…since we “met” Dave. We’ve made a lot of changes in that time and I want to share a few numbers with you.

Debt when we began: $153,617 No, that did not include our mortgage.  YIKES!

What we owe now: $72,442 Still scary, yes.  Staggeringly so.  But let’s look at it this way…

In just one year we dumped $89,175 in debt!

So, just how did we do it on Doug’s income (which didn’t change) and isn’t as high as you may think given all that debt.

Well, we got rid of the land we owned in the Ozarks.  We had only had it for a few years and it wasn’t worth any more than we purchased it for so it came out even.

We got rid of DirecTV, set a tight budget, started paying cash for everything and had a huge sale.  We quit buying “wants” and focused on needs.  Doug & I haven’t bought but a few new shirts in the past year.  My girls’ clothes all come from garage sales.

We did get a couple breaks along the way; blessings in disguise, really.  Like when Doug totaled the truck right after Christmas.  That got rid of a $10,000 loan.  Then he got sent to Boston for 3 1/2 months (no need for another car right away).   That allowed us to pay off  our car and a couple credit cards a few months quicker than we had planned.

We are now left with 4 debts; down from 14.  These are the largest and the toughest (we’re still paying off Doug’s state senate run…  politics is expensive!) and will take us a couple of years.  (4 according to the Gazelle Budget from My Total Money Makeover, but I’m not willing to wait that long.)

In fact, I went through our house and am planning another garage sale (lots of little girl’s clothes size 18 & 24 months & 2T) and I’m selling this.  Yes, it’s gorgeous.  But we walk past it daily without a glance.  It’s like having our “not Dave car” hanging on the wall.  And that’s just dumb.