By the grace of God...

WE'RE DEBT FREEEEEEE!

I can't believe it! After seven months of scrimping and saving and envelopes, we did it. We paid off all of our debt!

Using the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover system, we followed his plan and are moving on to Baby Step 3 in his 7 Steps. Usually when people reach this step, they call Dave on his radio show and tell their story. Brody and I are thinking about doing it, so I'm going to practice answering all the questions Dave usually asks the callers:

How much have you paid off? $24,000

How long did it take you? Seven months

Making what kind of money? One starting-level full-time salary and a pizza delivery boy salary, but doubling our income after three months when Brody graduated....A.K.A not that much.

What was the debt? Student loans

What was the hardest part? The hardest part was giving every dollar a name; meaning, setting a zero-based budget and sticking to it. So many times I would see money in our checking account but knowing that money had been designated for a specific purpose. It was hard to spend our money at the beginning of the month and committing to those choices for 30 whole days! Tough stuff.

What would you say is the key to getting out of debt? The key is to get inspired. I listened to the Dave Ramsey Show on the radio every single weekday and even downloaded the podcast for Brody and I to listen to on road trips. We kept our eyes on the prize and never strayed. We talked about our goals everyday which kept us motivated.

What was the craziest thing you did to get out of debt? Lived without cable. My blog-readers know how I feel about TV. I LOVE IT. Brody is the movie-man and I am the TV girl. I can't believe I went this long without cable. I miss all my shows, but saving $75 a month was way worth it....but I'll tell you one thing, if it weren't for Netflix, we wouldn't be debt free.

So there's our debt free story. This is our biggest accomplishment as a married couple thus far. I'm so proud of us, and I know we will be able to reach all of our financial goals!