This time of year I’m especially…incredibly grateful that we are one of the weird ones. Properly, I’m constantly weird but weird which means debt free. 🙂
If you’ve study along with me for awhile you know our story – we were \$125,000 in debt. It was a mixture of every thing – I took out a ton of credit to get by way of college and had a quite decent student loan bill at the finish of the 4 years (even though I had grants for nearly half of my education!). We financed absolutely almost everything as adults too – TVs, automobiles, trips, furnishings, a hot tub…all of it. We did what “everyone” does.
What’s funny is it never crossed our minds to save for these products. We wanted it…so we got it. We now know the meaning of delayed gratification. Often it sucks. But 3 months later, six months later, two years later when we nonetheless would have been paying it off, then it does not suck. )
It is been practically four years given that we got rid of that enormous monkey on our back (all but the house and we are chipping away at that) and it is now just our nature to use money. To save. To be patient. To be deliberate with our money. That is large.
It is tough to clarify the freedom that comes with not having debt – it just becomes typical so it’s tough to place into words all this time later. We now live like no 1 else and some believe that term implies living extravagantly. That’s not the case. Living like no one else means you get to do factors you weren’t capable to do before, yes. But more than that it’s living with a peace that we didn’t have before.  
Deep in my soul I am thrifty. Most each and every time I will do one thing myself ahead of I have any individual else do it if I’m capable. I will usually wait for a sale, use coupons, and try to uncover the least expensive way to do issues (well). My car is now nine years old and I still really like it. My husband’s auto was 11 years old and this year we have been able to purchase him a new-to-us automobile. I’m not a massive bucket list particular person but that was a single of these factors that I’ve dreamed of carrying out my entire life – we paid for that auto with a verify. Wonderful!!! I tell you what, it makes me tear up to even create that. Who gets to do that??
And of course we give way more than we did just before. I can’t really put that into words either – providing far more is very easily the best element about getting debt free.
It took us years, a lot of sacrifice and a ton of operate to get through all of our debt. We used the teachings of Dave Ramsey and they truly changed our lives.
I got to meet him two weeks ahead of we paid off the final bill:
He was the nicest guy and genuinely excited for every single one of us that stood there with him.
For us it started when I caught his radio show on a organization trip. I feel he in fact annoyed me a tiny bit at first. ) I was all…I have it under manage! We don’t have that significantly debt! We could cease any time we want! And then the more I listened the more I woke up and then dreamed of us carrying out the very same. I told my husband about it and he bought his book – we were hooked.
We worked via the debt for years and it was when we took his Financial Peace class that we really got challenging core about it. A handful of months later we had been debt free. The book is fantastic, the CDs are great…but those classes changed our lives.
That’s why I chose to give a few of them away each and every year. I missed last year so I’m producing up for this Christmas. )
I’m providing away 5 Financial Peace classes/packets and the beautiful people at Dave Ramsey are throwing in 5 as well. I’m thrilled to have developed a relationship with his group over the years and am so grateful that they continue to do this for my readers.
Things you need to know – this involves a packet of info (like the book) and you can comply with along on your personal at house. But I strongly advocate generating the commitment to the classes. They meet after a week for nine weeks. Our church provided free childcare in the course of the class so that was a huge assist.
You will meet other individuals in your predicament and will get a lot off your chest – it helps to just be able to talk about it with people. You do not have to share any specifics at all – but the group setting helps immensely.
Go here to see if you have a class starting in January near you. Or any time – it does not have to be January. If you want to take the class or get a packet, really feel cost-free to comment to enter. I will sign up the ten (randomly chosen) winners or have the packet delivered to you.
If you’d like to win 1 of the ten packets/classes please leave an email address in your comment or you are welcome to email me (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com) to enter with the subject line Monetary Peace. I’ll leave this open by way of the finish of the week (Friday the 26th).
This is a feeling I want for absolutely everyone that feels fully overwhelmed by their debt and finances. It is worth it.
 
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