We're debt freeeeeeee!

After years of living with the usual debts (school loans, car loans, credit cards, etc), but working towards paying them off..... for the past 7 years....we finally paid them off. We are debt free!!

Yes, Dave Ramsey was our initial inspiration (we read the book and listened to the radio show). And then the others that have worked towards being debt free became our inspiration. Especially stories of people being able to pay all of their debts despite hardships like being a single mom, cancer, loss of jobs, etc. They thing they all had in common was focus and determination. We knew that if they could do it, we could do it too!

 I'm not sure why it took so long, other than we decided to do it our own way and parts of it took longer than they should have, but what matters is that we did it. We did it even though it wasn't easy, and it wasn't convenient. It wasn't fun and it wasn't fashionable, but it DID bring us closer together as a couple and has reduced our stress. I highly recommend it. If you have debts, even just car notes, you should work towards paying them off. Skip a vacation or two. Stop eating out so much (eating at home is healthier anyway).

We lived in a small house for about 6 years to get most of the debt paid off (credit cards, school loans, bank/home improvement loans). When we moved into our current house, we still had a home improvement loan and 2 car loans. We paid off everything in less than 2 years. Yes, it feels good. I recommend it, and I'm glad we did it. We made sacrifices but it taught us and our kids that together as a family we can move towards a better future and achieve goals. God was at the core of the plan. We decided it wasn't biblical to have excessive debts and then keep spending. Becoming debt free has allowed me to quit my job and home school my kids. I still do a little bit of work on the side to help the family, but it's not essential to our basic bills and putting food on the table. My husband is able to do that for us.

Here's how we did it. (most of these are the Dave Ramsey baby steps. Thank you Dave!!)

1) Decided what we wanted to do (get debt free). My sister suggested that we add up debts, get our number (the amount we needed to pay off), and then start praying about it. That's what set off the cascade of events.
2) Made a list of debts to pay. Post it in a place where you and your spouse can both see it.
3) Make a budget with basic priorities. Pay God first, then housing/food and utilities. If there's nothing left after that you may have to increase your income.
4) Started paying the bills smallest to largest
5) Controlled spending as much as possible. We have not been to Hawaii or Disney world or Europe. Ever. The only vacations we've taken were two small trips to local cities staying at Super 8 hotel or Motel 6 for 1-2 nights. I don't go "shopping" just for fun. I haven't had a new wardrobe in years.

We still occasionally ate out. We still had Christmas and birthdays and went on an occasional date, but we had a budget and tried to stick to it. We prayed a lot that God would bless our efforts and give us wisdom. He did bless our efforts.

We got creative and probably had more fun with our kids than taking fancy vacations. One of our low budget vacations was to Lufkin, Texas around St. Patrick's Day. This does not sound like a whole lot of fun, but it was a surprisingly fun little get away. I secretly packed Lucky Charms cereal in our suitcase (I do NOT normally let my kids eat sugary cereal), I also packed new St Patrick's Day t-shirts, and we just stayed 3 days and did whatever we wanted. We went to the movies, the zoo, antique shopping (and bought nothing). We also did our first family day hike which was super fun. It was my first hike ever and I loved it.

So, for the past few years this has been our family project to work towards. Now we will focus on building a larger savings account, and then maybe upgrade our cars (and maybe Disney in a couple of years), and then start paying double time on our mortgage to get that paid off. Finances aren't always easy to deal with, but we have to deal with it or else one day it will deal with us. I've seen marriages dissolve due to financial stress and I just didn't want to be one of them.

Thank you Jesus for helping us get to this point. I strongly recommend reading a proverb a day to stay wise, and I also recommend www.daveramsey.com.