You’re ready for a change.
You have committed to getting out of debt, but you don’t know where to start, right?
You’re tired of living paycheck to paycheck and seeing your hard-earned money go toward interest to the bank or credit card company.
You bring home a decent income, but before you can actually enjoy what you’ve worked so hard for, you have to pay all of the bills. And what’s left over for you? Not much.
Well, I am here to help!
I am going to take you step by step through the exact process that my husband and I used to pay off $65,000 of debt in 11 months on a single middle class income.
We have been where you are. We remember feeling overwhelmed by the idea of paying off all of our debt, but we knew that we had to get started. It wasn’t going to go away by itself.
We didn’t want to end up a couple of years away from retirement and still be paying thousands of dollars each month toward debt. Instead, we knew if we were focused and intense and attacked our debt with everything that we could, we would make quick progress.
After all, as Earl Nightingale once said, “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
It was August 2013 when we were first starting this process. It doesn’t seem like that long ago, but now 18 months has passed and we have paid off $76,000 of debt. If we hadn’t started we would still be in a state of uneasiness regarding our finances.
Now we are confident because we have a goal that we are working toward and a plan we know will get us there.
I want the same for you.
Join us and get started on your own debt free journey. Think about the peace and control you will feel when you have a plan for your money and a process for reaching your financial goals.
Are you ready?
Great!
But before we begin, there are two things you must do first.
Get Your Spouse On Board
If you’re married, I highly recommend working through these steps with your spouse. Financial plans work best when both parties are on the same page from the start.
But if you have to do it alone, walk through each step on your own, and then share your first draft with your partner. Encourage him or her to offer input and make changes before finalizing your plan. Both parties should agree on every step of the plan before putting things into action. If there are any differences in opinion, work those out together before moving forward.
[bctt tweet=”Creating your plan with your spouse will promote communication as you discuss your dreams together.”]
Creating and implementing your plan to get out of debt with your spouse will facilitate communication as you discuss your hopes and dreams as a couple together.
Make a Promise
If you are committed to getting out of debt, then you must make a promise to yourself that no matter what happens, you will not add to the problem.
That means that you will not take out another loan or charge something on a credit card that you can’t afford. If an unexpected expense comes up that you absolutely cannot avoid, use your emergency fund if you need to, and replenish it as quickly as possible. But do not dig yourself deeper into debt.
If you’re married make this commitment to each other, and if you’re single, find an accountability partner who you can confide in and will hold you accountable to your goal of becoming debt free.
Promise? Pinky swear?
Okay!
Get started – nothing is holding you back!
What About You?
Participate in the conversation. Are you ready to get started on your debt free journey? Is your spouse on board? Are you committed to getting and staying out of debt? Share in the comments below.
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Step 1 will be interesting for us – he tells me “you’re the detailed one, so you can figure it out. I’ll take care of bringing it in.” Having some structure to work with will help a lot. Thanks!
I am excited for you, Candace! I do the budget planning in our household, but I always keep my husband in the loop to make sure that he is in agreement. The thing to remember is that you are both responsible for your financial future. 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions. I am happy to help!
Great thoughts! Helpful to think about starting from somewhere. It is hard to communicate with the spouse about big goals like this!
Thank you! It comes down to looking at the path you’re on and where you would like to end up. If the two don’t match up, then something needs to change. Perhaps discussing little goals first would be a better approach. Then later you can ease into the bigger goals. Would that work?
The idea of tackling your debt is intimidating, but starting with these steps makes jumping in seem a little less daunting.
I am glad this helps, Catherine. We just take each step one by one. We’re on a long journey, but we love reflecting on how much progress we have made. The key is to get started. 🙂
Getting the spouse on board is so key! And making sure we’re on the same page 🙂 In our early days, my husband and I would create a plan, but then realize down the road that we each interpreted a “rule” slightly differently 😉 Not a bad thing, just helped us communicate even better with each other! Great post, as always.
Thanks, Marlynn! I appreciate you stopping by!
Great ideas- this can be such a daunting task!!
Thanks! We just take it one step at a time and set small goals that we know will lead us to achieving our bigger goals.
we’re working on school debt right now, I’m excited to see what more you have to say.
Great! It will feel so good to get that paid off! Thanks for reading!
I agree with Meredith! I’d love some single person insights as well. Great series!
I will gladly write a post for the single person outlook. Are there any specific topics that you would like me to write about? Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Rachel, per your request I wrote an article for single people.
https://www.ourdebtfreefamily.com/three-things-single-people-should-do-if-they-want-to-be-smart-with-their-money/
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
Looking forward to this series! Would love a segment on managing things as a single.
Thanks, Meredith! I appreciate the feedback. I’ll write a post for the single person perspective. Are there any topics in particular that you would like me to cover?
Hi, Meredith! Per your request, I wrote a post for single people.
https://www.ourdebtfreefamily.com/three-things-single-people-should-do-if-they-want-to-be-smart-with-their-money/
I’d love to hear what you think. 🙂
Great tips! When I was single, I had to a bit of debt to get rid of (so thing #1 didn’t apply then!), but item #2 was SO important!
Yes, if you don’t commit to getting and staying out of debt, you’ll end up sabotaging the progress you’ve made. Thanks for reading!
can’t wait to read more from this series!
Thanks, Kelsey! I like your excitement!
I absolutely agree about getting your spouse on board. We certainly didn’t get out of debt when we were single, so us working together was a powerful combination. Also, making that promise to stop going into debt is really big – even after you pay off all the debt, we are still tempted!
Thanks, Laura! I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. 🙂