Operation Debt Free and my Sand Castle

I want to be debt free.  I want to be a lender and not a borrower.  I want financial freedom! This was a large factor in my decision to pursue and accept a teaching position abroad.  I have wanted this financial freedom for years, but lacked the discipline to achieve it on my teacher's salary in the United States. I was making painfully slow progress on reducing my debts on a monthly basis.   This job provided me with a decent raise and offers me a tax free salary. My gross and net salary are one in the same! I also get this place that I like to think of as my little sand castle:

dining room

living room with my favorite water view

kitchen

guest bedroom

I enjoy living in this lovely 2bed 2.5 bath apartment in Kuwait.  It really was fully furnished.  I've added a few accent pillows, towels, and preferred cookware.  The school owns the building and none of us pay rent or utilities.  It's really more than I would have been able to afford living in the states.  All that being said, there is still potential to fail at my goal of financial freedom if I don't budget wisely.  A few years ago, I read a book by a financial advisor named Dave Ramsey.  You can check out his "The Total Money Makeover" here. Dave advises starting with a $1000 emergency fund.  I decided to have an emergency fund of  $2000.  Living in a foreign country, it can be quite costly to get home on short notice if the need arises. Right now, airfare to Ohio ranges from $1,00-$1,300 round trip. I was pleased to learn that my job reimburses airfare in the event of the loss of an immediate family member if such a loss should occur.  I have to keep in mind that they don't offer the money up front. While I pray that I would never have to deal with a problem like that, I want to be prepared just in case.  I would be devastated if I couldn't return home simply because I don't have the money.

The next step in Dave's plan is pay off all debt except for the house using a debt snowball.  I am currently working this step.  I have about $25,000 which includes credit cards and some student loans.  By the way, a debt snowball is when you pay off debt from the largest to the smallest.  I pay the minimum balance on all debt except for the smallest and make large payments on the smallest.  For example, this month I paid the minimum balance on all cards except for one card with a $401.00 balance.  I paid the balance off on that card.  Yay, one card has been paid off already! Next month, I will apply that $401.00 plus the $100 minimum balance I was paying toward the next smallest balance of about $1300.00 until that card is paid off.  The snowball builds because as each card is paid off, you apply that money to the next largest debt. I plan to write about my budget periodically to share my progress on how my total debt is decreasing.

One additional note related to debt.  I have taught in Title 1 schools for several years now.  This qualified me for loan forgiveness.  I have had to resubmit some paperwork recently, but I am eligible for all of my student loans to be forgiven because of my past teaching positions. In my position as a preschool teacher, I served some students with special needs although my title was not a special education teacher.  This qualified me for a larger amount of loan forgiveness. Be sure to check out this option teachers.  I will be glad to take the $85.00 a month that I currently pay on student loans and apply it toward my debt snowball once the loans are forgiven.

I created an estimated budget for my living expenses prior to moving here.  I have been here almost a month now and have an idea of what kind of adjustments need to be made.  I won't give exact figures today.  Many of my purchases to date have been "setting up house" type of expenses.  My grocery budget was fairly large when I had to buy basic items like cleaning products, food, basic spices, laundry detergent, and bath maths all in the same weekend.  I believe I will be able to truly judge what my average grocery and dining out budget should be in October, when I am more settled.

 There are some areas that I will need to increase my budget:
1. groceries: Groceries just seem to be more expensive in general here because many products are imported. I am American.  I am not a big name brand snob at home in the US.  However when the choice here is between a brand I recognize and a label that is written in Arabic, I'm going to pay a little extra for the recognizable brand.  I don't have a car.  I will end up paying more in the long run if I have to take a cab to return to the store if I am displeased with my initial purchase.
2. Gym membership:  I want to join a gym and work out regularly.  Gym membership is costly.  Plans seem to range from around $180-over $300 per month.  Many health clubs ask for the entire year's fees upfront.  I have to rearrange my budget in order to pay this up front.
3. Taxis- I'm not sure about this one.  I was only spending about $110 a month in gas in the states.  I assumed I would spend about the same in taxi fees here.  This estimate may be too low.  Last weekend I spent $30 in taxi fare going to the gym, to church, and the mall.  Some of this was shared fairs when I rode with a friend.  I have read that I can pay some drivers a flat monthly rate and not have to worry about paying each time I get in a taxi.  This option may be cheaper in the long run.
4.  Bank transfer fees- my job pays me in local currency, Kuwait Dinars, and has helped me set up a local bank account.  My bills are set up to be withdrawn from my US bank account.  I have to transfer the money from Kuwait to my US account via wire transfer.  I have learned that money gram is cheaper than Western Union.  I have also learned that both bank parties may charge for this service.  I  will anticipate up to $25 for this next month and will research the cheapest option for doing this.

