We knew the day would come, but now that it's finally here, it's hard to put into words exactly what it feels like, but knowing me, I'll find a way. ;)
Twenty-eight months ago, Nate and I set out on a journey to change our lives. Neither of us had much natural ability to handle money nor were either of us taught a whole lot about it. We, of course, thought we kinda-sorta knew what to do, and I, being the daughter of one of the most thrifty women I've ever known, prided myself on stretching a dollar. But we had done a few too many small irresponsible "normal" American things and had gotten ourselves into debt. Based on the dozens and dozens of stories we've heard and read about, the amount of debt we had was actually pretty average...maybe even below average. But it felt pretty huge to us. The total we had in debt in January 2012 was somewhere in the neighborhood of $28,500.
That number was comprised of the remaining total of two vehicle loans and two student loans, but our breaking point was our credit card. See, we had been taught that we "needed" a credit card but to never carry a balance on one. And we did that faithfully for years until one month we spent just a small amount more than we should have, you know, since we weren't really budgeting properly, and that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Nate and I knew we couldn't pay it that month, and it just slowly snowballed. This was bad. I can vividly remember the horrible sick feeling I had, the pit in my stomach, and the sleeplessness I felt at night worrying about it. Nate has relayed to me similar feelings. Finances can be a very emotional, very private issue, because you never want to tell anyone you are struggling. We had an okay income to live on, but we were living paycheck to paycheck. Nate and I have never felt so miserable as we did then – just spiritually and emotionally sick. We prayed desperately for an answer because we were ready to change our habits so that we never had to feel that way again. God heard our prayers, as He always does, and we dove into the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University materials that had been loaned to us as well as his book that we had actually purchased in 2009 (but we weren't ready to put into practice then).
We started attending FPU at our church in January 2012, and we attacked our homework together every week. Nate and I have always loved spending time together and have never really had too much of a communication issue in our marriage, but working on a budget together and planning for the future and attacking OUR debt together was one of the best and most rewarding things we have ever done. We had many budget date nights, which I am sure sounds super lame to anyone reading this who hasn't done it themselves, but they are such happy memories for us. Running the numbers was actually kind of fun! It was exciting to see that each month we'd be closer and closer to another milestone and making our goals and dreams into reality. We graduated from FPU that spring, and by that time, we had already paid off and CUT UP our credit card.
(I know the credit card topic is controversial, but let me just say that now that we budget with a zero-based budget and do a new budget every single month, we could easily manage a credit card in a financially responsible way (if we believed in borrowing money for anything besides a house, which we don't). HOWEVER, we never ever want to feel the way we felt 2.5 years ago ever again. Now that we don't have a credit card, we can rest assured we never will.)
Right around the time we graduated from FPU, we also were able to pay off our truck. The snowball kept rolling. We then paid off our car, my student loan, and finally Nate's student loan. It's easy to run through the list of those quickly now, but the months and months in between each made it feel like it was going to stretch on forever. But as each was paid off, we were able to add more to the next debt. We sacrificed some (we probably could have sacrificed more and paid it off sooner), but we persevered and kept hitting those small victories.
The last debt is always the largest, and we knew it was going to take us many months to pay off the last student loan. But you know Murphy, right? The guy with the law that anything that can go wrong will go wrong? Well, job-loss struck us, and it struck us hard. There is some statistic Dave Ramsey gives that some crazy high percentage of people will face a major negative event once every 10 years. I'm pretty sure this was ours, and it hit a little earlier than we'd have liked. We lost both of our major sources of income all in one day. It was terrible, and I've blogged about it if you'd like to look those up and read about what happened.
After that catastrophe, we just took one month at a time, and by the grace of God, no seriously...there is no natural way we should have been okay for 3 months after the layoff without God's hand in our lives...we managed to keep budgeting and stretching everything so much so that we wound up living off our income from the months of November and December until February and March. Because we follow Dave Ramsey's plan, we only had a baby emergency fund in savings. A tiny little $1,000 to use if we needed it in an emergency. Since losing our jobs, WE HAVEN'T USED IT ONCE. That makes me emotional just to write that. Only a great God could perform a miracle like that. I never thought about it until now, but it reminds me of the loaves and fishes miracle in the Bible. We kept taking from the "basket" (rolling over our excess income from one month to the next), and there continued to be enough excess for the next month. It just kept going and going. Honestly, we didn't earn THAT much in November or December, but God is our Provider and our Sustainer.
During those months, we went through a long "What do you want us to do next, God?" process with a job for Nate that required a lot of waiting and then wasn't a good fit for him. Eventually he found a job that was a great fit for him, and I did as well. But our income was (is) significantly reduced. We went into, and honestly still are, in survival mode. Not paycheck to paycheck like before FPU, but just not really able to hit any goals right now because we are still establishing a new normal. But now we have this huge overwhelming peace financially because if ever we should, or would, feel that horrible sick feeling, if ever we were to get that pit in our stomachs again, it should be now. "Funny" that Dave Ramsey's class is called "Financial Peace" because that's exactly what we have now. In the midst of what some would call a storm, we're totally okay. It's a feeling I'd wish to give to everyone in the world if I could.
So now to answer the question everyone MUST be asking: "if you're just getting back on your feet then, how on earth are you talking about becoming debt free?!?" Well, all I can tell you is that God is faithful. Philippians 1:6 says that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion." I'm no theologian and maybe I have snatched that out of context, but I can think of no better answer to how we have arrived to where we now are. God absolutely does provide, and He saw and knew the desires of our hearts, and through some very special people in our lives, He completed it.
So ours is not the conventional way most people finish paying off their consumer debt, and that's okay! This is our story, and this just happens to be the way it is happening for us. It would be awesome to be able to say we worked our tails off getting 3 and 4 part time jobs and selling so much stuff that the dogs thought they were next, but that wasn't the way God had for us. That's not to say we didn't work hard because we most certainly did. And it's not to say we didn't sacrifice because there is no other reason I would have spent a year apart from my husband while he traveled all over the East and Midwest than with this goal in mind. But when all of our hard work and traction came to a skidding halt, God knew what he had for us. My first reaction to the news that we would be able to pay our last debt off in one lump sum was simply "God is faithful." And never in my life have I believed that so genuinely as I did in that moment and still do. We never would have planned any of this to happen, but God knows what He's doing for sure!
So this week we have paid off our last debt, we celebrated with other FPU grads, and this weekend, Dave Ramsey and his daughter, Rachel Cruze are speaking at our church!!! The next step for us is Baby Step #3, saving up a fully funded emergency fund of 3-6 months in expenses. With our new jobs, we really have no idea how long this will take us, but we'll get there. All that's left to say is what we've been waiting to say for 28 months:
WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
