It was 1996, three years before I heard of Dave Ramsey.  We had 2 cars, one was paid for, and I decided I needed a truck.  Lori had just delivered our second child, fifteen months after the first.  We had my law school loans and foolish credit card debt, and we were sitting on 3 vehicles.  We had been trying to sell one of the cars, and were going to wait until we did before we purchased the truck.  But it was a good deal, so we went ahead and bought it anyway.  It was a couple months before we found a buyer for the car, but we finally sold it.

Then in 1997, we saddled ourselves with a mortgage. And I still hadn’t heard of Dave Ramsey, yet it was as if he had whispered his oft-given advice in our ears, “Sell the car.” To the chagrin of family and the disbelief of friends, we decided we didn’t need two vehicles.  We sold the truck.  Lori stayed at home with the babies and I drove to work, 60 miles away.  Her grandparents were only a few blocks away and we had both sets of parents within a few miles.  If there was an emergency they couldn’t help with, she could call 9-1-1.  Lori would put the kids in a little red wagon and haul them to the library or her grandparents.  She thought it was fun.  Her girlfriends, and everyone else in town that saw her, thought she was crazy.

You know, you’ve got to decide to live like no one else, so that one day you can live and give like no one else.  Ten years had passed, and Lori and I were reviewing our spending for 2007 when we realized we GAVE more that year than we MADE in 1997.  If you would have asked us then if that were possible, we might have said no way.  But with God, all things are possible.  This path to becoming debt free is part of a walk of faith.  With less debt comes fewer worries and more time to focus on more important things.  This journey is awesome.  Let’s finish strong.

photo credit, brettneilson

Some years ago when we lived in Alabama, we heard about a guy named Dave Ramsey.  He was doing a radio show and telling people to get out of debt.   He was telling folks to live without a credit card and going so far as to say people should live on LESS than what they make, and actually save money.  I thought it sounded like the impossible, but my husband was soaking in everything Dave Ramsey said.  We had young children and what I considered a little debt.  Part of it was student loans from law school for my husband.  I read Dave’s book, but didn’t put any of it into practice, and Matt didn’t force the issue.

Fast forward a couple years and we moved to San Antonio.  Matt was blessed with a great job, and he took over the checkbook and got serious about getting debt free.  Before I knew it, the student loan (a very large one from law school, remember?) was gone in less than a year.   A couple of credit cards were the next target.  We hadn’t used them in a good while, but had simply done balance transfers from old cards to new ones in order to keep the interest rate at 0%.  Matt’s diligence wiped them out.  Next thing I knew, he was putting all the available money in the budget toward paying off the cars. When I made the phone call to have the bank’s name removed as loss payee from the auto insurance,  the carrier could hardly believe it.  I guess they don’t get those calls too frequently.

The last debt remaining is the mortgage.  I utilize the cash envelope system that Dave recommends.  Some folks that know I use this method think it is complicated and too restrictive.  On the contrary, I feel like the monthly budget I maintain gives me freedom.  I tell my money where to go.  I am not wringing my hands at the end of the month wondering where it all went.  I know that when I walk out of a store, the purchase is mine and I am not going to see a bill for it later.  If I have money in my “dining” envelope, I can have a meal out and not feel guilty about it.  Our money belongs to us, not creditors.  What could be less restrictive than that?  That’s financial peace.  That’s financial freedom.

Photo credit, irargerich