We did it...debt free!!!!

[momz]

except for the house. We are paying off our van loan and a loan we have for a piece of furniture with our tax refund!!!! We have been "living like no one else" for what seems like forever!!!!

It's just starting to sink in that we are ready to move on to the next step. We have a little over 1K in the emergency fund, so obviously we'll be bulking that up. We also need to open IRAs. My husband and I both have 401k plans at work, but with our contribution and the company match we are barely at 10%. Also, we recently started an education savings account for our daughter, and we need to start one for our son. We can sock away up to 2K per kid per year in that account.

What a wonderful feeling to be at a place where our money can work for us!!!! Thanks budget board for turning us on to Dave Ramsey. We really didn't know anything about budgeting or managing money. I can't believe how many highly education people really don't know. They just don't teach you this stuff in school.

 

[wdwfan16]

Congratulations!

 

[Arielssister]

First of all, congratulations! That must be an amazing feeling! I'm new to these boards so forgive me if this is on here already but I was wondering what is on here about Dave Ramsey and what is the general run down of getting rid of debt? I already take my smallest balance of debt and work on that first. I'm working on our car right now. After that we only have student loans but those are a lot. We have no credit cards. If you could help me, that would be great. Again, congrats on your accomplishments! That's wonderful!

 

[momto1]

Aweseom job! Congrats!
Lori

 

[Ka' eo]

First of all, congratulations! That must be an amazing feeling! I'm new to these boards so forgive me if this is on here already but I was wondering what is on here about Dave Ramsey and what is the general run down of getting rid of debt? I already take my smallest balance of debt and work on that first. I'm working on our car right now. After that we only have student loans but those are a lot. We have no credit cards. If you could help me, that would be great. Again, congrats on your accomplishments! That's wonderful!

Congratulations, Momz!!!!!!!! Excellent discipline and planning. You are smart, smart, smart! You won't regret your choices and you'll sleep well at night (I hope!).

Arielssister, I am no expert, and others here will have more advice than I can give you. But what we did was pay our highest interest loans first. We consolidated any high interest cc's or loans. We had between 0%-2.99% for life of loan. We moved our boat loan into that, as well as some credit card debt we carried while I was not working when our kids were young and we still went to Disney, I shopped, etc. Bad move on my part. Then we just poured our money into any outstanding debt. We bought a vacation home 2 years ago after everything was paid off, but in hind sight, that was probably excessive. It has been wonderful, but did we really need it? Nope.

I now work full time during the school year ( I used to only work 3 days a week) so we can work at paying down our vacation home and mortgage in the next 5-7 years. If we put everything we have into these two things we should be able to do it. (We might rent our vacation home for just a few years to help get it paid off). We are still trying to do a savings for the kids, continue 401k monthly and have just decided to start a roth ira with this year's tax refund.

Good luck and feel free to start a thread and give specifics so folks can help specifically for your situation.

Again, great job momz!

 

[DVCBELLE]

Congrats!!

Lots of these posts lately!! I fall into the category of using my tax refund to clear the "bad" debt!!!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Congratulations!!!!! It's a great feeling isn't it?!?!?!

We have cleared all of our CC debt and are working on our mortgage which will be gone in just 2.8 years!!!! Sometimes it seems so far away but it will be here before we know it.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Congratulations! It's a great feeling isn't it?

 

[StefnMike]

Congratulations!

 

[tinker&belle]

Congrats! We are still working BS2, and it is really encouraging to hear people make it! Way to go!

 

[momz]

First of all, congratulations! That must be an amazing feeling! I'm new to these boards so forgive me if this is on here already but I was wondering what is on here about Dave Ramsey and what is the general run down of getting rid of debt? I already take my smallest balance of debt and work on that first. I'm working on our car right now. After that we only have student loans but those are a lot. We have no credit cards. If you could help me, that would be great. Again, congrats on your accomplishments! That's wonderful!

Looks like you have the right idea. Dave Ramsey is not only a plan to pay off debt, but also to build wealth. He offers a step by step plan that starts with the debt snowball idea. Once your debts are clear...the wealth building begins. That's where we are now.

Here's the rundown of our journey. While Dave Ramsey advocates "gazelle" intensity when it comes to paying debt off. We were not quite gazelles, but more focused than most. We started a little over 2 years ago, payed on a car note first, then the credit card, then student loan, and now the van loan, with a few smaller things thrown in here and there...medical bills, etc. We took the lowest balance first, then put the amount budgeted toward that debt and applied it to the next lowest balance. Thus the "snowball".

While we made plenty of sacrifices, we didn't sacrifice everything. We still went to Disney World twice during this time...although we paid cash and stayed on a budget. We made some significant life style changes though...and will probably continue. We cut a lot of expenses including cable, phone service, cell phone service, eating out, grocery budget, clothing budget, entertainment budget. None of these things were completely eliminated, but we cut them to the bone and realized that we had been throwing away a lot of money on things we thought were necessities, but were really just fluff. If you know what I mean. By far, the biggest and most beneficial change was simply paying cash for everything. If we didn't have the cash, we didn't have the "thing".

Good luck on your journey. Keep you eye on the prize.

 

[summersalt]

You are da bomb!! How wonderful!!! I can't wait til I can say the same thing.

We just got our $1000 emergency fund and made are first payment of $500 extra to a credit card. It will take FOREVER to get all the debt we have paid off. But if I keep reading posts like yours, I'll be inspired and motivated. keep 'em coming, guys...

 

[Arielssister]

Thanks, Momz! If our student loans weren't as much as a run down house in a bad location =), I would feel a little better but everyone says the fact that that's our only debt besides our car payment, we are doing okay. You are inspiring. =)