Shaw - "How Did We Get Here?"
We're one of 9 families competing for $10,000 dollars. It's an online challenge sponsored by my bank. The challenge is to get out of more debt than the other families and to save more money too. The winning family will be announced in December of this year but first they'll have 2 elimination votes and 3 families will be eliminated from the competition each time. The first elimination vote is next week, June 14th running until midnight on June 25th. You can vote every hour at www.weliveFITchallenge.com
But how did we get here?
Eleven years ago, in September of 1998, my wife Cheryl and I along with our 5 year old daughter, bought our first home. It was newly built and in the cul-de-sac of a new development on a corner lot. It's neighborhood was adjacent to a very exclusive gated community. We were so very blessed to have such a beautiful home and with our son's birth one week after we moved in, it was like a dream.
Move ahead to 2003, we had to sell that beautiful first home because we were in so much debt it was our only way out. So, debt free, other than our student loans, we decide to rent for about a year and then planned to buy another home. This is about the time I was privileged to get hired on by FSU at Seminole Productions.
Last year, we're back in the same debt again, still renting 7 years later and then I lose my job due to the economy. We heard about this challenge and remembered the bank sponsoring it the previous year. They were accepting applications for this years challenge so we applied. We realized how poorly we had managed any money we had, even in good times too. It's not how much money you make but what you do with the money. We didn't know what we were doing with our money. We needed to learn how to manage our money and Florida Commerce Credit Union was offering us that opportunity along with the chance to win $10,000 dollars. The prize of winning the money is certainly an amazing bonus but the process of learning how to better manage what money we had is invaluable to us.
You. If you're reading this please consider doing 2 things.
1) For you, I would recommend going to the Florida Commerce Credit Union website and take advantage of the resources they have available to anyone. Call them if you'd like and speak with someone regarding you're situation and how they could help you. We're all in different financial situations but I'm confident that they could help you with your money questions. I would recommend our financial coach, Kelley Dettmer.
2) For us. We're learning so much from this experience. It has already been a great benefit to us and has increased our financial knowledge. But, we want to win. Maybe it's just my competitive nature, but our family wants to take this challenge all the way. There is still so much for us to gain from this experience. Having failed twice before financially, I don't want my family to experience that again. I want this third attempt to be the one that knocks it out of the park. We're in this to win but we're also in this for a lifestyle change. Whether we do win or not, we'll continue on this course that we've set to live a life free of the enslavement that debt has had on our lives. The enslavement that has destroyed the past 11 years of our financial life. We look back but not to repeat but only to move forward differently.
We need your help. Please vote for our family, the Shaw's, so we're not eliminated. Vote as often as you can June 14th through June 25th. They will allow each person to vote once each hour.
How do you vote? www.weliveFITchallenge.com
You can also follow us on Facebook, just search "Shaw Family".
Thank you very much for your time.
The Shaw Family (Jim, Cheryl, Cassidy and Jack)
