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Maggie Whitley

joy in motherhood, homemaking, faith & simple living

You are here: Home / inspiration / {canceled & shredded!}

{canceled & shredded!}

October 21, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Filed Under: inspiration, marriage

I have a little but typical-of-Gussy random story to share. Oh, who am I kidding? This is going to be semi-long.

I had a rewarding experience yesterday.

Zack was setting up the router for our wireless internet and I was sewing and prepping new products. Let’s just say I had a lot of time on my hands. I decided that since I was already sitting there, and it was after 9 p.m. {free cell minutes}, that I would tackle the credit cards sitting next to me on my desk. They needed to be canceled and shredded!

I’m going to be completely honest with you all.

Are you ready?

We have one credit card balance. It is from when I was in college {bahhh!, too long to be carrying around, but that is our situation}. It has a balance from purchasing my iMac and a D-SLR. Yeppp, not a proud moment here, but it’s the truth! And I’m proud to present the truth.

However, and please remember this because you can experience it, too, I HAVE NEVER PAID INTEREST ON THESE TWO ITEMS! I was sure to sign-up for a 0.0% APR for 12+ months and have done balance transfers to continue the zero-cost credit card experience.

That’s right, I haven’t paid these companies a dime {aside from balance transfer fees, which are at most $50}. If you dig, sometimes you’ll be surprised at what you find.

{I better stop with the facts and figures or I’ll get myself in trouble because I’m not a cred-card guru girl, just a sewing Gussy girl.}

With doing credit card transfers we’ve obviously had to open up new credit cards because the promotional periods have expiration dates, but we have never used them. In fact, our most recent card isn’t even activated! The only debt Zack and I brought to our marriage were student loans, this credit card, and a car loan {which is now paid off, thankyouverymuch!!! :) }

I am so incredibly proud that we do not use credit cards. If you are in the same boat as us, I’m incredibly proud of you, too. If you aren’t in the same boat, I’m incredibly proud you’re still reading this! Please stay with me here…

I haven’t used a credit card since 2005? 2006? I believe Zack has never used one, but I can’t recall. It is an incredible blessing to not be slaved to a credit card company. Would you like to be free of that? I bet you would {and you can!}.

Like I mentioned above, I was sewing last night and I decided to call these companies to cancel the credit cards. They all have $0 balances and are doing one thing for me: making me freak out over potential credit-card fraud. We don’t use them; I glance at the monthly statements to make sure the balance stays at zero, but I don’t need to be wasting time on this when we don’t even use them.

I have ruffles to sew, right?

Right :)

I needed to make four calls, which lead to my rewarding experience:

“Hi, I’d like to cancel my credit card. {pause} Because I have a zero balance. {pause} Because I don’t need it. {pause} Because we use our debit cards. {pause} No, thank you, I’d like to cancel my credit card please. {pause} Thank you.

One company definitely argued this with me. Because I was prepping items I had the call on speaker phone. Zack eventually came up to my phone and said “Ma’am. Ma’am! We’d like to cancel the card please.”

Maybe if my voice was deeper I could have done that, too? What do you think? ;)

Another company actually said to me, “Can I ask you something? What will you do in an emergency if you don’t have a credit card?”

My reply: “Pay with cash! Hello, use our emergency fund?!”

{What will you do, Mr. Credit Card man?}

A third company simply said, “OK” after I told him I wanted to cancel. That was National City. That bank deserves some applause from Gussy for not arguing with me. Seriously. I’m applauding them.

As I type this I’m sooo giddy to say that all four cards are canceled, shredded, and out of our lives forever!

I was told last night on the phone, But our cards are fee-free!

No {laugh}, they’re not, because fee-free doesn’t mean interest free. And if they have interest, that is not free! I may not like math, but I know the value words have.

Credit = expensive.

The fact is we have enough money to buy the things we need and want, pay our bills, and save with cash. We sit down twice a month and go over everything. Most times we have to organize, push-and-pull, maneuver things around to buy something big, but we can and we do it with the money we already have, money we’ve already earned, and when it’s purchased it’s paid for. We are not a slave to our purchases. I bet if you sit down and look your finances over you can figure out a way to let go of anything that slaves you.

So that is my Gussy has a lot to say story. Do you have a story to share? I love to be inspired but it; I hope you can find something inspiring in your life, too.

