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 Financial Peace University Home Study Course and began planning our financial future together. It wasn’t the most glamorous part of our engagement, but those hours spent in the FPU program certainly help lay a solid foundation for our marriage.
We crafted an ambitious plan to pull ourselves out of debt in a year’s time and Maria created an On Our Way to Debt Free Chart to keep us motivated. She even created a customizable version of the chart for those of you who are on your own debt-free journey and need to visualize your progress – just enter your email address below.
The first payments were small and we colored in the tiniest of lines on the chart. We really started getting traction when I sold my house and we put the proceeds towards my debt. The next large chunk was paid from Maria’s home downpayment savings (which she’d been building for seven years) and brought us a whole lot closer toward our goal. Then, to celebrate July 4th and the end of our wedding festivities, we made one more large payment to bring us even closer.
We can’t wait to celebrate our independence from debt! Before heading out the door to see our family today, we proudly marked another $18,000 payment by coloring in our debt chart. We are getting SO close. Read the update in our blog, link in profile. Happy 4th of July, friends! #crazytogetherblog #goingdebtfree #4thofjuly #independenceday A photo posted by Maria and Rob (@crazytogetherblog) on
Now we have finished coloring in the debt chart and my student loans are kaput!
This whole journey has been quite the experience. After graduating law school, I just assumed that I would be spending the rest of my life in massive debt. As Maria and I logged in to my account to make the final payment, I noticed that I was originally scheduled to finish paying the loans in 2039! I would have been 55 years old!
Getting out of debt this quickly would never have been possible without Maria’s encouragement, patience, understanding and motivation. There are so many reasons I love my wife, and our journey out of my debt has illustrated so many of her wonderful qualities as my partner and as my closest friend.
To celebrate being debt free, Maria and I decided to break out the champagne from the Champagne Incident and create our first video. Take a look!
Financial Peace University Changed Our Lives
Our motivation and guide for getting out of my student loan debt was Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. Because we love Financial Peace University so much and because we know it works, we decided to give away a DVD Home Study kit of Financial Peace University! Maria and I watched these DVDs and did all of the exercises together in the early days of our engagement. I can honestly say that because of Financial Peace University, Maria and I have never had a fight about money. Which is kind of crazy. No matter where you are in life, Financial Peace University can help you, too.
Our Debt Free Scream on the Dave Ramsey Show
When you successfully pay off $250,000 in debt (mortgage plus law school loans), you just have to shout it from the rooftops. Or, if a rooftop is not available, on a nationally syndicated radio show. On February 15, 2016; we did just that. The two of us drove down to Nashville to do a debt free scream on the Dave Ramsey Show. The experience was life-changing and the perfect way to close this chapter of our marriage and our lives. You can read all about that experience in this blog post. We even got the big guy himself to sign our Debt Free Chart!
Our Journey Out of Debt
If you want to learn more about out debt free story and our experience with paying off all that debt, you can click on any of the images below for more information. Thank you so much for all of your support and encouragement along the way!
Congratulations! What a great accomplishment!
Thank you!
Congratulations–I am so proud of you both!
Thank you!
Yay! That is monumental! Now go buy something… I kid, I kid
LOL Deedee! I know it’s not good to celebrate with food and Dave Ramsey doesn’t approve of celebrating a special occasion with a shopping spree, so we are just plain STUCK! Still, it’s a pretty great feeling!
I’ve LOVED following your journey and am so excited for you. We successfully paid off $65k in debt several years ago (school loans, two vehicles), and were on our way to saving our 3-6 months income when we battled infertility and jobless. We are now on our way to paying off a large chunk (although much smaller than last time), and I’m feeling so positive and EXCITED about the freedom it will bring. Just out of curiosity, what is your next step? What are your plans for purchasing a home? We are now down to 1.5 incomes (I teach part-time now to stay at home with our two children and one on-the-way) so sometimes I feel like we will never see the light at the end of the tunnel. But our five year goal is to pay off this debt (vehicle, small house remodel/solar panels), save our 3-6 months, and then pay CASH for a trip to Hawaii for the five of us to celebrate our 15 year anniversary and hitting our goal of being DEBT FREE before looking at saving for college, etc. Anyway, thank you for sharing your journey. It always helps to see how others have done it and how they move on with their lives after the initial steps of paying off the debt. I’m excited to see where you go next with this plan!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! We are very lucky because I had saved my personal emergency fund of 3-6 month expenses before I met Rob. It wasn’t enough for both of us, but it certainly was a good start! After we got married, we decided to just leave that money be and use the money we received as wedding gifts to complete our emergency fund. So baby step #3 is covered and we are on to baby steps 4 and 5 (rebuilding a downpayment on a house and saving for retirement). I’m sure we will talk more about it in the coming months :)
Congratulations, both of you! That is a huge accomplishment. My grad school student loans and our mortgage, technically, should run out at the same time. There is no way I’m going to be paying off student loans for that long, especially seeing how well you’ve done in such a short time!
