Since I have shared how we paid off $45,000 in 17 months, I wanted to share others stories of how they paid off debt. If you are thinking about or in the process of paying off debt, I hope these stories help inspire you to keep going.
I know when we were paying off debt, I would read other’s stories everyday to keep me motivated. I also joined a several Dave Ramsey Facebook groups. It helps to surround yourself with others that are going through the same thing as you.
If you haven’t found out already, not everyone in your real life is supportive. It is nice to be able to find weird people like you online to help you through the journey. Here are their tips to payoff consumer debt.
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The first story is about how Stephanie and her husband paid off $70,000 in 12 months!
1. Quick intro, age, family demographics, career, income if comfortable sharing, anything unique about yourself.
I’m Stephanie. I’m 28 years old. My husband Nick (34) and I have been married for 3 years. We have not yet been blessed with tiny humans but we do have a dog, Jak. We live in Eastern Iowa in a town of 26,000ish people. We have a generally low cost of living being in the midwest. I work in a bank trust department in Operations and Account Management.
Nick is a Supervisor and Journeyman Scaffold builder for a construction/maintenance company. Nick makes about $60,000 a year and I made about $30,000 at my full time job. Through the Baby Step 2 and 3 process I also had another home business that I used to help speed up the process.
2. How much debt did you have when you started your debt-free journey?
We eliminated about $70,000 worth of debt in a 12 month period. That debt consisted of a little bit of everything. Student loans, truck loan, home equity loan, motorcycle loan, credit cards… you name it we probably had it.
3. How long did it take you to pay off?
It took us 352 days (not that we were counting :P) to pay off all our debt. We worked really really hard to get to that point so quickly.
4. Did you do anything extreme to pay off debt?
I had an additional home based business that I used to really push through debt faster. I was working an average of 70 hours a week between three jobs for pretty much the whole year.
5. What kind of comments did you get from others while paying off debt?
My mother in law told us that we were unrealistic to think we could ever be debt free. This was SUPER frustrating because she seemed to be more proud of her other son’s $40,000 brand new truck then of my husband and I’s hard work in the opposite direction, BUT that really motivated us to push even harder.
My family, especially my mom and my grandma were very supportive. I would send my mom updates frequently and she always had words of encouragement. Even though we are debt free now we still get people telling us it’s unrealistic. Just last night my brother in law said the only reason we were able to do it was because we have two invoices (remember he owns a $40,000 truck 😉 ) I just ignore people most of the time.
6. Do you still have a mortgage?
We do still have a mortgage. We are doing things just a little bit differently then Dave suggests in this department because we have a unique situation. We have the opportunity to buy our dream house in a year or two (the lady is older and knows she needs to move but isn’t ready just yet) so we are taking this opportunity to stock pile a ton of cash so we can have 20% down for the house without worrying about selling ours first.
Then when we do sell out house the money we get from the sale will go towards buying the equipment we will need to keep up with he 14 acres of land. It’s also worth mentioning that we only have about $50,000 left on the loan and it is in a 15 year mortgage already with slightly larger payments then necessary ( I enjoy rounding up to an even $100 ) so we will have it paid off sooner then scheduled anyway.
7. Do you follow Dave Ramsey and if so, why and how long?
We do! I think his way make sense. They felt like a road map or step my step directions. Even though I knew debt was bad I wasn’t confident enough in WHY it was bad to stand up for my gut feelings until I read his book. What he says just makes sense! I read his book a long time ago but it wasn’t until May of 2016 that I picked it up again and never put it down.
8. Have you ever bought a brand new car? If so, would you again?
Nope! I never will! My brother in law was just telling us how his $40,000 brand new truck lost so much value when he drove it off the lot and now he’s upside down on his loan. I will learn from his mistakes and not ever go that route.
9. What can you do now that you couldn’t when you had debt?
Breathe easy! We aren’t totally to the point where we get go all willy nilly and do what we want. Since we are still saving for our dream house we need to be pretty strict and stay on task but just the idea of breathing easier and not having to stress it’s amazing! We only have four bills every month and just that alone is amazing!
10. What are your current financial goals?
Our current goals are to stay disciplined and save for the house. We are also investing into our retirement and in that sense our goals are growth growth growth!
11. What piece of advice would you give someone who is currently in debt and/or working to pay it off?
Work HARD! You can do it but getting a second (or third) job will help so much! That temporary sacrifice will be worth it in the end! And don’t give up, you’re going to want to but don’t do it. Don’t compare yourself to others because you will get discouraged. Just remember that their nice new car or pretty purse is counter productive to what your plan is. I also ask my friends, does my crappy little ford escape make you want to hang out with me less?? No?? Okay then no need for me to get a new car or new friends 😛
Related posts:
How We Paid Off $45,000 in 17 Months
100 little ways to save money every day!
This was hands down the BEST decision we ever made. It was hard and we of course had fights and weren’t sure if it would be worth it but honestly best decision ever. It will be yours as well if you just make the choice. You have to WANT it, it takes sacrifice. You aren’t going to be able to have the life you had before, but if you bust ass and make it happen you will have a life that’s even better!
Are you working on becoming debt free? Let me know how much you have paid off! What other tips do you have to payoff consumer debt?
To learn how we paid off $45,000 in 17 months, click here!
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Love this Q&A!! It makes me want to get serious and do the DR steps.
