WE'RE DEBT FREE!

We just paid off around $17,000 in 10 months.  Here is our story.

A long time ago our cousins Joe and Christi told us about a man on the radio named Dave Ramsey.  Never heard of him.  They were taking a class his company offered called "Financial Peace University".  They gave us the general gist of the class and the philosophy to live debt free.  We thought it sounded nice and we realized that we mostly lived by his rules but some of them sounded far fetched.

Dave Ramsey is a man who at a young age had it all, and then lost it all.  He was a real estate investor and ended up going broke.  He had a young family, and he and his wife decided to work their way out of debt and to STAY THAT WAY.

Long story short, he ended up writing a book about it and he has a nationally syndicated radio show called (what else?) THE DAVE RAMSEY SHOW.  He created a get out of debt program that is offered around the country called Financial Peace University.

Joe and Christi even gave us their class materials so we could try to work it through on our own.  Again we thought we could do it, but we never made it our priority.  Enter our good friends Susan and Mike.  Susan and Mike decided it was time that they do this.  They encouraged us to join them at their church and take the class with them this past January.  It would be 13 straight weeks of Friday nights.  Yay.  But we did it anyway... and for us it ended being 16 weeks between Holidays and other commitments.  But we kept at it, and never missed a class.

It was hard to sit in that classroom and hear what we believed was pretty straight forward.  Most of the time, we just nodded as we watched the videos.  We knew this stuff.  We just didn't practice it.  But that was the sweet part of being in a class, we started to practice it.  We went home, we did our homework.  We looked at our expenses and had a massive wake up call as to where we were throwing our money away each week.  For the first time ever we planned where our money should go, and agreed ahead of time how much we would spend on EVERYTHING.  Every category had an allotment.  And if that allotment wasn't enough, well, we just had to learn to go without.  And if we had to go without essentials, we refined the allotment with the next budget.  It is an ongoing learning experience.

FPU has seven 'baby steps':

1.  $1000 in an emergency fund.
2. Pay off all debt (except the house) with the debt snowball.
3. 3-6 months of expenses in savings
4. Invest 15% of income for retirement
5. College funding
6. Pay off your home early
7. Build wealth and give!

You work through the baby steps one by one.  We just finished baby step number 2.  This means we are now debt free!  We don't owe anything to any creditors other than our mortgage.

I bring all this up, because this has been a year of major change for us.  We have changed how we do things and how we look at life.  It is freeing to no longer have to worry if I have money in the bank to spend on these clothes, groceries, home goods, you name it.  I have cash in hand and I figure out what I truly need and I do not get caught up in what I think I deserve.

This year has changed us in more ways than in the wallet.  We've changed how we have used our time, and we have changed our bodies.  I tie these two ideas together in one sentence as I think both items are interwoven in our experience.  In the past we ate out at a restaurant because we were bored, or we 'didn't have enough time', or because we were lazy.  This year we realized that the best way to cut out needless spending was to QUIT EATING OUT.   Yep, cold turkey.  And it was H-A-R-D!!!  We no longer ordered a pizza out at the pool, or grabbed Wendys on the way to one of the kids soccer games.  It took some getting used to, and some planning to have food on hand that we could take with us or eat in advance of going to a commitment.  I got really good at planning my meals with swim meets in mind and packed delicious food to eat while we spent the night watching our kids compete this summer.  And the unexpected benefit?  Weight loss.  My husband and I have each lost 30 pounds this year. 

Who would have thought a journey to be debt free would result in us feeling better about ourselves in more ways than just one?  I certainly didn't as we almost didn't even sign up for the class.  I am grateful to my husband Don for stepping onto this path with me, and grateful to Joe, Christi, Mike and Susan for gently leading us there.

Want to know more?  A lot can be learned by listening to Dave's show, or by picking up a copy of one of his books.  I can almost guarantee there is a class starting near you soon.  Check out Dave's website (www.daveramsey.com) there is a link to classes being offered.