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2011, It's a Wrap!

January 12th, 2012 at 08:27 pm

So 2011 was the beginning of my total money makeover following the Dave Ramsey plan. I am glad to report it has been an amazing process and has literally changed our circumstances and our future! Here is a snapshot of our successful year:

January 2011 total debt = $103,565
This eye popping number consisted of a student loan, braces, 2 credit cards and 3 cars.

As of January 2012, our new debt balance = $43,794...while we are cash flowing about $12k in college tuition for DD.

It has been a very interesting year....I hate to say hard bc it is just so stupid we put ourselves in that situation to begin with. We did deserve the discomfort bc we clearly enjoyed too much stupid spending! Honestly, it was hard and involved a lot of creativity, mathematical hoop-jumping, budget-crunching, dollar-stretching, discount-asking and unhappy kids are just a few descriptions that come to mind. We did have a few things here & there that we splurged on but for the most part we were gazelle intense on getting this debt gone!

Of course our plan is to have everything paid off this year and live debt free forever! We are also selling our house now bc we plan to relocate soon....this should also give us some cash to put towards the debt. If we do sell, we plan to rent for a bit and save up enough to pay doe our next house or save enough to pay half....I'm not super worried about that right now but it would be nice to achieve that as well.

This site has also been a great tool for inspiration throughout this last year. While misery does love company (haha), the shared wisdom and success stories have been very motivating as well. ...so thank you all for the helpful information!

Now I'm off to do some more budget crunching....wish me luck ;-)

Posted in Debt, Personal Finance | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “2011, It's a Wrap!”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    January 12th, 2012 at 08:34 pm 1326400442
    1326400442

    Wow!! Congratulations. You did awesome. I would have loved to read more about your journey. Keep posting!!

  2. Mary Ann Says:
    January 12th, 2012 at 09:05 pm 1326402335
    1326402335

    Congratulation....sounds like you have done a super great job!

  3. wowitsawonderfullife Says:
    January 12th, 2012 at 11:46 pm 1326411977
    1326411977

    Amazing work! Share some of the things that worked for you.

  4. Big saver! Says:
    January 13th, 2012 at 04:06 am 1326427619
    1326427619

    Thanks! I basically did everything Dave Ramsey tells you to do in his Total Money Makeover book. The first thing to do is get the $1,000 emergency fund in place. Then we got on a written budget & spent our money on paper every pay period before we got paid. We listed all of our debts in smallest to biggest order and used the "snowball" method to pay it off the smaller stuff first & build up to the larger debts. We also cut up credit cards and only used cash which REALLY saves money bc you find yourself watching our cash much closer than your debit card. We used the money envelop system and when the money was gone, we stopped spending.....this helps you to plan & spend smarter bc we had to make the cash last until our next pay period. We had an envelope for food, gas, church, school lunch money and miscellaneous for the unexpected smaller expenses that always pop up. We also used this Misc money for the rare eating out dinner or to order a pizza if we were doing good on expenses and near the end of a pay period. We are so much better at managing our money now & I can't imagine EVER going back to my crazy, chaotic ways. The peacefulness and calmness we now have with our finances is very reassuring and I kick myself for not making this change sooner!

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