Debt Free on a Dime, Part #1

Jenny/ December 18, 2019/ Thrifty Homeschool Mama Tips & Tricks

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I will be the first to say I am not a perfect money manager by any means, but we have had some successes that I am very thankful for! One of those is becoming debt free at an earlier time in our marriage. Almost 13 years later, we’re still debt free even after building a home, having 4 children and living on one income. I’m here today to give you some encouragement that you can be Debt Free on a Dime!

Our Story…Debt free?

When we got married almost 20 years ago we really had no aspirations for becoming debt free. In fact, I’m not sure if we ever even discussed it. After all, we were living on one income making 20,000 a year. We probably didn’t even think such a thing was possible. Everyone borrowed, what was the big deal?

So, we borrowed for our first home and our vehicle. We never stopped to ask what the interest rate was. I remember thinking that 10% interest wasn’t that bad. Now, I would freak at a number like that! But, back then, not a blink!

Change of heart…

I don’t remember for sure what first peaked my interest in paying off our loans,( I actually think it was a book from my brother by Larry Burkett) but I do know what really shook us up. We bought a very expensive for us truck and realized shortly afterwards that it was costing us way more than we had originally thought and we only had 1 vehicle! We had no extra money for ANYTHING! It was so stressful. We decided to sell the truck if we could and get out from under the debt. After 6 very stressful months we did that and bought a VERY used truck. I mean, no air conditioning, no power anything.

What a shock! But it was paid for! We slowly started to climb out of the hole we had made. After another 6 months we did buy another used truck that was much newer but also affordable for us. Again we borrowed but much more wisely this time!

And then something crazy happened to me. I decided we should pay off all our debts in half the time we had on the loans. Once we started it just seemed like it snowballed. The encouragement we gained from paying off one bill fueled our desire to pay another one off quicker.

Are we still debt free today?

Fast forward a few years and after we had been married for 6 years we became completely debt free! And I mean completely! We were so excited! Then came the next step. We felt like we were supposed to build our house debt free! No way! We didn’t even know ANYONE who had ever done that!
But we did! And now almost 13 years later we are still completely debt free! I give the Lord the credit. He gave us a vision and a desire, but we had to do the hard work. What did we do? Check out next week’s post to find out what steps we took.

To be continued….

Check out my posts on reducing your grocery budget expenses in $5 Meals for My Family of 6 and live fun & thrifty in 5 Thrifty Ways to Enjoy the Holidays!