the debt snowball

note: in the last couple posts i stated that we had $13,000.00 in debt at the beginning of 2009. after going through our financial records and realizing i don't have much recorded before june of 2009, i'm going to revise that statement. we had approximately $13,000.00 in debt in june of 2008. i thought you might appreciate correct facts! 

here's what 2008 & 2009 looked like for us, debt snowball style:

2008
in six months (june-december), we paid off roughly $3,000.00 in debt. i didn't keep great records of our finances personally, and mostly relied on online banking. so this a rough estimate.

january
started the year off with a little over $10,000.00 in debt
fully funded our honeymoon budget with christmas money/bonus
started financial peace university with our connection group
paid off debt

february
started couponing more
received a tax refund
put $1,000 in an emergency fund
paid off debt

march
found out my dad lost his job, God provides for our wedding.
purchased our wedding bands on 0% interest credit: increased our debt by $500
shared all of the above with our connection group
paid off debt

april
worked on our married budget a lot
decided to live off my income after we get married
paid off debt

may
got married!
paid cash for our honeymoon
wrote hundreds of thank you notes to our generous wedding guests
cashed our wedding checks!

june
started married life with about $8,000 in debt
paid my car payment down by $2,000
started saving for tuition

july
paid my car payment down by $900

august
paid off my car (our only interest-accruing loan)!

september
paid off our wedding rings!
paid down our debt to bryan's parents by $850
ended september with $2,600 in debt

october
bryan's car requires $2,620.68 in repairs

november
paid for the car repairs with the money we were going to pay off our debt to bryan's parents
stopped in awe at how precise the numbers were
revised our debt pay off plan
ended november with $2,600 in debt

december
bryan's parents gave us the gift of being debt-free by forgiving the balance on our loan from them!



by God's grace, we started 2010 with a plan to move to iowa city, and nothing in our way. we had no debt! hopefully this encourages you that in time and with a lot of effort & hard work, being debt free is possible!