The Debt Free Post

I tell you the following story not to brag or to make you feel bad, but only to inspire. We have needed inspiration many times along the way and I pray that you find the same for your family. If we can be that inspiration you need, then it’s worth putting our story out there.

As of 9:00 this morning, our family became DEBT FREE!!!!!! We have officially closed the door on Baby Step 2, where all debts except for the mortgage are paid in full.

I made a promise to my readers that I would disclose our amount of our original debt once we became debt free. The debt we were facing in the summer of 2007 was almost $80,000. The debt was spread out so it didn’t seem that bad, until we added it all up. Here was our breakdown:

My car $12,000
Husband’s truck $9,000
Mower $3,000
Saxophone $1,500
Line of Credit Loan $44,000
Misc credit/store cards $10,000

A man named Dave walked into our lives and scared the heck out of us. He told us we were a normal American family, but normal families are broke. We had a good income and plenty of savings in the bank, but when you compared our income to the amount of money we were spending each month, we were broke. The more money we made, the more we spent. Does this sound like your family?

How we did it
Once the sense was knocked into us, we started selling stuff. Our brand new, shiny red zero-turn 2-month-old lawn mower was loaded up and hauled back to the dealer. The new saxophone we were making payments on for our son was returned to the store and we found a better quality used one on Craiglist. Those are some examples of the big things. Many, many little things were sold.

We wrote down our debts from smallest to largest. We paid them off one at a time and were finally able to start tackling the line of credit loan in February 2008. This one was going to be hard due to the large amount, so we dove into it with fierce intensity. We avoided restaurants, shopping, some entertainment, and cut back our spending tremendously. Every single extra penny went toward this debt. I was at the bank every Saturday morning having them count change I had come across that week and putting it directly toward principal. Since February 2008, we have made 121 payments toward our HELOC. Most of those were principal only payments. The smallest principal payment was a measly $4.00!

I’m going to be honest – it was difficult. There were arguments between my and my husband. There were times when we wanted to give up. Many shopping trips and nights out on the town were cancelled. The kids would yell, “I hate Dave Ramsey!” as they were told that our family doesn’t do this or that. Many relatives and friends made fun of us. We were told quite often, “You still have to have fun in life!” But who will be having fun now?

After today, we get to keep our paychecks. I can’t even imagine what that will feel like. Our lives have been changed, but most importantly the lives of our boys have been changed. They have been active participants in this project and are very aware of how loans and credit cards work (or I should say, don’t work). We will never borrow money again.

If our story inspires you and you want advice for getting on the right track, please contact us. We really do feel called to be of service to others in regards to family finances and are getting prepared to teach Financial Peace University in our community. We want other families to feel exactly the same way we do today.

More about our story can be found here.

"FUN" Run

I've been catching a lot of crap about never posting here. So I'm back. Hi there.

For those of you who know me in person, you may not believe this post. See, I'm running. Running, as in fast walking. Me, who is not athletic. Running.

I'm gearing up for the "fun" run in my local town celebration. I use quotes on that because I doubt it's actually fun. And while we're talking about quotation marks, you have to go check this out.

But back to running. I don't know a thing about running so I've had to do a little research. I downloaded the Couch-to-5K plan. I bought expensive shoes. I bought a treadmill. 

And now I run. I'm kind of liking it...

Smile & Move

Courtesy of Zig Ziglar

March 21 - One Year

We can shed tears that they have gone, or we can smile that they have lived.

We can close our eyes and pray that they will come back, or we can open our eyes and see all the good they have left us.

Our hearts can be empty because we cannot see them, or our hearts can be full with the love that we've shared.

We can turn our backs on tomorrow and live yesterday, or we can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

We can remember them and only that they have gone, or we can cherish their memory and let it live on.

We can cry and close our minds, be empty and turn our backs, or we can do what they would have wanted: smile, open our eyes, love and go on.

Love you and miss you - H

Cancer Sucks

I was in the middle of writing a funny post, but then was hit with some sad news. Mark Cosens put up a good fight, but cancer has a mind of its own.

We know Mark from his high school days in Jefferson. Most recently he blessed the Madrid School District with his presence as an administrator until his illness forced his resignation.

The world lost Mark this afternoon. May God bless his wife, sons, parents and rest of the family.

Cancer sucks.

Mark's Story

Swimming Naked

http://trendydollar.com/archives/swimming-naked

It's About To Get Ugly

I find it interesting that I still have a lot of people visiting this blog, but they rarely venture over to Trendy Dollar - which is where I spend most of my blogging time these days.

I know personal finance can be boring, but really you only have two options regarding your money: to not pay attention to it and be broke and in debt OR pay attention to every penny and live a happy, successful and peaceful life!

My current article on Trendy Dollar is introducing readers to a personal development dude who is most definitely not boring. Larry Winget. Come on over and meet him. Even if you don't think you need his advice, you'll at least get a kick out of him.