May Daze

Ten years ago we graduated from Waldorf.

Took these pictures when our payment was going to be 1700, then turned out to be 2500 thanks to a surprise windfarm easement.

Travel back in time with me to 2011: We had been married for three years, our household income was a whopping 24k, and we were in the process of buying our first house. I read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and thought he was a great motivator, but I didn’t need motivation because I already had it. We took Financial Peace University, had $50,000 of debt plus a $30,000 house, but we didn’t really write down the numbers we owed. We made minimum payments and stressed out whenever a need arose. Brett didn’t mind making payments, but I hated it.

Getting on the same page was tough and has taken years, because although we actually want the same thing, we are just plain bad at communication. Brett says it took all these years to learn to pull together towards our goal. The LEGO debt tower was conceived in 2013, and Brett supplied the long hard perseverance while I applied all my passion and discipline to tear town those bricks.

Our income gradually increased and we made headway on our debt snowball only to stumble upon our “dream” acreage. In 2015, debt plus house was at $32,000 + $50,000, and owning two properties for the next two years slowed our progress. Finally, we sold our house, paying off the equity loan on it and putting a dent in our last (and, ironically, first) student loan. Thus, March, April, and May were record-breaking debt payment months, with over half our income each month going toward debt. June will finish it off for good.

2017 Debt Chart

 month           balance         payment

March         $11,200         $5,000
April            $6,200          $2,200
May             $4,000          $2,500

 June            $1,500                        .

WHEN I NEXT WRITE

WE WILL BE

DEBT FREE