We Paid Cash! :: A Kitchen Faucet

A testimony from Jen

Up until a year ago I was working full-time at a job that paid pretty well. Our home, cars and budget were based on two good incomes. But after my son was born I struggled as a working mom and finally made the decision to stay home. While I don’t regret it at all, it’s meant some major budget overhauling.

Two months ago we read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and decided we were committed to becoming debt-free. As is always the case, life decided to hit us with a test to see how dedicated we were to our new plan.

For the last month the spray nozzle on our kitchen sink has been leaking. We’ve had to leave it sit in the sink to avoid water damage to the cabinet underneath.

Over Labor Day weekend we decided to tackle the job of replacing it. We were told it would be a simple do-it-yourself job. We had a small gift certificate to Home Depot so we headed there to get the parts we needed.

To make a long story short, after three trips to the hardware store, and a visit from my dad (a general contractor), we found out we had to replace the entire kitchen faucet. The cheapest kitchen faucets run around $100, and that was NOT in the budget! So I got to work trying to figure out what to do.

I checked Craigslist and found a two-year-old kitchen faucet for $20. Turns out it belonged to the kindest older couple who had just re-done their kitchen and decided instead of throwing it away they would see if they could help someone out by putting it on Craigslist. What an answer to prayer!I crawled under the sink myself (my husband couldn’t fit!) and figured out how to remove the old faucet and put the new one in (which included 2 more trips to the hardware store for replacement pipes and connections).

When all was said and done we spent $28 on the faucet and replacement parts.

The best part of this? Two days earlier we had received an unexpected $57 check in the mail from our mortgage company. A year ago we would have immediately blown that on a night out, but because of our new commitment to remaining debt-free, we tucked it away for a special need.  What great confirmation that we are making the right decisions with our money!!

My name is Jen, I am a stay-at-home-mom to a two-year-old son. I have been married for eight years to a wonderful man who supports me in all my endeavors, whether it be rearranging our budget, crazy-coupon-clipping or climbing under the kitchen sink!

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