Time to change your finances
With the start of the new year, many families are resolving to get their finances in order. Tired of using one credit card to pay off another, tired of stressing about meeting all their financial obligations, just sick and tired of being broke. That was us.
After a wonderful holiday season of buying Christmas gifts, traveling to see family and attending lots of fabulous holiday parties, we came back home to get ready for the new year and immediately stress hit us like a ton of bricks. We knew we would have to be in Christmas Recovery mode, that was the norm, but this year was different. One week after we got back, my husband needed new tires for his truck to the tune of $1000. We weren’t big on credit cards, we just used them occasionally, but I was so stressed because I could think of anyway to come up with the money. And what made it worse was I knew we made too much money to be broke. I felt hopeless and defeated and I knew it was time to make a change.
Almost ten years ago, I read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover . I devoured the book (because I love to read) but I didn’t really follow through with all of his advice. As a newly married woman, I really was not comfortable discussing finances with anyone in detail. So my husband and I just kind of went through the motions. All our bills were paid, we just weren’t making any real progress financially. Instead of building wealth and financial stability we were going deeper into debt. Moving up in house, two new cars at the same time, student loans that never decreased, we were just a normal married couple. We were broke and I did not like it one bit. I didn’t want to worry about finances or be stressed out every time something came up. And needing new tires was the straw that broke the camels back.
Turning Point
We finally signed up for Financial Peace University and it was a game changer. Not only did it help our finances, it helped our marriage. We became unified as a team. We had a clear vision and dreams that actually seemed achievable for once. We stopped making excuses and came up with a budget and we stuck to it. We were committed and it paid off. We went from stressing out about $1000 to paying off $126K in a little over two years! Talk about a transformation.
This is where my passion for financial freedom was birthed from. I believe that no one has to be a slave to debt, we can all be free. Whether you are a single mom, a recent college graduate or senior citizen, YOU can be financially free. It is now my mission to encourage and inspire others to live a life of financial freedom.
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