Hats really impressive but well worth it in the end to be debt free
Love this post! Very inspiring, and really liked the question and answer format. I have it bookmarked!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I LOVE these kinds of stories! They are motivating me to stay the course on my debt freedom journey!
That is an incredible amount of debt cleared in such a short time. It is amazing what can be done when you put the work in. This has really inspired me! 🙂
Awww … I love reading these success stories – so happy they shared! Motivates me to buckle down and get serious with my money goals again. I have Dave Ramsey’s book (bought it years ago) but never did read it … I’m going to find it as soon as I post this. Thank you!
great post! I have some debt I want to pay off, but seems to keep just lingering around FOREVER! So definitely going to try this method
This is really inspirational! I’m motivated to get to work on my side hustle to pay down some of our debts.
Wow! What an inspiring post. Thank you for sharing!
This is amazing… I really need to buckle down and get serious about my finances and this q&a really inspires me to do just that 🙂
Wow… that is incredibly motivating. Thank you for sharing all of this information. I think we need to take a better look at our finances!
70 hours a week you were putting in work! Thanks for sharing
Wow that’s really great! I’m so impressed!
Very inspirational. I am on the same path and hoping to be able to share my story of being debt free down the road. Thank you for the encouragement!
woah, this is awesome . Reading this post really inspired me to work even more harder
This is so inspiring! I am working on paying off debt and I absolutely love hearing about the successes of others!
Wow this is inspirational and congratulations!!! 70 hours a week!!! Just wow!
This is truly inspiring. I know one I will be just like them. Thanks for sharing!
Glad this couple was able to meet their goals despite the negativity from certain relatives.
Wow! Good for them. It took a lot of hard work to be able to get to be debt free.
Such and inspirational story. I’m just starting my debt free journey.
Very inspiring! I love debt free stories!
SO inspiring!
working three jobs and 70 hours! thats dedication!!
After I was introduced to Dave Ramsey, my wife and I were able to pay off our combined 6 figure debt in 15 months. I love stories like this!
Congrats and thanks for sharing your inspiring story! I don’t have any debt but I also have yet to buy a home, so I’m kind of obsessed with financial hacks and ways to better prepare for my future.
That is amazing accomplishment. I’m reading Rich B!tch right now and am trying to come develop a money plan that works for me to get out of debt. Its’ inspiring to see other people making it happen.
I think it’s fabulous!! I bought two foreclosures in a year. Took mortgage out for 3 years,its paid but we gave up a lot. The other house mortgage was 315,00.00 but plan on selling when my husband retires. So we are enjoying our dream house. I also own a house, was there 20 yrs. I rent that out for 1200.00. I plan on going back to work to pay off my mortgage of 75,000. If I take my full time job and rent, I I’ll have it paid within 4 yrs. I’m also going to waitress to pay off student loans and credit cards from Christmas. Usually I pay cash for Christmas but unfortunately had surgery. I was so proud of myself when I found my dream house, when everything in my area was going for 450 & up. But what I learned was my friends were jealous!!! I was always the one who made pennies compared to them. It’s how you spend. I’m pretty frugal , I’m always dressed, I buy resale clothing wear designer clothes, save cans and recycle. Your going to laugh but I picked up a muffler and recycled it. Free money! I also sold a prom dress that I paid 10.00 for 500.00.my daughter bought her dream dress for 1,000.00 yes we splurged on that but it was her senior year! She made honors and works. I felt she deserved it.
I cut my food bill and necessities in half. I coupon! The dollar store takes coupons for toothpaste, mouthwash, revlon nail polish and nail wraps, I did stocking stuffers for tax, nice huh? I have two big garage sales a year. I put half a roof on, made 700.00 for 2 days. Then donate what’s left.
Every Christmas I go out shopping for black Friday , this year my family wanted big things, after having surgery and losing my job, I was determined to have Christmas and we did. I am usually the third person in line, sometimes first! I bought the instant pots(3) for 45.00 at Kohl’s they did a price match. Bought the Apple watch for 315.00, I buy everything that I want and have coupons and rewards. It’s great when the store pays you to take it!! I spent 700.00, with coupons price matching and got back 245.00 in Kohl’s cash! That was nice. Kohl’s usually gives 30 percent off coupon, this year was 15, and a 10.00 coupons &rewards. Kohl’s think there slick!
Many people laugh at me because some things I do are frugal.
I had a friend come to my new house and say it stinks, I said I don’t smell anything. I thought since I have bad allergies, maybe it does. It didn’t.she kept saying oh. Oh. I don’t know about you, I can’t tell you how many open houses, I’ve been too, and deeply happy for the person. I was at hers, go figure! I was so disgusted with my friends, I did not have a house warming, because I wasn’t inviting them. Others were like oh a foreclosure. Really? My house is 3200 sq feet 3 car garage on water, no houses behind me. So now I just don’t tell my supposed friends anything about finances. I guess I thought I would help my friends with money saving techniques that worked for me.
You guys are smart and doing great, I’ve learned to turn that negative attitude in people to my advantage, which is working for me. After the hurt. My husband wants to travel when he retires at 60. Early retirement. I own the summer place outright and can live there. It’s a ranch 1000sft. On water and amenities. We can sell the big house because taxes will be to expensive on a pension. I think it would be nice to buy in Florida. Will see not so sure I can leave the kids………
Wish you the best
Colleen