I started listening to Dave Ramsey's podcasts right around the time I started this blog. It gives me motivation to keep reaching for my financial goals. I'm too shy to go on a national radio show to scream "I'm debt free", but I can't help but imagine how the phone call would go, so the following is made up, but I would imagine it would go something like this...
Dave Ramsey: M & J are on the line, how are you?
Me: Hi Dave, doing great, how are you?
Dave: Better than I deserve, what's up?
Me: Well Dave, we're calling to tell you we're debt free!
Dave: Excellent! How much have you paid off?
Me: We paid off $23,000 in 6 months!
Dave: Good for you! On what household income?
Me: Around $82,000 a year.
Dave: Good for you! What was this debt?
Me: Well, our situation is a little different. We were debt free except the house when we started, and we are still debt free except the house, but we only have 1 mortgage now! Our house is now actually worth a little bit more than we owe on it, and we could not say that 6 months ago.
Dave: Awesome, how much is the house worth?
Me: About $190,000 and we now only owe around $184,000 on it!
Dave: What was the most difficult part?
Me: Feeling helpless when our house was worth less than we owed and feeling discouraged when unexpected expenses came up.
Dave: Did you sell anything?
Me: No, we had an emergency fund larger than $1,000, so we did use some of that to pay down the debt and we also canceled a $10,000 vacation. It took an earthquake to do so though, we were planning on going to Japan about a month after the earthquake. But it worked out for the better. I would rather go to Japan in a couple years when we are in a much better financial situation. I think we'll enjoy the vacation a lot more when we can afford it!
Dave: Wow! It took an act of nature to help you pay down your debt! Well count it down and give us a great debt free scream.
Us: 3...2...1 We're Debt Free!!!!
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