. Sure, I'm still a long way from a full-time income, but I sure am closer to one than I was a little over a year ago.
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