As many of you know, Craig and I have struggled our way out of about $80,000 of debt in five years. We are loosely following the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps plan with a few detours along the way.
When Gannon was born he was very sick in the hospital and we were told we would need to buy very expensive formula. We were going back and forth between who should go back to work and leave Gannon in the hospital because we were so broke that one of us needed to work to bring in a paycheck. Our parents had to loan us $500 just so we could eat in the cafeteria at the hospital. It scared us so badly that we jumped into the Ramsey program and never looked back.
We’ve paid off quite a bit but I’ve been feeling a lot of emotions around our debt lately.
We only have two debts left: my student loans (only $15,000 more to go!) and our home improvement loan from our kitchen/living/dining room remodel. We do have some medical debt as well but after paying off over $12,000 of medical debt in one year just to gain another $4,400 as soon as the check cleared, I’ve accepted the fact we are always going to have medical debt.
First of all, I’m feeling antsy. When I started this travel nurse gig in March of 2022, the plan was always to go back to staff nursing after I paid off our debt. Here I am two and a half years later and I’m still “travel nursing” locally with very little job stability swinging from contract to contract.
I’d really like to knock these two debts out by my 30th birthday next May and then settle into my “forever job” back as a staff nurse preferably with more stable hours. I have no idea what its like to work regular 9-5 hours but it’s something I might want to try after having worked night shift for the past 9 years.
I’m feeling bummed because I wish we would have waited to be debt free to have done the kitchen remodel. It would have delayed our project by just one year and we would be able to cash flow the project. We would just be in a better place in general to start a remodel right now than we were last August. We would be debt free right now had we (I) just had a little more patience.
I’m feeling super proud of our paid off vehicles that are running great. I don’t want to jinx it but we’ve been car payment free for about a year now. With all the pride I feel when I drive my paid off van I can imagine that feeling is 10x when I’m living in my paid off house.
All this to say, I want to put it out there into the universe – maybe some accountability that I will be debt free by my 30th birthday in May of 2025. It’s a big goal but it’s something I’m really shooting towards. Every purchase I ask myself, do I want this or do I want to be debt free? That question made me abandon an entire cart at Home Goods the other day 😂😜
Anyway, stay tuned. I’ll keep you updated on progress as we approach our new goal!
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