David and I have been married now for almost five years. In that time we have had 2 children, 3 cars, 5 couches, moved out of 5 homes, painted and cleaned enough apartments to last a life time and now we can say we are debt free.
After moving from Ogden to Centerville in May of 2008 we were able for a short 6 months to be part of a fantastic ward. There were so many great people and they taught us so much. Around September the elders quorum had a lesson on finances. The guy teaching the lesson introduced David to Dave Ramsey and the total money makeover. He bore testimony of how much better his family life and relationship with his wife had become by getting and staying out of debt. David told me all about it and within the week we purchased this book:
Now don't get me wrong I am not trying to tell anyone that they need to do the same thing we have done I just wanted to share our experience.
After getting the book David read it and then tried to get me to follow the financial plan set up in the book. At that time we had about 20,000 of debt (our mini-van , a student loan, a credit card and some medical bills). We decided that we would start budgeting and get the ball rolling.
In November we moved in with Mike and Emily Black (David's brother) and payed down our student loan, medical bills and credit card. Life was going great and after only two months of living with the Black's we found and purchased our home (finding out the same day we were expecting Brinlee). We knew our home needed some work and we budgeted for it and only spent what we had. A few weeks after living here a window salesman talked us right into some new windows for the house. We still had the van and added an additional 5000 to our debt making it once again nearly 20000. We were stupid.
We continued following the program and budgeted our money. David got a second job working for the DATC as a janitor and started working graveyards at Walgreen's. We were going to use the extra $500 dollars a month to put toward our windows that we had to start paying for in October. It was a great plan on paper but then life hit and the whirlwind began. Summer came and went and then our little Brinlee was born. Our first bill came for the windows and the spit hit the fan. We didn't have near enough saved and were paying 26% interest on $5800. We knew we shouldn't have put the windows on credit but did anyway.
In January the stress of having this debt hanging over our heads was really getting to me. I wasn't really a fan of the Dave Ramsey program and had thought that it really wasn't that big of a deal having so much debt. One night after reading my patriarchal blessing I had the impression that we needed to sell our mini-van. The Van I never wanted but fell in love with(I know it sounds ridiculous). That night I put it on KSL and we had it sold within 24 hours.
The following month we paid off the windows with our tax return and have felt light as a feather ever since.
So in the last 18 months we have paid down (including selling the van) $28,000 of debt making around 2,000 more than that a year.
Let me tell you something. Life has been soooooooooo much better. We always have money and we are now saving like crazy. We don't have to have that weight of living pay check to pay check on our backs. We still budget everything to the penny and have started the profit sharing program with Walgreen's.
I am so Thankful we were part of the Centerville ward for those short six months. I am so grateful I have a husband who looks out for what is best for our family. I am so thankful that I was able to realize that it was important for our family to become debt free. We have been so blessed and hopefully now we can bless the lives of other by sharing what we have been able to accomplish.
David recently was promoted into the management program and starting out with a salary being debt free is the best feeling I have ever had.
If you are interested in becoming debt free check out Dave Ramsey online or purchase his book the Total Money Makeover.
