$32,000 down, $8,000 to go to Debt Free Living!....

by Stacy
(North Carolina)

Two years ago this December, my husband and I discovered that we will be 50-60 years old before our debt is paid off-that's 20-30 years from now. We knew we had to change our lives. But first, what was our problem and how did we end up $40,000 in credit card debt?

Our problem was: we tried to live a life we didn't earn. We did what we wanted when we wanted and never worried about how to pay for it.

The first thing we had to come to terms with was that we simply don't make a lot of money; he's a small business owner, I work for local government. So how do we live at or below our means?

First, since our credit history is spotless, consolidating our debt on very low interest credit cards was easy. We consolidated half the debt onto one card, then the rest on another with a slightly higher interest rate (interest rates were set until the balance was paid off).

Then we found extra money where ever we could: We quit the gym, stopped the lawn service, cut the cable bill from 80-40 dollars per month, turned off our home phone, no internet service, stopped eating out all together, cut entertainment (movies, bowling) down to once per week, I even make my own window cleaner instead of buying it! After this and combining the minimum credit card payments we were already paying, we found $1700 per month to send to our credit cards.

We paid the higher interest rate card first (paying only the minimum on our lower interest rate card). When the first card was paid in full, we put all that money towards the other credit card. We budget our everyday expenses by taking out $100 per week in cash. When it's gone, we cannot withdraw another $100 until the next week.

We also spent the last two years putting every extra dollar we got toward the debt payoff; stimulus checks, Christmas bonuses, etc. Come December 31, 2008, we will be credit card debt free! Thank you God! May I say that we prayed about this a lot. We continue to give to our church and we know that we could not have done this without God. I make this promise: I will never live a life in credit card debt again...God willing of course!