Maria and I have been living in our "new" house now for just over 9 months. We love our home and everything about it, even its little idiosyncrasies (like the far-from-perfect DIY electrical wiring and plumbing). One thing that we don't love is the fact that we had to take out a … [Read more...]
7 Things to do with Your Tax Refund
It's just about that time of year again: tax season! If you're like Maria and me, you play it safe and get a tax refund nearly every year. We try hard to minimize the amount of our return (after all, a tax refund is really just the government paying back an interest-free loan you … [Read more...]
Fitting a Baby into the Family Budget
Babies are expensive. Not only are there the medical bills, the diapers, and the formula, but there is so much more that doesn't even occur to you beforehand. As soon as we found out that Maria was expecting, we began to prepare our finances for life with a baby. But even the … [Read more...]
I Was Broke, Too – A Look at my Early Finances
I know how crazy it is to look at Rob and my success at paying off our debt, to watch the video of our Debt Free Scream on the Dave Ramsey show, and to listen to us talk about how we paid off $250,000 worth of debt in 13 months time. I also know how easy it is to look at our … [Read more...]
How We Screamed Our Way through the Dave Ramsey Show
Monday was the day Maria and I have been waiting for. The day we got to go on the Dave Ramsey Show and do our Debt Free Scream! We practiced on our drive down to our long weekend in Nashville and again in the space of our rented bungalow in East Nashville (that time with Maria's … [Read more...]
Our Budget After Going Debt Free
Let me tell you something: paying off my student loans was a huge weight off of Maria's and my shoulders. It was our overriding financial goal for almost our entire relationship. We weren't saving any money and we kept our discretionary expenses in our monthly budget to a … [Read more...]
We are Finally Debt Free!
Maria and I have been working our butts off to pay off my $180,000 in student loans early and we are so happy to announce that we did it! WE ARE FINALLY DEBT FREE! We began our journey out of debt last summer, shortly after we were engaged. We invested in Dave Ramsey's … [Read more...]
Our Patriotic Debt Reduction
This Independence Day, Rob and I had plans to celebrate with family, but first we had one small, but important item to cross off our to-do list: updating our debt payoff chart! As planned, we waited until the most of the dust from our wedding expenses had settled, then we made a … [Read more...]
Big Strides Forward in Our Journey Out of Student Loan Debt
Big things have been happening behind the scenes at Crazy Together. Now that Rob and I are married, we can finally put all of the plans we made for building our future into action. Yes, the wedding was beautiful, exciting and beyond all of my wildest dreams and expectations. Our … [Read more...]