We're Debt Free!

Just like that it's already February! And like usual, February is already flying! January was a jam packed month for us. We spent 10 days in AZ, I turned 30, we attended Nick and Shelby's wedding, and work was pretty busy for both of us. I also took on a fairly big project for a small business that involved making about 500 headbands -- it consumed my evenings and weekends for the last 2 weeks of the month. This weekend, things finally slowed down and we have been laying low and relaxing. Tonight, we are having our own little super bowl party complete with chicken tortilla soup, guacamole, and smoked chicken wings. We even gave the kids a bath already...at 3PM!

Without getting too specific on the numbers, I'd like to share something that I'm very proud of.  George and I hit a big financial milestone this week. We paid off the student loan from my MBA and became debt free. Or for all of you Dave Ramsey fans out there....we're debt freeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! I should clarify that we are debt free except our home mortgage. No credit card debt (we don't even own a single credit card), no car loans, no student loans, nothing, nada! 

About 2 years ago, George and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (FPU) at our church. My parents have been following Dave Ramsey for over 15 years and have always made sure to teach us the importance of wise financial decisions. And for the most part, George and I have made pretty decent financial decisions. We've never gotten ourselves into credit card debt and we live within our means. However, in FPU, we developed a deep, deep desire to have complete financial freedom. It sounds cheesy, but we started dreaming about having no payments, a completely paid off home, the ability to be completely pay for children's college, retirement in our mid 50s, the flexibility in our budget to go on nice vacations, and the ability to act on our desire to be outrageously generous. So, 2 years ago, we started our journey to financial freedom. 

Starting out, we had two debts: 1) my student loan and 2) our mortgage. Our first step, which took about 8 months, was to pay down our mortgage enough so that we could get the Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) removed. We were basically flushing almost $200 per month down the toilet on PMI. We put a nice dent in our mortgage debt and in December 2015, the PMI was removed. For the next few months, we hit the pause button and instead of paying off debt, we started saving for the cost of Luke's birth and some unpaid time off that I was planning to take after my paid maternity leave. In March, we re-focused and hit the gas to get my student loan paid off. We hit some bumps along the way and actually missed our goal by a month, but last week, we finally did it! It felt SO good to see a $0 balance. 

The next step is paying off our house. It is obviously our biggest and most daunting step. We are estimating that it will take us 3-3.5 years, We have identified some milestones along the way that will help us sustain our excitement and intensity. Sustaining that "gazelle intensity" that Dave Ramsey talks about is the hardest part. As cliche as it is, we try to keep our eye on the prize. We spend tons of timing talking about how awesome complete financial freedom will be. We also have starting saving for and planning our celebratory trip. As soon as we pay off our house, we going to Disney World (w/ a stop in Nashville along the way to do our real debt free scream)!! 

In a later post, I will talk about some of the changes that we've made in both our budget and in our mindset, that have helped us so far. 

I'll leave out you with two pictures....

Here's my mom and dad doing their envelopes. My Grandma Warren captioned the picture on the back: "The Budgeteers: Stephen and Audrey Warren". They have been big cheerleaders for us and it is fun to share our successes with them. On Wednesday night, we called them to do a debt free scream :) 

See you in 2020, Dave!