Stupid Tax

Stupid Tax.

That's what good old Mister Dave Ramsey calls it. And man have we paid our fair share. $40,000 to be exact.

After years of immature spending, failure to budget, and just plain stupidity, Seth and I came into our marriage with a butt load of debt. Most of it on credit cards. A smaller portion in loans. But it was debt all the same.

As part of our marriage we decided that we were sick of being poor and in debt. It wasn't fun. It was stressful. And it was holding us back from doing so many things we wanted to do. So we decided to stop the craziness and start over.

We both read Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace Revisited" and then listened to the lectures from "Financial Peace University" (thanks Dad!). We cut up the credit cards and promised not to use them EVER. Then we started with the 'baby steps.'

Seth naturally moved into the position of financial guru. He created a debt pay-off spreadsheet and updated it regularly with bill payments and such. He made weekly lump payments to whichever credit card we were trying to pay off. We both talked about what was and wasn't ok to spend money on. We set limits for gifts and vacations. I planned meals and cooked at home. 
Today I'm happy to say that in 20 months, Seth and I have paid off $37,000 in debt (not including interest!) and we're now completely free of credit card debt. My car will be paid off in another month and we will then have no car payments. Then we can begin to do what we've wanted to do for so long... buy a house. It's been a long time coming.

Truthfully, I didn't think I'd ever be free of credit card debt. There was a long period of time when I would pay the bills and have $50 left for the week to buy groceries, gas and whatever else I needed. And this was only paying the minimums. It seemed like a black hole and I was getting sucked into it faster and faster as the days went on. I worried about it all the time. And the problem was, I continued with my bad habits... partly because getting out seemed so impossible and partly because I was scared to change my lifestyle. I didn't want to get rid of my cute car or live in an apartment. I wanted the biggest and the best! I wanted to eat out at fancy restaurants!

The change started out slowly. First I sold my cute little car. To my surprise I felt a huge sense of relief instead of sadness. Then, I cooked at home. And I didn't miss going to restaurants! In fact when I did go to restaurants I was usually disappointed that the food wasn't as good as I'd remembered and felt sort of ripped off! I started buying all the cheap store brands of food and didn't notice a difference in the taste. I was saving more money and felt like I was living better. Needless to say I was shocked.

I can't tell you how much happier I am today after making this change. And honestly? I don't know if I ever would have or could have done it without Seth. So many of the changes I made and stuck to were because I had him in mind. I didn't ever want to come home and have Seth be disappointed in how I'd spent our money. I'd go to reach for something and ask myself, "If Seth were here, would I buy this?" That alone has helped me curb my spending a lot! Plus Seth was basically the orchestrator of the whole operation. He was (and still is) the mastermind behind our financial future and I'm glad I have him to keep me on the right path. So thank you Seth for everything you've done. Our Stupid Tax has now been paid and I know we'll never have to pay it again!