It’s More Than A Couch 

I never thought a couch could mean so much. This couch signifies so much for us. Let’s start at the beginning.

It’s 1996, and I meet a boy at church. I don’t know it yet, but this moment will change the course of my life. After the service, a group of us heads to Taco Bell for a quick bite. I’m sitting with my friend, and I tell her, “Set me up with that boy.” We had our first date on Halloween that same year. We’ve been together ever since.

By June of 1999, we were married. We moved into a single-wide trailer furnished by our families and started building our life together. We didn’t have much, but we didn’t care—we were in love, and being young and broke was just part of the adventure. In 2000, we welcomed our first son, and by 2001, we upgraded to a double-wide trailer, ready to fill our home with even more love. It was during that time we made our first big “furniture purchase.” We bought a couch from a friend’s parents. It was probably 20 years old, but it was new to us—and nicer than anything we’d ever owned.

Then, in 2010, life surprised us in the best way possible: twin boys! We were overjoyed, but those early days were a blur of diapers, sleepless nights, and trying to make ends meet. Money was tight, as it had always been. But we didn’t know any better, so we thought that was just how life was. Honestly, we fought a lot. Life was stressful, and when you’re stressed, it’s easy to argue over the little things.

Still, we kept moving forward, and in 2016, we did something we had dreamed of for years—we bought a house. Our forever home. And you know what came with us? That same couch we bought in 2001. New furniture was never a priority. We had made the decision a long time ago that we wouldn’t buy anything new until all the kids were grown. That old couch saw it all: movie nights, sleepless baby cuddles, the twins jumping all over it, and us falling asleep on it after long days.

But in 2020, something shifted. When the world seemed to be falling apart, I decided it was time for a change. I went on the biggest health journey of my life. I lost over 60 pounds and gained a whole new understanding of my body. But it didn’t stop there. The discipline and focus I found in that journey spilled over into other areas of my life. That’s when I started looking at our finances. We’d always struggled, but now I wanted to change that too.

I started simple—meal planning and sticking to a strict grocery budget, because that was one thing I felt I could control. And little by little, I got my husband on board. For the first time in our marriage, we got on the same page when it came to money. We went from me hiding our money troubles from him, to tackling them head-on together.

By 2024, we did something we never thought we could do: we paid off my car 3½ years early. That was the last of our debt, except for the mortgage. We sacrificed vacations, we said “no” to things we wanted, but looking back, we wouldn’t change a thing.

And when the time finally came to treat ourselves, the first thing we bought was… a couch. Not just one, but two. After years of waiting, saving, and planning, it felt like a reward. The funny thing is, after getting the new couches, something even better happened—we started seeing more of our twins. They come and hang out with us, stretched out on the new “movie-watching” couch, and that’s my husband’s dream come true.

So you see, to us, it’s more than just a couch. It represents years of hard work, sacrifice, and commitment. It’s a dream that we made come true. And it all started with a budget—a simple plan that gave us control over our lives and allowed us to create moments that will stay with us forever.