The Buerglers

WE’RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Before you celebrate with us, make sure you've read Elizabeth's Story , Eric's Story , and How We Climbed Out of Debt . Two and a half years of gazelle-ish-like intensity + the few months prior as emotional primer and slowed spending, we made it!  We paid off over $50,000.  We have two car titles. Closed credit card accounts. Statements from one student loan (and one on the way!) with a $0.00 balance.  All our debt with Eric’s parents is paid off.  It’s. All. Gone. We also paid for my 3 semesters of grad school in cash.  Paid a second car accident in cash (it was minor compared to the first one).  Went to Nicaraga on a Mission Trip in cash.  Went on a 5 day Puerto Rican vacation in cash.  We’re up to date on medical expenses for the baby in cash.  All while squeezing in travel for weddings , babies, family reunions, half-marathons , mini-vacations and to see out of town friends...in cash! ...

Check out part one and our disclaimer... The title of this post may lead you to believe that I made nothing but mistakes in the past when it came to money.  On the contrary, I made a lot of “wise” decisions, but they could have been better.  Here’s how. I’ll start where everyone seems to start, once they become a real adult and enter the working world permanently.  When I graduated from college I had a small amount of debt owed to my parents.  Thanks to my parents, none of this was student loans.  What this debt was from was overspending on entertainment and food, which I’m sure everyone can relate to. The first 2 years of college, I would rack up small debts to my parents and pay them off with the money I earned in the summer, while earning a little extra for the upcoming year.  Then between junior year and senior year, instead of paying my parents off and saving up a little, two things changed.  First, I decided not to live on campus my seni...

I don't just ride my  bike  to work, I ride it to the farmer's market, grocery , church, and even an air show.  I'm not sure where to start with why I ride my  bike  so much. Maybe I should go with  environmental  reasons because being "green" is certainly in right now.  I hate the term "green" and that it is trendy.  Forget that!  I believe I have a responsibility to respect God's creation and I don't think pollution is a great way to hallow God.  I'm going to stop here before I get too negative. I should probably have started with  economic  reasons (seriously is anyone seeing a trend with these Friday question posts).  Because I  bike  to work and all of those other places, we have been able to lower our car insurance to the lowest mileage per year insurance.  While that is certainly part of it, we have been able to save more by saving about a tank of gas per month.  With gas pric...

The first answer that comes to mind is  why not , but I don't think Elizabeth would let me get away with that for a   blog  post (who needs quality control?). Going along with the theme of our previous two Friday posts,  money .  It's cheaper!  I started out taking classes for $5, which included "all you can drink" homebrew, where I was taught to "Relax, have a homebrew!".  When I started brewing beer on my own I was paying about $10/gal, which is a significant savings when you consider we sometimes buy a single beer at the bar for more than $10.  For Christmas, I received the last pieces of equipment needed to do a more enhanced version of brewing, which means I can now brew for about $7-8/gal. We were also gifted most of the equipment over time starting with a wedding gift to unused items laying around families' homes to Christmas gifts.  How can you say no when you have all of the equipment and it's cheaper?  Well ...

What a long road it was.  We waited until the last minute to leave our hotel room, knowing we would need our energy for the drive and red-eye flight.  Having been to the Bernardus dinner 2 nights earlier, we decided we needed to return home with some wine, so we went back for another tasting.  Next, we headed to lunch at a place recommended by one of our wine dinner companions.  It was on our way to San Fran and sounded good, so Phil’s Fish Market was a must.  Upon arrival, we knew it was going to be great based on the lack of parking and the clientele, a mix of must be locals and motorcyclists.  The place was indeed worth the trip though we were glad it was day time. After a great lunch, for me at least (E had too much fried food), we had plenty of time, so we thought a trip along CA Hwy 1 would be a great coastal drive.  We stopped at Santa Cruz’s boardwalk on the north end of Monterey Bay and decided it was not worth fighting the crowds....

We awoke to a slow morning after our late night dinner and drinking at Bernardus.  We did not leave the room until around 2, but we were still able to accomplish quite a bit of sightseeing.  The first stop was Carmel beach, which has beautiful seaside houses along tree lined roads, then drops down 10’ to sandy beach.  Next was a visit to the neighboring town of Monterey, where we stopped by the aquarium for the last hour and then walked Cannery Row, a once famous sardine canning section of town that has been converted to shops and restaurants.  Now that night had set in we headed back to Carmel for dessert at a little bistro with live music in the plaza square before going back to our hotel for a movie. -Eric

The first of two days in the National Parks of Sequoia and Kings Canyon, we awoke to rain and cold.  As we tried to gear up for the inclement weather we both realized we were severely underprepared for rain (stupid forecast).  We set off nonetheless, determined to make the best of our honeymoon.  We drove back the way we had come in the previous night, thinking it would be much easier going even in the rain, but we quickly discovered snow/slush covered roads and had to go even slower.  We stopped at Kings Canyon Lodge for lunch and road updates and continued on to the Grant Tree, the nation’s Christmas Tree.  It is the widest tree in the world at 40’ wide and 3 largest by volume.  On the same short hike was the Fallen Monarch, which you can walk through (without bending over).  Even though the hike was only a third of a mile we returned to the car with legs that were completely soaked and hands that were on the verge of numbness. After that,...