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We all have debt. Student loans. Credit card. A mortgage. Car notes. iPhone loans. A monthly payment plan for item X, Y and Z. Financing an engagement ring. Financing a wedding.
Having debt is ‘normal’. Living debt free is not….so why, you ask? Why the change, all of a sudden? I’ll tell you why. Motherhood.
Motherhood has rocked me to the core of my being and in the most profound and joyous way possible.
It has me questioning and reexamining every life choice I have ever made and making new decisions to put our family on the path to success. I want to give my daughter experiences that shape her into a strong woman. I want her to use her imagination through creative play. I want her to have a home where she feels safe, welcome and loved. I want her to succeed when she works hard. I want her to fail, and learn how to accept failure with grace.
This became my why, and I think it’s important for everyone to establish that reason why before undergoing this process.
Why do you want to get out of debt? How will you start your debt free journey? What is your why? Go ahead and begin that process of self-reflection.
Reexamining my life after she was born is an exhausting and ongoing process. I was overwhelmed trying to figure out how to pay child care, and frustrated to tears. Everytime a new bill came in, whether it was medical or car insurance, it was a scramble to figure out how to pay for it. We did it, but it was stressful. We could make it every month, but only barely, with pennies left over, living paycheck to paycheck.
What was most frustrating was that we don’t even live an extravagant lifestyle. Working on two teacher salaries, and with student loan payments to make every month we know we can’t afford to go on vacation or go out to eat every week. I know I can’t buy any sort of designer handbags or go shopping. We clipped coupons, we shopped sales, and we lived frugally. Where was our money going?
Something had to change with the way we were living. With money being tight already and then add this new child care expense which is double our mortgage payment every month [did you just choke? I just choked a little…] we had to get it together, and we were on a timeline before our baby girl arrived.
The first thing we did was pay off our car notes. We made double payments on our Chevy, and then once that car was paid off, we used the amount allocated for the Chevy to pay off our Honda. We made double payments on the Honda, and then managed to pay it off in January. What I didn’t know at the time, was that this method was called the debt snowball, but what I DID know was that I knew how exhilarating it felt to pay off a debt, and have an extra $500 a month to save for baby girl. I felt empowered.
It was around this time that I found the book The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. We were staying at my Aunt and Uncle’s cabin, and they had it lying around. I picked it up, and read it cover to cover, and thought to myself: this could work. If you’re looking for an easy read with summer approaching, I highly recommend this book. I could not put it down and it has changed our lives.
The next thing I did was at 6 months pregnant, I found a second job. I started teaching with VIPKid, which is a company where you teach English to Chinese Children via webcam. More on that process here.
The push I needed from freeing up the income from our car notes, and making extra income through my second job had me searching online about ways to get rid of debt. I knew in my heart that knocking out our student loan debts was what is best for us, and this was a turning point for our family.
How to start YOUR debt free journey:
- Become fed up. Done. Frustrated to tears. Hate your debt. I hate my student loans more than anything else in the world and that pushes me to sacrifice deeply for our family.
- Determine your why. Why do you want to get out of debt? A better life for your family? To buy a house? To stay at home with your kids?
- Determine your plan. How are you going to accomplish this goal? Will you pick up an extra job? Will you cut back on other financial commitments? Having a plan of action is critical to your success.
We began this process about 6 months ago, and have been met with nothing but positivity.
We are on our way to financial freedom.
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