I'm debt free - but the house

[Kimber Custom]

Just wrote the last check to the PUD for our heat pump. eace:

We've made every financial mistake in the book:
credit cards (~50k worth)
'loan consolidations'
co-signed on car loan - that went bad :angry:
Penguin windows
Rainbow & Kirby vaccuum cleaners (door to door salesmen are no longer welcome EVER)
Student loans
new & used car loans :nuts:

No more. We are now debt free but the house. :banana::buttrock:

 

[oknow]

great news welcome to the club. the hard part is not falling into the trap again

 

[moose]

I made my last house payment in June. It was an awesome feeling.

 

[safetyman]

Congratulations Kimber, that's a statement not a lot of folks can make. I will be in the same boat here in a few weeks...can't wait to get these loads off my shoulders, I bet it feels good.

 

[Kruel J]

Same for me, my tax return is going to squash the last few small bills then no more!

 

[Orus]

Tell me how! ! I need to know

 

[Mark W.]

We have about 5 years left to pay on the house then about 4 more years to clear Everything else out (if its as big as it is now) that should leave me with about 8 years to save for retirement LOL

 

[tunus]

Tell me how! ! I need to know

Cut up the cards and throw them away.

Sent using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ironbar]

Congratulations man! Great feeling isn't it??

My wife and I arrived at the same spot you're in about three years ago after my parents passed away. We were already on our way to being debt free when they passed. With our portion of inheritance money, I wrote checks to two credit cards and my last student loan payment. It was like a enormous weight had been lifted from our lives.

Since then we've been able to continue our debt-free (except for the house) lifestyle which includes continued saving, and setting aside money for a yearly family vacation. I've been able to go places and do things for my daughter that my parents could never do for us kids, and for that I will be eternally grateful to them.

 

[Ironbar]

Tell me how! ! I need to know

This is how I was doing it.

The Total Money Makeover

If you like, I would be willing to send you this book for free. Follow it to the letter, and you will be debt-free in less time than you think!

Also, the Dave Ramsey show is on 1190 KEX every night from 7pm to 10pm. I suggest tuning in.

 

[Kimber Custom]

Tell me how! ! I need to know

Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University (FPU) is the route we went. He breaks down baby steps:
1. Mini emergency fund of $1000
2. Organize your debts from smallest to largest (except the house); make minimum payments on all but the smallest bill. When the smallest bill is gone, apply that payment to the next one on the list to build momentum. Debt Snowball
3. Use the money that was going to debt to build a fully funded (6-9mo worth of expenses) emergency fund
4, 5 & 6 work on the house payment and savings for retirement but since we've been stuck on step 2 for a few years now I haven't studied the specifics

It's a lot like weight loss. The concept is simple; it's doing it that's hard.

 

[deen_ad]

I retired in '98, but went back to work till my wife can. Parents died, left nothing but debts, none of which we were responsible for. Wife's daughter died, leaving us with two grandkids to raise, oldest has moved out. And more debts, none of which we were responsible for either.
Wife has been off work since late Sept due to vomiting blood. Three trips to ER, ICU and cardiac care. Over $100,000 in bills, all paid by her medical insurance. Been drawing full pay due to having short term disability insurance. She will, hopefully, go back to work in the middle of the month.
Everything but house and motorhome paid off.
I work but more or less just something to keep me busy and out of the house as I only earn minimum wage.
Feels good!

 

[PDXSparky]

Yup, us too. We have only 2 loans, primary residence and a rental house I bought to rent to my son while he's at college in Klamath Falls. We payed cash for our last 2 cars as well. If you can't pay cash for toys, you have to save until you can. That's how it works at my house anyway.

 

[TAD]

Kimber a huge congratulations are in order. Especially since you did it the hard way.

For the people who want to know how to do Kimber gave the best answer. Dave Ramsey. The envelope system worked great for us. We also made all the mistakes. We even did a BK and I will say that might of saved us as no one wanted to touch us as far as credit went. So we stayed in our first home without ever taking a loan out on it for 12 years.

Now we are debt free and have plans to have our new to us house paid off in the next five years. Then I will sell it and build a house with that money and be debt free except taxes.

Just remember that if you slip up, don't give up and don't beat yourself up to much. Get back on track and try to make it up some how. Do whatever it takes get an extra job or do some odd jobs or just cut back where ever you can. I found that when I was working two jobs I didn't have enough time to spend any money.

 

[Baggerman]

CONGRATS! I am 100% debt free, retired at 56 and it costs very little to live every month. Sounds like you have done a ton of learning along the way but you are nearly there and the load that will be lifted from your shoulders once the house note is gone will feel great. Again congrats.

 

[Modeler]

Strong Work Kimber! We're midway through baby step 2 ourselves.....

Did you call Dave yet?

 

[Modeler]

This is how I was doing it.

The Total Money Makeover

If you like, I would be willing to send you this book for free. Follow it to the letter, and you will be debt-free in less time than you think!

Also, the Dave Ramsey show is on 1190 KEX every night from 7pm to 10pm. I suggest tuning in.

They've been pre-empting Dave for &;"@- Blazer games lately

 

[Sun195]

What was the problem with Penguin Windows?

We have a house payment and one car payment. Partially a result of good planning, partially good fortune.

 

[dball152]

Congratulations! Keep it up. It really changes your life. Be weird!

 

[MrZeat]

What was the problem with Penguin Windows?

We have a house payment and one car payment. Partially a result of good planning, partially good fortune.

As someone who worked for Milgard... Everything .

But really, I have no idea, I've never even looked closely at a Penguin window.