When last we left our heroes, they were up to their eyeballs in debt with a lackluster job (financially) and a baby on the way. So, for the next 4 or 5 years, we tried our best to keep expenses WAY down (Angie cried actual tears when we cut out cable) and to increase my income when possible. This really only helped us to keep the pace the credit counselor had set, since other expenses went up during this time with having our first two babies and moving again. Also, we kept having “unexpected” expenses, like car repairs and whatnot, and we never really got the hang of a budget, although the credit counselor had recommended that we make one.
In late 2006, when we first heard about Dave Ramsey, we’d managed to whittle down maybe $17,000 of the $45,000+ peak (looked it up last night; it was closer to $47K) over the course of those 4-5 years. Not awful, but not great by any means. More importantly, though, is that we didn’t really feel like we were getting anywhere, and every time some emergency arose, we’d add something back on credit because we didn’t have any extra money. Baby Step #1 of Dave’s plan was a radical, life-changing concept. We saved up a $1000 fairly quickly, and then we had some breathing room when emergencies struck (as emergencies are wont to do). Did you hear that? That was me just now, breathing a sigh of relief just thinking about it. That one step changed our situation entirely from being one emergency away from more debt to being in control and moving consistently forward. It was awesome. After that, we were fully on board with the plan.
Shortly thereafter, a guy named Joe Sangl came to speak and teach his Financial Learning Experience at our church, which was very helpful as well. The main difference between what Joe and Dave teach in terms of debt-reduction, as far as I can tell, is that Joe doesn’t stress the “as fast as possible” aspect as much as Dave does. I think “as fast as possible” is probably best for most people, but it’s hard to get extremely “gazelle-intense” when you’ve been cutting expenses and working on debt-reduction with not much traction for several years already. Joe freed us up to set a date to be debt-free and work towards that.
We decided early on that, because of our young children and the fact that we were so worn down from working for so long at this, we weren’t going to take any second jobs or cut out Christmas and birthdays and that kind of thing. We scaled those back considerably, but we didn’t sacrifice them altogether to get done faster. I am convinced this was the best decision emotionally, if not financially. Even so, now that we had our Mini-Emergency Fund and thanks to Joe’s budgeting tools, we were finally able to put a workable budget together that let us send about $1000 per month towards debt on average, while continuing to pay for minor automotive emergencies, a third baby, and a sudden multi-day hospital stay.
On February 18th, 2010, we paid off our last credit card, the end of our original debt. On May 17th, we paid off our recent hospital bills and really felt like we were finally debt-free!! So, in the end, with one thing and another, it really did take us nine years to get out of debt, but thanks to Dave (and Joe), we were able to drop almost $17,000 worth of “good debt” in the form of student loans in that time as well. And when we got to talk to Dave Ramsey on the radio to announce our debt-freedom and tell our story, to share our struggle and celebrate its end, it was powerfully anti-climactic. BUT, when we got to gather our family together to scream “WE’RE DEBT FREE!!!” with the help of some other debt-free extended family members, and especially when we got to hear the call again later (thanks to our good friend, Robbie), to realize that this was the culmination and the end of NINE YEARS of feeling like we were constantly broke and that all of the money we earned already belonged to someone else, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, just below witnessing the birth of my children. Plus the scream itself sounded TOTALLY AWESOME!!!
Shortly thereafter, a guy named Joe Sangl came to speak and teach his Financial Learning Experience at our church, which was very helpful as well. The main difference between what Joe and Dave teach in terms of debt-reduction, as far as I can tell, is that Joe doesn’t stress the “as fast as possible” aspect as much as Dave does. I think “as fast as possible” is probably best for most people, but it’s hard to get extremely “gazelle-intense” when you’ve been cutting expenses and working on debt-reduction with not much traction for several years already. Joe freed us up to set a date to be debt-free and work towards that.
Just the Scream:
The Full Call:
The Full Call:
1 comment:
Listening to this almost made me cry -- especially the scream at the end!!! Congratulations, again, Hipps! Love you all so much ...
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