Hello! My name is… Imelda Bettinger

wife, mom, computer geek, photographer talking about total randomness

Debt Reduction progress

Posted on | March 10, 2006 | 4 Comments

We have been listening to Dave Ramsey since before Christmas 2005. His teachings really helped us spend much less than we would have in the past.

We started our debt reduction plan and living on a budget on Jan 11, 2006. Since then we have paid down $8,224 and have almost $3,000 in savings, $2K of that new! We, of course, have also not added any new debt as well. I think that’s pretty good for 2 months time, don’t you? I don’t think we will be this aggressive the rest of the time. We got bonuses and tax returns to help out.

Dave Ramsey says “When you do good things with money, good things happen”? Just 2 days ago, my husband got a bonus from work we were just not expecting! It was great! We just thought because we have been doing smart things with our money for the past 2 months, we are already being rewarded. We are going to save half and put the other half to debt. We both feel good about this decision.

I haven’t felt I have been doing without this past 2 months. I haven’t had this feeling of “OH my gosh, I have to go shopping and charge something I can’t afford!” I haven’t felt that I can not do this. I am honest in knowing I won’t get out of debt overnight but that it will take time. I have realistic expectations.

I did almost go charge a new Apple laptop but I came back to reality a minute later. I will get a new laptop but will be paying cash for it when I am ready!

I now understand the word afford means ‘to be able to buy something with cash‘ not ‘I have enough credit to buy that and make payments‘.

My whole way of thinking about money has changed and it took being sick and tired of being sick and tired of paying for stuff I already used/bought in the past to change that.

I have enjoyed reading The NCN Blog so I joined the NCN Network for more support on debt reduction and money saving tips. There are so many people also getting out of debt and I need to be around these kind of people, in real life or online.

I don’t want to be normal, I want to be debt free!!!

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Comments

4 Responses to “Debt Reduction progress”

  1. Jose
    March 13th, 2006 @ 11:53 am

    Afford – being able to buy something with cash! I love that.

  2. deputyheadmistress
    March 13th, 2006 @ 2:15 pm

    What an upbeat, encouraging post! Thanks for entering it in the debt-free carnival so others could find it.

    I tell people ‘If you can only afford something on payday, then you really can’t afford it at all.’

    I’m going to add your definition of ‘afford’ to my list of good advice to give and get.=)

  3. Newsgirly
    March 13th, 2006 @ 4:58 pm

    I liked your last comment best. I sometimes feel like an alien because last summer I recognized, tallied, freaked over and decided to give my all to cutting our debt. So what if I put on the same shoes every day for a while, or wear used maternity clothes? That can mean a change in your lifestyle habits and conventions a bit, but not the QUALITY of your lifestyle. I haven’t lost anything, except about $8,000 in debt in 7 months!

  4. No Credit Needed » Blog Archive » Carnival Of Debt Reduction
    June 12th, 2007 @ 5:35 am

    [...] Hello, My Name Is…: Debt reduction? This post is EXACTLY what this Carnival is supposed to be about: GETTING OUT OF DEBT. Read it! [...]

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