Debt. We have it, but we don’t want it! If you know anything about Dave Ramsey, you know he is all about being “gazelle intense,” but in our marriage, the path to financial freedom has been anything but straight. Through the years, we’ve ebbed and flowed with intensity, sometimes at full force and sometimes at just a trickle. New jobs, new homes and new babies have been worthwhile detours, adding to the bottom line just as we’d paid it down. But such is life, right? We take responsibility for our choices and keep trying our best.
Right now, we’re working on four debt categories: student loans, a car loan, a personal loan from the sale of our first home/rental property (we took a loss) and a credit card. We decided to officially get gazelle intense last month and are doing a mishmash of a snowball and an avalanche. Our plan is to pay a few smaller student loans (for momentum and to feel like we’re making some forward movement!) before attacking the bigger car loan. To help keep me motivated, I’ll be sharing five things every month that we’re using, loving or trying to get us closer to the goal of being debt-free. I hope you’ll join in the conversation too!
1 // DEBT CHARTS TO COLOR IN
The first step to getting pumped up for debt reduction? Charts! I’m a visual person and like to see our progress as we go. I printed a bunch from Debt Free Charts – they’re free! – and have had way too much fun coloring in the first few lines.
2 // MOTIVATIONAL FINANCIAL PODCASTS
During my runs, I’ve been listening to financial podcasts like Dave Ramsey and The His and Her Money Show. My favorite episodes are the personal testimonies (proof that this can be done!) and the ones about side hustles (gets my entrepreneurial brain all fired up!).
3 // UNSUBSCRIBING FROM ALL.THE.EMAILS
Another task I accomplished this month was to unsubscribe from a ton of store email lists. For a solid week, when a marketing email would arrive in my inbox, I would immediately click the link at the bottom to unsubscribe. It really only took seconds at a time and my inbox is much less cluttered. Out of sight, out of mind…I hope!
4 // WALMART SAVINGS CATCHER
We use Walmart Grocery for most of our grocery shopping and I recently realized that I could still enter our “receipts” from the app on to Walmart’s Saving Catcher. It takes seconds to copy and paste the receipt number and we’ve already gotten almost $10 back!
5 // THE ETHNIC FOOD AISLE IN THE GROCERY STORE
Another small win in the grocery department: We eat a lot of rice around here and usually buy 32oz bags for around $2.50. On a quick trip for essentials, Mark stumbled on a huge 10lb. container of rice in the ethnic section for $10! The spices seem to be a little cheaper in that aisle too.
We have had the same kind of cycle….we JUST got our truck loan paid off when we found out baby #7 was on the way….ahhh life! Trusting in God is the only way to live! The large chunk of money needed for curriculum is growing each year too.
Same here! We had JUST paid off both of our cars when I found out I was pregnant with #6 and had to replace the minivan with something bigger. And so true about the curriculum too! Be sure to share your tips and tricks if you have them – we're in this together. xo
i love the way you are sharing this journey – sharing what you've learned is so helpful to others and seems like a positive way to pass on the message. we reached "all but the house" a few years ago and it is such a blessing and we've vowed to never go back. sending you encouragement – you can do it!
and also – thank you for the savings catcher tip. we do walmart pickup quite often, but i didn't know i could enter those digital receipts into savings catcher!
Thank you SO much for the encouragement. We can't wait to be in the "just the house" club with you…hopefully someday soon!!