“One critical day is all you need to turn any “what if” in your life to “what is”.” – Jim Rohn
Have you ever had a day in your life when everything changed? A day when you realized that life could no longer continue on the same path?
My husband and I had a day such as that one. It was a day that resulted in turning our financial future from one of burden to one of relief. We didn’t realize at the time how life changing that day was. Let me tell you about it.
Our Story…
For seven years, my husband and I slowly walked down a road destined for continuous struggle. We married with high hopes and big dreams. Dreams of financial security which included great careers and a stable family unit.
We didn’t realize it, but from day one, we were in debt. Small debt, but debt nonetheless. It included one auto loan and a small amount on a credit card. We didn’t think much about it because everyone we knew had these same “normal” debt payments.
Slowly over the next few years, after two children and purchasing a home, we started to feel as though we were running in place. Both of us were working the normal 40 hours per week and paying the bills, but not being able to really see the fruits of our labor.
Sure, we learned to save for a rainy day. The problem was…it always seemed to rain. Every time the savings would build, something would happen and we would have to use some of it. It didn’t seem that we could ever continually build our savings and live comfortably.
Needless to say, this was very frustrating. We kept asking ourselves the same question, “What – are – we – doing – wrong? Life is not supposed to be lived this way!”
In principle, I believed in my Christian roots which were based on the promises of God (peace, prosperity and freedom). But our reality was much different.
We were by no means poor and destitute. We were both blessed to be college educated and earned great middle class salaries. But we were missing a piece of the financial puzzle.
The Wake-Up Call…
In late 2004, my husband and I reached a point where we felt like robots. We were working just to have more of our money going to bills than savings. That just didn’t feel right to me.
My mom was our saving grace. In late 2004, she purchase the book, Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and a cd accompaniment. I listened to the cd’s first and was totally blown away by what this man was saying. He made it sound so simple. I finally had a clear vision of how to control our family’s finances. But, I knew that in order for us to become debt free I was going to have to get my husband on board. I gave the cd’s to him and to my surprise, he had the same reaction. It took us a couple of weeks to read the book and create our plan, but…
We finally got it!
We immediately…
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cashed in our savings bonds that were worth about $7,000 to start paying off the debt.
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created a budget and the debt snowball to determine how we were going to spend our money monthly and pay extra towards the debt.
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stopped using all forms of credit and used cash only.
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became more focused and invested time into learning about different ways to spend less money on daily expenditures.
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made time to do daily/weekly check-ups on spending.
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found numerous ways to stop wasting money.
That day began the process for us to tell our money what to do instead of wondering where it went. The impact of this entire process has been life changing. Not only financially, but mentally and physically as well. And we have not looked back. We always thought that if we could make more money, we’d be able to live life as we dreamed. The truth was…
We didn’t need more income – we needed a plan.
Have you had “A Day That Turned Your Financial Life Around.” What was that day like for you? Tell us your story. We’d love to read about it. If you’re reading this article by Email or RSS, click here to come on over and share with us in the comments.
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Isn’t it funny how sometimes something that really isn’t that difficult takes so long to comprehend? My wife and I were the same way for quite some time until we snapped out of it as well. Great story!
I guess it really isn’t our fault. We didn’t learn how to manage money properly in our early years. It’s all learned as we go along, if we’re interested. I’m glad you’ve decided to teach what you’ve learned as well.
The day we turned it around was the day I was laid off from my “secure” job of three years. We realized that we should be able to make it on one income alone–but we couldn’t. We also realized that if we were debt free we could realize all of our dreams–having a home business with one parent home with our kids. We could adopt again and have a larger family. Now we’re living he dream and will be completely debt free this summer (except the house)
Congratulations! I know that you guys are waiting for that moment. It will be here before you know it. There is one thing I’ve learned in my years of living, NOTHING is certain. Which is why we need to be prepared. Thanks for sharing Jessica and I welcome you to come back again!
The day that turned our life around –
My husband and I were in a similar situation – we are both educated and well-paid. However, because of our debt, we can’t afford to move out of our townhouse and we keep asking ourselves – why are we having such problems. Then last October, he was in a car accident. Thank god he wasn’t hurt, but the car was totaled. We needed a new car – however our credit was so bad, we had difficulties getting a loan. We ended up with a car loan and an interest rate of 16%. Since then, we’re focused on not using credit (that much) and paying down our debt.
Wow, 16%? But, if it were not for problems, we wouldn’t seek better ways of living. Thank you so much for sharing your story and I’m glad your husband was not hurt. I wish you guys the best with paying off your debt. Try your best to use a cash based system to avoid using credit. If it’s not paid off monthly, it’s a never ending cycle. Let’s make 2010 great!
I don’t remember our day exactly, but I know it revolved around looking to the future and realize we wouldn’t be able to get there without a plan. We wanted a house and we wanted to have a child, and for that, we decided we would need a new financial plan. We created a budget and started living from it. Then we found Dave Ramsey’s book and that further accelerated our get out of debt plan. Being debt free has allowed my wife to stay home with our daughter and has also allowed us to weather a layoff without much worry or stress.
That is a great testimony! I know your wife appreciates you for allowing her to be the best mother she can be:-). After reading your story, I was reminded of my layoff (in 2007) in the midst of our paying off debt. I had to take a job that was half of my previous salary. I’m grateful because if we hadn’t started paying off our debt in 2005, we would have been in a serious crisis. Thank you so much for sharing!
More often than not, we do not realize that we are spending more than our capacity. It is extremely important that we become aware of this, I did mine but in a hard way.
Exactly, we only become aware when we run into a roadblock which forces us to really take a hard look at our situations. You’ve peaked my curiosity Walter. Do you mind sharing maybe a little of your story?
Well, I don’t have a really interesting story to share except the lessons I’ve learned in life. More often than not, we live our lives blindly and not being aware of our mistakes. The truth that I have learned in life is that our choice of actions have definite consequences. Unfortunately, we are too arrogant to see our errors, and instead blame life for our misfortunes. Life is what we make out of it, whether good or bad it depends on the choices we make. It is said that our outer world is merely a reflection of our inner world.
Well said Walter! Each day we live we are taught lessons, but are we really learning? Thanks for the additional information.
Just stumbled across you (through a tweet?) and this sounds so familiar. In our case it was our multiple moves as a military family and always reacting to our transient lifestyle instead of preparing for it. After all, we’ve known our lives aren’t sedentary for about 15 years now!
We also are Reluctant Landlords of a rental we own in Vegas. Yea. We’re not getting rid of that place anytime soon. We’ve gone through several tenants over the years and have never been fully prepared when each one left.
It was last Spring that I discovered Dave and his Total Money Makeover. To my surprise as well, my husband was on board! “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.” We knew what we were doing wasn’t working. We are on our snowball now, and the whole journey prompted me to start blogging about it, which has become a great accountability partner. I’m getting comments and emails that others are inspired by our story as well, and that just makes it all the better.
I think we’ve all fallen victim to “insanity”. I’m so glad you guys found Dave Ramsey. I don’t think he gets enough credit for what he has done for America. Thank you guys for the sacrifice of serving our country AND sharing your story here! I look forward to watching your progress:-).