Get out of debt journey. On our way to a debt free life. The projected date-are we debt free?
Paying off debt is hard! We’ve been on this get out of debt journey since Sept 2018.
What get out of debt journey?
In 2018 I read a book that completely changed the way I thought about money.
We had a mental budget but to many things snuck in disguised as needs. To many things added up at the register when it was just a few dollars here or there.
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After reading The Total Money Makeover, we’ve been working away at one common goal.
To get the heck out of debt
Spring 2020 was supposed to be a big deal for us. This was the date we had projected being completely debt free. (besides the house) Over these last couple of years we cut cable (and watch free tv) Paid off our over priced cell phones, paid off our van and are clear of credit card debt.
So did we do it? Are we debt free?
NOOO! I know, huge let down right. We decided to deviate from the Dave Ramsey plan and to come up with our own. Its not recommended but its what we felt best in our situation.
My husbands vehicle is a 2005 and making a few noises that don’t sound promising. Wanting to prepare ourselves for the inevitable, we started putting that extra money away for a down payment on his next vehicle.
We’ve been able to set aside a little bit AND get something we found more of a necessity rather than a want.
Hold on, you bought something?
A riding lawn mower.
What are you doing! -Stop yelling at me, we have a plan.
Buying this house three years ago we had no idea how much of a toll it would take on us to keep up with this yard. Summer is only a few months, so whats the big deal about having a push mower?
After three years of pushing that dang thing, 9 months out of 12, in 100 plus degree weather, I had had enough! I couldn’t anymore. The hours we spend doing yard work is insane. When he was deployed it was a never ended nightmare. Mowing every 4 days… weed eating… oh ya entertaining the kids and doing everything else on the list.
We felt our time would be better served elsewhere and not on push mowing. But guess what….
We didn’t finance it. Its not on a credit card… We own this riding mower
That’s a big purchase and a big deal. One we’re proud we did and it was only made possible because we’ve stuck to our budget.
So no, we are not out of debt, yet. But to show for it we have a brand new riding mower and a great start to a down payment to a newer vehicle. That way when the day comes that his car has finally had enough, we wont be frantic.
I still have my school loan but going through this journey has been one of the greatest experiences we could have done together.
New projected get out of debt-date
I don’t have one. We still have my student loan debt, saving up for a reliable vehicle, glasses, dentist….life.
Things will continue to be added and subtracted to this list but even if it still takes a while to become completely debt free, (besides the house) I’m ok with that.
We’ve come a long way and still have a ways to go, but I’m glad we took this journey. Just like with anything worth doing, its not easy at first. But once you see progress you won’t believe it took you so long to start.
So check out The Total Money Makeover- and maybe get inspired to live a little differently now, for a really great future ahead.
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Wow, thats inspiring! I'm going to share it!
