You can come too!

If you read our previous posts and thought:

 - That sounds like fun!

 - I've always wanted to do something like that.

 - I wish we could be debt free by then.

 - How is it even possible to do that?

.... or something along those lines, here is your answer.

You can do it!  You can come too!

In order to join us on our road trip, you need to be willing to do the following:

- Pay off all your debt (except for a mortgage) and never take out another loan or use another credit card ever in your entire life.

- Save up enough money to pay for the whole trip and any supplies you need to buy in cash.

We learned how to do this by attending Financial Peace University, which we highly recommend, but it's not really necessary.  You can get any of Dave Ramsey's books, or Larry Burkett's books from your local library and use the forms they provide.

The first thing we did was build a little Emergency Fund of $1000, and put it in a savings account that we can only access with an ATM card with a $300 limit.  We have used this to pay for new car tires (when we ran over a screw), fixing the washing machine, buying a working refrigerator, emergency room bills, and living expenses while unemployed.  Every time we use it, we immediately fill it up again as quickly as possible.  We've been going for almost two years with this plan and have yet to completely drain the fund. Because we have this fund, we don't have to carry a credit card for emergencies.

Then we began paying down our debt using the Debt Snowball.  So far we paid off (and closed) two credit cards, various medical expenses, and our car.  We are currently working on (ahem, doing battle with) Emily's student loans and have Caleb's student loans waiting in the wings.

To do this, we have been sitting down every month to do our budget together.  This is probably the most important part of our plan.  When we do our budget we talk through all the different things that we spend money on.  We can think of ways to reduce our expenses and talk about where we need to spend more this month.  By talking through it and working on it together, we know where our money is going and why. Of course, this is often the hardest part.  While we have gotten used to sitting down and crunching numbers each month, we need to do better about tracking our actual expenses and adjusting for those things that pop up mid month that we didn't budget for.

Like anything worth doing, it's worth working hard to get it right.  We've found that we're better able to work together and take control of other areas of our life too, like keeping the house clean, reading and praying together, planning meals, disciplining the girls, etc.

Want to know more?  Read about Dave Ramsey's Envelope system, which will help you use cash (instead of a debit card) and keep your budget in check.