Thank you! We are very blessed. And I feel you; my eyes bugged out when I realized I would have been 55 when I paid off my student loans! Good luck!
Congratulations!!! I am going through a divorce and one of my goals for after the dust settled is to be debt free. Baby steps are happening and it’s so exciting!
I’m sorry to hear that, but you certainly have the right idea on getting your finances in order! I loved that empowered feeling when I took the reins after watching FPU. I almost think I was never so proud to save a few hundred dollars! Good luck!
Thanks to you both and your blog I found FPU and am well into Baby Step #2!
I listen to Dave’s podcast every day for motivation, I hope I will hear you guys on there doing your Debt Free Scream SOON!!!
Congratulations! Live like no one else right?
We’re so happy to hear that we helped you get started on your FPU journey! We’ve talked about the debt free scream and will do one, but haven’t quite decided how yet. I’m sure you’ll hear more in the future on the blog. Congratulations on getting started on your journey and good luck with that gazelle intensity!
Yay for you, Rebecca! Sometimes it is HARD to live like noone else, especially when you see all the huge homes, new cars, and fancy vacations everyone else takes. We are right here cheering for you! Let us know when you finish Baby Step #2!
CONGRATS!!!! Are you planning to make a trip to Nashville to do your debt-free scream?
Thank you! We haven’t decided that quite yet. We will see!
Gosh, I need to do this so badly. I’m currently {almost} engaged with a hefty amount of debt from law school. Since my BF doesn’t have debt, it’s all on me to pay, with my non-lawyer job. I’m excited to see that it actually can be done!!!! Hopefully I can win and figure out how to better pay off my debt. Congratulations!
Thanks, Katelyn! I really encourage you to get FPU even if you don’t win our giveaway here. It certainly changed my outlook on money and how I manage it, let alone getting the debt paid off. Good luck!
Exciting times are ahead for you! Rob and I started FPU right after we got engaged and it was the BEST thing we have done as a couple. It’s such a blessing that your (almost) fiancé doesn’t have debt. You are already one step ahead because of that! Consider making Dave Ramsey’s FPU your regular date night after you get engaged.
Congratulations! It has been wonderful watching the two of you pay off this debt! I’m in absolute awe! We don’t have a tenth of your debt and yet it seems insurmountable right now! Clearly we need to learn more about Dave Ramsey’s approach! Thank you for being so open and honest with us and sharing how you achieved your goal!
Thank you Karyn. We know how hard it can be to face those loans and sacrifice to pay them off aggressively. It isn’t very fun to live frugally and we know how important it is to have support while you are working so hard for your future. We will be right here cheering you on!
Congratulations! I love the Dave Ramsey program. In 2014, my husband and I paid off $188,000 in debt in 9 months. We worked really hard and this brought us closer together. We have been married for almost 14 years, so I definitely commend you for beginning your life together DEBT FREE!!!! Love your blog!
Wow, Brandi! That’s AMAZING. I know it’s been over a year since you paid off your debt, but congratulations to you too! Bring on the baby steps!
Congratulations! My husband and I have been married for 25 years and we are debt free including our house. It makes life so much less stressful! I know you two will have a blessed and happy marriage! Working together like this is the best way to start.
Thank you JoAnn! We are ready to start saving for a downpayment on our first house together and the thought of going back into debt is really awful. We intend to save aggressively so we will be able to pay our home off quickly after we purchase it.
Congrats! I’m just starting my first year and luckily I didn’t have to take out any loans!
Thanks! That’s great that you didn’t need any loans. I’d avoid them if at all possible.
I stumbled across this blog while searching for a debt-free poster, and I am hooked! Congratulations to the two of you for achieving your goal of being debt-free and for doing it so early on in your marriage! I just recently read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, and my husband and I are about start the baby steps (and I hope we win the FPU kit!). It seems like a daunting task, but your story is so inspirational. After reading The Total Money Makeover, I listen to Dave Ramsey’s radio show religiously, and I can’t wait to hear the two of you do your debt-free scream. :-) I wish you all the best in your continued journey of living like no one else so that, later, you can live and give like no one else.
Woohoo!!! I periodically check in on your journey to being debt free and am so excited for you guys! My husband and I are on our way thanks to Dave Ramsey as well – it’s been fun to follow on your journey!
Congrats from California!
Thanks! Good luck on your journey!
Thanks! Good luck with your own journey towards being debt free!
Congratulations! What a great feeling, I’m sure. We’re almost debt free. We currently rent, so we don’t have a mortgage right now.
Such a feeling when you see someone achieve their debt free life. Congratulations!