Debt Snowball

I'm feeling like a huge success tonight!  Nicko and I have been working on paying off our debt (basically ever since we met).  A few months before the wedding we decided to get aggressive with our payments and come up with a plan.  The plan is called the "debt snowball".  I'm sure you've probably heard of it before, it consists of tackling your interest deadlines first and then going after your smallest loans. The wild things about the debt snowball is, it actually works!  Five months ago Nick and I were making all of our minimum payments and still broke at the end of the month.  BUT!  As a result of cutting back on a few luxuries (Dutch Bros. coffee, separate cars to work,  etc.) and a head start with $1,000 that we made at our wedding, we have majorly reduced our debt, and in only 5 months! 

This whole thing started when we were listening to a sermon and we heard the pastor say "sometimes you have to live like no one else, so one day you can live like no one else."  This statement was made in reference to the state of the average American family and the debt they carry.  Nick and I have this wild notion of actually being able to raise a family debt free.  It happens people!  I know folks that have done it.  Sure, these people may seem a little "weird" at first glance, BUT is it really so weird to turn down a designer jacket for a non-name brand and be able to afford it, and then put your kids through college as a result?  I don't think so!

The moral of the story is, it pays to be able to say no to the things that you want, so one day you will have all the things that you really need (and guilt free).  After you experience the joys of cutting up your first credit card, you will not want to stop until you have chopped them all.  It's contagious, and in the best way.  The world teaches us that we need more in order to feel adequate or to "keep up with the Jones's", but the truth is exactly the opposite.  The best feeling in the world is to learn to live with less and to be happy with the real things.  Sure, Nick and I still have quite a ways to go before we reach our end goal, but for now we've caught the fever, and we're rolling full steam ahead towards "weirds-ville".  A debt free future is on our horizon!