You See What We Want You To See

I have been holding this in for a little while and I just can't anymore.

People have been questioning us after our budget posts come out.  I know I had one come out yesterday and since this post is scheduled, I'm sure we got more then what I am about to talk about.

My biggest thing is I let you see what I want you to see from my life.  I do not post a picture of my kitchen island that is covered is so much crap that we only use one little part of it daily and the rest just keeps getting piled on top of each other.

I let you see that my living room is adorable with baby toys neatly placed on the floor and picked up every night.  WRONG!  We had our neighbor watch Caleb two days last week - the first person other then family to watch him btw - and I didn't even think about picking up my house beforehand.  AH!  I was so embarrassed, luckily she is amazing and understands that we live in our house, not just stage it for pictures.

I let you see us going out on dates and having a great time.  I don't let you see that it takes us weeks of planning and figuring out when we can get a babysitter and if it lines up with a payday so that we have the money to do so.

I let you see that we bought a new car and got a new puppy.  You didn't see the 7 hours that it took getting the dealership to come down to a price that we were happy with.  You also didn't see us debating on whether or not it was a smart decision to pull money out to get a new puppy right now.

We work very hard for what we have and we show you what looks good.  Life isn't perfect and just like our budget posts, I post what I want you to see.  I posted our June Budget Update and in it stated that we have eliminated almost $31,000 in debt.  That is incredible and I am so proud of us, but unfortunately we just got so much flack for it.

No, we did not have $31,000 sitting in the bank.
No, we did not pay it all in cash.
No, we are not living the high life and sleeping on dollar bills. (gross btw)

It has taken hard work and dedication on both our ends to make this work.  I include selling our possessions as debt paid off.  We owed money to a bank for our boat.  That was a debt.  We sold our boat for cash, took that cash and paid it to the bank - therefore, paying off our debt.

We owed a little over five grand to a car dealership for my car.  We sold my car to another dealership and they paid off our debt.

I'll take it where I can get it people.  Since we started this journey back in February we have not gotten different jobs, salary increases or inheirited millions of dollars.  We are human, just like you, and work hard for what we have.

I just want you all to remember that you see what we want you to see. 
I'm not going to show you my excel spreadsheet with the actual numbers of our debt on it, but I will show you how we are working on it.
I'm not going to show you how we have 8 loads of laundry on our closet floor, but I will show you my accomplished folding piles.
I'm not going to show you my dirty kitchen table, but I will show you the dinner I made on a nice, clean background.

Get it?  I just ask that you think before you speak about things a little more.