Friday, September 6, 2013

Living Debt Free–Nine Months Later

It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been nine months since my husband and I announced we were debt freeDave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover was the catalyst for this life change, and his Seven Baby Steps are our roadmap to financial peace… here’s where we are in this journey thus far.

Baby Step 1.  $1000 to start an Emergency Fund

  DONE!

Baby Step 2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball

DONE!

Baby Step 3. 3 to 6 months expenses in savings

   IN PROGRESS…
So, nine months later… we’re still working on baby step 3.  We had a big setback in May when I had to have an unexpected surgery that cost quite a bit out of pocket.  It sucked for several reasons, but was a perfect testimony to the importance of the emergency fund.  We were able to pay for the surgery in cash, something we wouldn’t have been able to do before we were debt free.

We also diverted a little from the Baby Steps by setting aside a home improvement fund.  I admit this was with a lot of persuasion from me… but luckily I was able to win over Mr. home.made.  I set up a budget worksheet for the various projects and purchases and have been keeping close tabs to be sure I stay within my budget.  I’ll share this with you soon…
Right now, we’re almost halfway to our savings goal and hope to be there by the spring.

  Next baby step?  Invest 15% income into Roth IRA and pretax retirements.

Of course, we have something a little more fun in mind…

Doesn't get any cuter than this!! miss gracie's house: DIY camper remodel

We’ll see what Dave says when we get to this point…

2 comments:

  1. We are starting Financial Peace University at our Church in a few weeks. We are on Baby Step 2. And I really shouldn't be thinking about the growth chart ruler. But I am. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good for you! We never did FPU but I've heard wonderful things about it. And hey... I won't tell Dave if you don't ;)

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