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ABOUT MAGGIE WHITLEY DESIGNS:
Maggie Whitley weaves her writings around joy in motherhood, homemaking, faith, and simple living. She homeschools her children, enjoys a quiet room while reading, and roars with laughter over the challenges & delights of motherhood. Maggie and her husband, along with their four young children, live in metro-Detroit. She has been writing online since 2008.
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maggiewhitley

JOY in motherhood & homemaking 🧺🌿💓✨

maggiewhitley
Reflecting on this today 💓🕊 When I reflect o Reflecting on this today 💓🕊 When I reflect on the moments I’ve felt my mind spinning, my emotions swirly, it’s almost always when I’m not feasting on the word of God. Not that reading scripture is the cure for anxiety —no! Rather, it’s hard to worry when we’re worshipping.
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#mothersofinstagram #tea #winterreading #hygge
I fought every internal comment I could think of a I fought every internal comment I could think of and took my kiddos for a looooong walk today before dinner. ❄️✨ There’s just so much work required to raise children! I’m feeling like a tired lady. But sunshine & fresh air are good companions to keep around. 

We came home and I made “the best dinner ever”. Max specifically announced, “it’s so great you’re launching new meals to the world”. LOL— kids! 🤣👏🏻💓
How about a little Wednesday night introduction? 😘Social media sure has changed over the years and we don’t always SEE who we’re following or remember WHY we’re following certain accounts. 

So, hello! As you can gather, my name is Maggie ;) 

I started writing online (almost 13 years ago) to share the handmade products I was sewing. My shop was called Gussy Sews. ✂️👛I love the community that has grown from sewing & sharing online.

Let’s FFW to today: Zack and I live in Michigan and have four young children (2 boys & 2 girls). I slowly left the handmade industry and walked right into homemaking, homeschooling, and encouraging women through writing. 💕📝

Motherhood has been very hard on me. (And not just because of how close in age our four children are.) It’s been hard for me because I fought for years to accept that *it’s supposed to be hard*. 

I mean, how do you effectively teach another person to know and love the Lord? Bc that’s how I think of motherhood: a calling to nurture others by studying the One who nurtures me. So I gotta make the first move: study the Bible and seek Him first. As my friend Autumn reminded me, vulnerability births transformation. 

(I’ve had to be really vulnerable!)

So, yes motherhood has fully transformed me. But even more so, Christ has fully transformed me. My list of “all that He’s done for me” is off to a beautifully long start.

Something else I want you to know about me: I stalled for years before acknowledging I have anxiety and depression. It’s hard to talk about this because of course this isn’t forever “my hardship”, but rather because acknowledging this means to heal I have to work through some really difficult things. ✨

But my friend Jesus walks alongside me. He’s already done a mighty work in my heart, including helping me process my anger in healthier ways. I’ve also adopted a heart for sisterhood, mothering, and Titus 2 mentorship.

Sometimes our greatest losses are our greatest gains? That’s what I’m clinging to!

How about you? Tell me something about yourself so I can get to know you on a deeper heart level. 🖤🖤
How do you play in the winter? // We had a really How do you play in the winter? // We had a really great time visiting family in northern Michigan. On my blog I share a few ways we played outside, plus I describe a memorable childhood game ❄️☃️. Did you play it as a kiddo?
We had gotten a bit lazy with our rhythms: screens We had gotten a bit lazy with our rhythms: screens in the morning (HGTV), playtime before lessons, and not enough quiet time after lunch. This made for a really, ummm, unenjoyable learning experience. 

But today! Today we reset the rhythm, and we have had a much happier home & time learning together. 👏🏻
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It was the perfect opportunity to rearrange the fu It was the perfect opportunity to rearrange the furniture as we took the tree down Tuesday midday. Def one of my fav things to do.🎄👋🏻 We made it through our first week back to school since mid-December! It was rough to begin but ended with high fives. ⭐️✏️This morning I zoomed with a mama friend and I’m impressed with the many topics we covered. Sisterhood is sooooo necessary! ☕️👩🏽‍🤝‍👩🏼

Just a few cheery memories from my week! How about you?
Book reading! One of my best “Maggie” activiti Book reading! One of my best “Maggie” activities. I finished my last book moments before 2020 ended, which brought my started list to a close. Small joys add up to big joys ;)

What are you reading this year? Currently?

How many books are you planning to read? What’s your goal?

I’ll share what’s on my list for 2021 soon as I received some nice titles at Christmas. 📖✨🤍
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