Why we started our debt free journey

My husband and I are hoping to buy a house sometime in the next two years. It will be the biggest purchase since we got married. We wanted to make sure all of our ducks were in order before we even think about it. Both of our jobs allow us to work remotely so the thought of traveling/exploring before we settle down is really tempting. We’ve been putting off the house buying for a bit. We finally decided that it’s better to be prepared so when we’re ready, we can buy our dream house without a problem.

Now I know that Dave Ramsey does not agree with grooming your credit score but I’ve also heard him say: You have to have good credit to get the best rates to buy a house.

We don’t have the ideal credit scores for the said rates. My husband had some unfortunate, out-of-his-control situation in the past that affected his credit score negatively. He’s working hard to repair his credit score now. When we started dating, he was on his debt-free journey. It went from 6 digits to 5 in a year! It was really impressive.

I, on the other hand, was just irresponsible with my money. My first job ever was also my first career job out of college. I went from having $80/wk allowance to making a career woman’s salary in an instant. I didn’t know what I was doing with all that money. I didn’t want to listen to my dad who was a financial advisor. I bought everything I ever wanted and then wondered why I never had any savings. After a while, I realized I was relying on material things to feel good about myself. Getting credit card offers made me feel special and I totally fell for all of them. It was bad.

I was current on all of them and I was responsible in terms of paying them on time but I never paid any attention to the APR’s or why it’s bad to ride out a minimum payment. I honestly only started looking at all of my statements in December of 2018. EEK! I know, I really thought I got it together. Apparently not. I was living paycheck to paycheck while on a pretty good salary. I did not feel “rich” at all. I felt confused all the time wondering where my money went. I was shocked to see that it all went to interest. My principal balances did not move at all for years! It had to stop so that’s what made me decide to go full gazelle-intense on my debt-free journey.

It started from “Let’s get a fancy house!” to “Ok, if we live off of a small portion of our combined take home and save the rest after we pay off our loans, we could buy a cheap house to flip in a good location. We could AirBnB it as we travel!”

Being on this journey made me realize to look at the bigger picture rather than covet the next big thing. Our end goal is to be wealthy time-wise. We want to be able to travel anywhere at anytime without worrying.

I’ve grown so much in a month. I am much more responsible with my finances and have learned to budget. This new lifestyle has really curbed any desire to shop or buy random things. I’ve always wondered how my husband can live on such basic resources and to always spend every free time “working” on side projects. I understand now.

The debt-free journey humbles you. It teaches you that you are defined by your habits and not by how much you make. Without the stress of money, the job becomes a passion. Stability and self-development are more important than just being able to buy the next big thing. You become self-invested and focused on making your dreams a reality. Monday blues or living for the weekends are replaced by endless hours of learning/selling/finding ways to get a side hustle.

I am currently on Baby Step 1. My husband has been on his debt-free journey but he wasn’t following any structure other than just attacking the debts. I convinced him to go through the 7-steps with me. First, we have to create our own credit line and save up a $1,000 Emergency Fund (EF). He was hesitant at first because he did not think it made sense to stop paying the debt to save. He thought we should save only when all the debt is gone but I explained to him that we restart the debt repayment for baby step 2.

For February, our goal is to save up $2,000 ($1,000 per person in the household) for Baby step 1.