One Year & Counting!

Shhhh....we have a secret! We are officially weird....yes, I'm well aware most of y'all knew that already, however......We have started doing something that few other people do. Want to know what it is? Are you just dying to know? Are you ready? I mean really ready?

It has been over a year since we ceased using any kind of credit card! Zip! Zilch! ZERO! Nada! Nothing! I just want to shout from the rooftops....WE DON'T USE CREDIT ANY MORE!!! WOO HOO!!

OK....a bit more serious now....It's been over a year since we seriously started the Dave Ramsey, Total Money Makeover. And we've managed to pay off a pretty sizeable chunk of debt!! Most importantly though, we made a conscience decision last year to completely quit accruing any more debt. And, that my friends, is a FANTASTIC feeling and what is REALLY working for us!

Ours is a No More Debt Life! If we cannot swing something with cold hard cash, it does not get purchased. That does mean that sometimes we eat more than our fair share of beans and rice! Sometimes it means that I'm making a LOT of laundry soap! It has meant recycling things throughout the house to satisfy a decorating dilemma instead of purchasing something new. And keeping the heat low and the a/c high...

We've discovered some really wonderful benefits to this new life as well. We spend a lot of time together, doing things that don't cost a lot of money! We enjoy movies together at home (RedBox ROCKS!) We exercise more, many times by taking the boys to the park or local b-ball courts, for free. We're teaching the boys how to play board games (we love a mean game of Skip-Bo!). We cook at home. When we see friends, we are usually hanging out at someone's house, grilling up some great food and playing a little Wii bowling! We've really learned to find the cheapest....ahem!....most frugal method of getting everything done!

We've established a solid Emergency Fund as well, as this is DR's #1 step. It has helped us tremendously. We've handled a few "Murphy's" (as in Murphy's Law....you know the one law that sneaks up on us all and bites us back there!) We're also working on another fund for a future vehicle, as we know we'll need a car within the next 3-4 years likely and want to pay cash for it too. Other than those funds, all our extra money is going into the Debt Snowball, or on to debts to pay them off faster. If you aren't familiar with the Debt Snowball, I'll explain it in another post or you can find it here.

So that my friend is what Works for Us! How about you? Have you changed your financial life in a small way or in a BIG way? What works for you? Let me know and then get on over to We Are That Family for more wonderful WFMW tips!