What else is in my monthly budget?

1. Travel savings- there is so much of this world to see.  It isn't likely that I will be able to travel in the next couple of months because I am waiting to get a civil id in Kuwait.  However, I  am setting aside about $400 monthly for future travel.

2. Phone and Internet- right now I am paying double phone bills.  I have my US phone.  The data plan is turned off so that I don't pay any international fees.  I use Wifi on this phone for social networking and What's App.  I still pay the monthly fee to verizon in the US. I also have a local phone.  I pay a small monthly fee for it here. Additionally, I have a mobile hotspot for internet service.   It seems that I am paying about $150 a month for all of this.

3. Entertainment- I need a life here outside of work in order to be a well balanced individual

4. Tithes- God gave me this job. I give 10% of my income to the church

5. Miscellaneous

Meet the Teacher

before shots of classroom

I live 6, 759 miles(10,878km) miles from home.  When I accepted this teaching position, I felt as though I had found a place that was special.  I really do feel that God lead me to the right place.  The motto at this school is simple: “A Better Choice”.  The motto is modeled for its staff by the owners and director who provide us with beautiful accommodations for living and daily travel to and from work. I knew that this would be a nice school, but the pictures don’t do it justice.  Come visit me in Kuwait and I’ll give you a tour. Pack your walking shoes. The campus is pretty large.  I can’t seem to ever fit the whole building in one shot.  We spent a full week last week participating in staff development.  Now, this week myself and my coworkers spent hours preparing our classrooms for the first stay of school.  We have staggered start days with Middle School beginning Wednesday, 1^st-5^th grades beginning Thursday, and kindergarten and preschool beginning on Sunday.  (The work week in Kuwait is Sunday through Thursday.

The main elementary playground.  There are additional smaller playgrounds outside of some classrooms.

small playground outside of my room.

Funny story- There are 2 yellow school busses in this country.  My school had them shipped here from the states so that it would be like a true American school.  It seems that Kuwaiti narrow streets and traffic patterns do not mix well with large American busses.  They decided not to use them to pick up the students at our school.  However, the transportation department at the school did deem them appropriate for teachers. Ha Ha! That’s right.  I ride to school now on a big yellow bus full of my adult coworkers.  That might be the least cool “perk” of this job. But hey, a free ride is a free ride!  We did spend the first couple of weeks traveling about in lovely 26 passenger busses with cushioned seating and air conditioning.  Those are now used for the students! Go figure.

our loft with play or learning areas above and below

Today I met my students. What are kindergarten students like in Kuwait?  Well, they are children!  Some walked right in and checked out the room with enthusiasm.  A couple were shy and held on to their parents.  All of the kindergarten classrooms at my school have lovely lofts.  The lofts were a big hit with my new students.

I was a bit nervous about names.  When I saw my class list, the names didn’t exactly roll off of my tongue.  During Meet the Teacher,  my goal was to repeat student’s names and have parents tell me the correct way to pronounce it.  I took a picture of each child holding their nameplate.  I would like to learn my parent’s names down the road, but that is a tall order that can wait for the moment.  Both parents and students were friendly today.  Many welcomed me to Kuwait and shared their connections about the US. Some have lived there while others travel there on a regular basis.  I should mention that I am teaching at a private school and many of our students would be referred to as “privileged” in the USA.   It is not uncommon for our students to be international travelers.

This is a view of the room from the loft.  You can see that their is a room through the circular opening for art activities. There are restrooms to the right and a kitchen to the left. 

What?  Is that a kitchen?  Yes Sir. Yes Ma’am.  Every kindergarten classroom has a full kitchen. What will we make in there?  The sky is the limit.  I’ll have to incorporate some great recipes into learning this year.  I got a little lazy about that last year, but now the kitchen is a part of the room.

school library

Today was a lovely day.  It was great to meet the students and families.  I have a total of 16 children on my class list.  This means I have a 1:8 ratio because I also have a lovely co-teacher who is an experienced teacher from the Philippines.  We have two more days to prepare for our young learners before they start school on Sunday.  Say prayers for us!