WE'RE DEBT FREE!! How We Paid Off $55,000 in 23 months- Part 2
Part 1 here
After we moved to Southern Maryland, my parents generously offered for us to live with them until we could get on our feet. Those first 6 months were hard with a newborn, a toddler, and new town. During that time, we began to realize that the salary at Behn's new job, though much better than his old job, wasn't as amazing as it seemed. Taxes and health insurance came out, of course; and now we were in a very high cost of living area. I was staying home with now 2 boys. The rent in Southern Maryland is crazy- technically it is a D.C. suburb and there's also a Navy base there adding to the high cost of living. Rent was incredibly higher than it had been in Lexington. The natural choice was to buy. Interest rates were low and there were lots of short sales and foreclosures. It seemed like a dream come true- we were buying a house. Meanwhile, Behn needed a commuter car and knowing that we truly couldn't handle a second car payment, we scraped up the cash for a tiny, older Hyundai.
We settled on a house in the north end of the county and began the same paycheck-to-paycheck living that we'd gotten so used to. I scrambled to find a part time job to supplement our income- tutoring special needs kids, teaching horseback riding lessons, babysitting. Eventually we knew we had to sell our beloved 4Runner. We finally owed less than it was worth and managed to make a little profit and buy an old van with cash. That van only lasted year or so before the transmission blew and we found ourselves in a car lot again, picking another van to finance. It was a modest purchase and we felt this was a necessity, but here we were with a new car payment.
Samuel was born. We were paying for preschool and the grocery bill grew with the kids. Almost everything we bought was second hand, we tried not to purchase meat and other expensive food, and we tried to live modestly. Instead of a fun riding mower like ALL of our neighbors had, Behn faithfully mowed our hilly 1/2 acre with a $80 pushmower (for 6 years, mind you!). We had estimates for a fence, but Behn put one up himself. We made some still made some dumb decisions with money and really had no concept of how much our debt was, but we did our best at the time. Behn finally got a much deserved raise and things began to feel a little more comfortable. We celebrated by financing a new, more efficient heat pump for our home.
Then 23 months ago, Behn told me he'd been watching some Dave Ramsey clips on YouTube.
"Oh? That's cool; some of my friends like him," I said.
"Would you be interested in learning about his plan? I think it might be good for us," he asked.
"Sure! I'd love to be more organized and make some progress. Let's do it!" I agreed.
And so it began...
After we moved to Southern Maryland, my parents generously offered for us to live with them until we could get on our feet. Those first 6 months were hard with a newborn, a toddler, and new town. During that time, we began to realize that the salary at Behn's new job, though much better than his old job, wasn't as amazing as it seemed. Taxes and health insurance came out, of course; and now we were in a very high cost of living area. I was staying home with now 2 boys. The rent in Southern Maryland is crazy- technically it is a D.C. suburb and there's also a Navy base there adding to the high cost of living. Rent was incredibly higher than it had been in Lexington. The natural choice was to buy. Interest rates were low and there were lots of short sales and foreclosures. It seemed like a dream come true- we were buying a house. Meanwhile, Behn needed a commuter car and knowing that we truly couldn't handle a second car payment, we scraped up the cash for a tiny, older Hyundai.
We settled on a house in the north end of the county and began the same paycheck-to-paycheck living that we'd gotten so used to. I scrambled to find a part time job to supplement our income- tutoring special needs kids, teaching horseback riding lessons, babysitting. Eventually we knew we had to sell our beloved 4Runner. We finally owed less than it was worth and managed to make a little profit and buy an old van with cash. That van only lasted year or so before the transmission blew and we found ourselves in a car lot again, picking another van to finance. It was a modest purchase and we felt this was a necessity, but here we were with a new car payment.
Samuel was born. We were paying for preschool and the grocery bill grew with the kids. Almost everything we bought was second hand, we tried not to purchase meat and other expensive food, and we tried to live modestly. Instead of a fun riding mower like ALL of our neighbors had, Behn faithfully mowed our hilly 1/2 acre with a $80 pushmower (for 6 years, mind you!). We had estimates for a fence, but Behn put one up himself. We made some still made some dumb decisions with money and really had no concept of how much our debt was, but we did our best at the time. Behn finally got a much deserved raise and things began to feel a little more comfortable. We celebrated by financing a new, more efficient heat pump for our home.
Then 23 months ago, Behn told me he'd been watching some Dave Ramsey clips on YouTube.
"Oh? That's cool; some of my friends like him," I said.
"Would you be interested in learning about his plan? I think it might be good for us," he asked.
"Sure! I'd love to be more organized and make some progress. Let's do it!" I agreed.
And so it began...
^ The day we sold our 4Runner. I loved that car.
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