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“Winning at money is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge. What to do isn’t the problem; doing it is. Most of us know what to do, but we just don’t do it. If I can control the guy in the mirror, I can be skinny and rich.” ― Dave Ramsey
This year marks our 25th year wedding anniversary. We got married when we were 10 years old 🙂
But seriously, Moira and I had a conversation late February about how we were going to spend the next 25 years of our lives and suddenly it dawned on me, time slipped by so fast while we weren’t paying attention, and here we are practically bankrupt yet again.
We sat down, mapped out our dreams and what we wanted to achieve in the coming 25 years and also looked at how our financial mess would hinder all of our plans.
As we considered what we were going to do, we got mad! Really mad!
We dared ourselves that we were going to dig out of our mess and start living positively, one ‘baby step’ at a time; so that we can achieve our hopes and dreams of being financially independent not only for ourselves but for our daughter and her future family.
HERE ARE THE COMMON SENSE STEPS WE’RE DOING TO FINALLY
GROW UP AND GET OUT OF DEBT:
WE STOPPED SPENDING MORE THAN WE MADE
Duhh… Big surprise here right? It actually is harder than it sounds.
We are so used to being surrounded by shiny objects, fancy commercials, cat videos that push all kinds of stuff on us. How can you say no, right?
What really drove us to get mad was when we realized early this year, despite making $156K, we have nothing to show for it!
Seriously??!!
And instead owed at least $124K
How did that happen?
Well, for one thing, we were indifferent with our money. We knew when we got it but didn’t realize where it was going.
There was money coming in, and going out, we had no idea, or at least, weren’t paying attention to where it flowed.
So when we finally STOPPED, CHANGED OUR ATTITUDE about our lifestyle and money; we decided to write down our financial picture, assets, and liabilities.
Once we figured that out, we vowed to stop spending more than what we were making, period!!!
Once we saw where the money was going, it got easier to figure out where to cut back.
TIP: using PersonalCapital really helped us determine and track our overall financial picture.
HAVE A FINANCIAL PLAN
Enter, the dreaded “B” word, The BUDGET.
Part of being responsible is to know where and how our money was behaving; to write every little detail of how and where all our money goes.
We decided to document income, debts, expenses, and others.
First, we started using excel sheets and the EveryDollar budget app to make it easy since it’s loaded onto our phones, so we track exactly how our money was behaving.
The way we planned it, we should be debt free in 70 months, well 64 months now that we’re on our 4th month into it.
By seeing our overall money picture we can control how and when we can be debt free, with a lot of effort of course, and make adjustments along the way as needed.
‘If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail’-Anonymous
STICK TO THE PLAN
“Stick to the budget”. Easier said than done.
It’s gonna be hard, and it really is a struggle; especially when we’re used to getting, I mean borrowing everything we ever wanted.
Well, this is the growing up part.
As Dave Ramsey always says ‘Kids do what they want, adults devise a plan and stick to it’, which really resonated with me, a lot; we’re no longer teenagers, we have a daughter, who will soon be in High School and College, so if we don’t wake up, grow up, and wise up with money, we’ll also end up endangering her future by wrecking ours.
That was the real motivation for us, to be able to see how we can live once we’re debt free, the freedom and security that would bring to Moira, and our whole family for that matter; makes it doubly worth sticking to the plan and seeing it through.
One other thing we keep in mind as we stick to our plan, is that most of the time and this applies to Moira more than me, when we see people in need that we want to help; and realize we can’t, it so hurts inside that we can’t help but feel hopeless and mad at the same time. So we really are heart set to get going and conquering this debt mountain in front of us so we can get on with our lives, live our dreams, and help others in the process.
RAISE INCOME, LESSEN EXPENSES
Personally, I’m making it a passion of mine; for the next couple of months to make sure I do all I can to raise my income so we can tackle this debt faster.
We are making it a six-year goal but I’d much rather prefer to get out of it sooner.
We decided to cut down, albeit gradually, on eating out, shopping, and other wasteful things that will cost money; and instead decided to spend time with one another, sharing experiences instead of stuff, knowing full well that it’s a better use of our time and energy and won’t cost as much.
It also helps that I’ve invested, errr went into debt, in putting myself to school and earning my degrees and certification, that now allows me to have excellent earning potential, so I intend on using that to the full, to make sure that I take advantage of the opportunities and doors that are now open for me to make money, and ultimately pay off our debts and use the income to secure our future.
IN CLOSING
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that if you owe money, you are essentially tied to it until it gets paid off. That’s what we for the most part and majority of the population has failed to see or are still failing to understand.
‘The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender’ Prov 22:7
There is such an upsetting truth to that that really rocked us to the core, making us mad and really motivated to get out of debt all the more.
Is it any wonder that financial institutions have massive buildings, expensive stuff, and all the control they can wield against a hapless community? Again,… “The rich rule over the poor”.
Do you see it?
Do you remember the financial crash of 2008? When banks were deemed ‘too big to fail’?… “The rich rule over the poor”.
Do you remember how the banks were bailed out but a great number of borrowers had to go bankrupt, homeless, and worse committing suicide, all because of the illusion of hopelessness? … “The rich rule over the poor”.
Isn’t it time for us all to wake up? I know my family did. And by the Grace of God, we will soon have a testimony and be able to encourage others who have or are experiencing our situation and be able to say, there’s hope, all we have to do is wake up, get mad, and get going.
Do you have other practical tips you can share to help us get debt free? Please do share by commenting below or emailing us at thedebtfreejourney@gmail.com.
Peace and Blessing to you All.
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