This week, we paid off our last credit card. It felt amazing to finally be free from that burden that a ridiculously high interest rate puts on you! It has been a long journey into getting this part of our debt-freedom journey behind us, but now we can move on to the big beastie: student loan debt and the mortgage.
If you are wondering about our journey so far, you can check it out here.
With some serious budgeting, menu planning and support from the hubs, we made sure to take any leftover income each month and push it right into the credit cards. We used a Dave Ramsey(ish) method of the debt snowball, paying on the smallest one until it was gone, then rolling that payment into the next highest debt and so-on.
We did not completely eliminate all of the good things in life but we did make a huge sacrifice and lifestyle change by buying a smaller starter home which has allowed us (along with reducing our grocery, entertainment and “walking around money” budget) to save about $3000 to put towards debt each month.
There were some setbacks along the way: we had some expenses related to the sale of our home that put us further into debt than originally anticipated, I had to have some major dental work that used an entire month’s savings, and of course with a new home comes a new list of items you need that you weren’t expecting.
But now, 6 months after the move, we have finally done it! This is a great accomplishment, but we are not congratulating ourselves too much yet. We put ourselves into this debt mess and we will have to continue to work hard to get ourselves out of it.
The student loans are currently about $150,000 and the mortgage is about $120,000. We have 7 student loans in the group in total, so we will apply the same technique to them, paying from smallest to largest until they are all eradicated.
I am excited to continue this journey and work towards being 100% debt-free. I’m really happy today to be free from credit cards but I have an eye on the future when the entire burden has been completely lifted!
WOW congrats to yall…inspiring me and I need to do the same! Proud of yall!
Thanks, Sarah! I appreciate the support! 🙂