So, Friday marked a big milestone for my husband and I. I want to share the story with you.
In October of 2012, I began working for a caregiving company called Senior Helpers. Why? We had some debt. We had picked up Dave Ramsey's book at the Christian book store called The Total Money Makeover. I read it and shared it with my husband. The way to pay off debt is to increase your found money. I started working and my entire paychecks went to pay off our debt. We snowballed that debt just like the plan said.
In June 2013, we made a big decision. A decision for my husband to resign his job as regional manager with a medical company and go full time at the church. If I were to be completely honest with you, I was discouraged. Taking a large pay cut meant my paychecks would now have to go to paying our monthly bills. And the debt reduction plan was halted. Discouraged was not even the word. By all means, I was thrilled for my husband...this was his dream. And he was and has never been so happy. It was a set back that came with following God.
I fought with my discouragement. For the next few months, it just stunk. I felt that we were following the right path with paying off our debt and making wise financial decisions and still we were stuck.
Life continued for the next year and three months. Still the remaining debt loomed over our heads. It wasn't that we didn't want to work to get rid of it. It just seemed impossible.
During this year, a crazy situation happened with my husband. He was coming home from work on the freeway and witnessed a motorcycle driver knock off another motorist's mirror. He followed the motorcyclist closely until he exited the freeway. Later that evening, policemen came to our home. He said that someone had reported his truck following the motorcyclist and what happened. My husband told them filling out a report. He didn't have anything to hide. It was then he was arrested and put in jail for a felony. Assault with a deadly weapon. (His truck).
At the end of this incident, we were in an additional $7,000.00 in debt due to bail and hiring a lawyer and fines.
Despair is the better word for my frame of mind. We had nearly finished our original debt...and now we were in for $7,000.00 more. And we still owed on our van loan.
Desperate and very discouraged.
Around Sept-October of 2014, my husband was asked if he would like to come back to work part time at Sportsman's Warehouse. We prayed and decided that if we were going to finish our looming debt, we needed to work fervently.
He worked full-time at the church and part time at Sportsman's. I worked for two caregiving companies - Senior Helpers and Home Instead. I also babysat for two children. I had a photo inspection job that was two-three times a month. I cleaned the church.
Let me tell you...commitment and dedication is not easy. It is a long and hard road. Many nights, I left for work before he got home from work. He left for work in the morning before I got home from work. And when we did see each other, we were just tired out. We worked and worked and worked. Sacrifice. That is what meeting goals are about.
I budgeted all found money. I made a schedule for when we received all those extra paychecks. The minute the money was deposited in our account was the minute I was making that next payment on the debt. Want to know the key to staying committed? DON'T WAIT! Press click and make every payment right away! If you wait, you will ALWAYS find another thing to spend that money on.
Little by little, we made progress. We made our first payment on October 27, 2014. We made our last payment on April 10, 2015.
This is the breakdown of our met goals!
Van Loan - $1,972.53 - Paid in 33 days.
Credit Card #1 - $1,598.24 - Paid in 22 days
Credit Card #2 - $5,147.00 - Paid in 3 months and 2 days.
Total Debt Paid - $8,717.77!
During this time since October 27, we also completed the following money goals(while still paying off our debt):
Saved $800 for Christmas 2014.
Saved $1,000 for Christmas Airline Fund for 2015.
Saved $280.00 for Indiana trip this month.
We also...
Set aside - $3,000.00 for savings.
Set aside - $3,580.00 for school bill for 2015-16.
Gave $850.00 for special church project.
The total:
$18,227.17. All in about six months time.
So how can you do this too?
1. Give God your first. No matter what, we always have tithed 10% of our gross income. Always. We also give to Faith Promise for world missions monthly as well.
There are many, many things you can go without or give up. What belongs to God should never be what you give up.
2. Make a plan. Like I said, we use and endorse the plan by Dave Ramsey. I didn't mention it previously but the first time we went through the plan (before the job change), we paid off over $10,000. It. Works. Check it out. You can find all the information online. It will change your life.
3. Then work your tail off! Yes, six months will seem like ten years - I guarantee! You will think it will never happen - that it is impossible. But keep your goals in front of you ALL the time. I'll tell a secret...I recorded every payment I made on a chart. I would get that chart out almost every day along with all upcoming payments and just keep adding it all up. I wanted to keep the victories in front of me to encourage me and to always be working on the next step of the process.
Lastly, when you reach that goal...make a new one. Our next step is our 401k and retirement. There is always more to accomplish. More wise decisions to commit.
That is our journey. Thank you, Dave Ramsey!
Thank you for sharing!!
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