It all started back in 2016. We planned a trip to Hawaii to visit family and decided to go to Japan because we wanted to have one last big trip before settling down to start a family. We put nearly all the expenses on a credit card because we figured we would be able to pay it all off right away. When we returned home from the trip, Zac unexpectedly lost his job. We were completely unprepared. Our income was suddenly cut in half, we didn’t have much in savings, we still had a lot of debt to pay off, and we didn’t have any type of back-up plan.

Luckily, I still had my full-time job, which was just enough to cover all our living expenses, and Zac began driving for Lyft, Uber, and Amazon. I knew that Zac really wanted to be able to work for himself and not conform to another corporate job, so I did a lot of research for opportunities we could pursue, and it eventually led us to selling online. Although we were still deeply in debt, we invested what we could to start the business. We sold things from around the house, the profits we made from those sales were reinvested to grow the business, and we just kept this cycle going.

I noticed the name Dave Ramsey come up a lot in some of the Facebook groups I belong to whenever someone had a question about personal finance, so one day, I finally decided to look him up. I happened to catch one of his live shows, and the first thing I saw was a couple doing their debt free scream. At that instant, I was hooked. I wanted what this couple had, so I started listening to his show regularly, I bought and read his book, The Total Money Makeover, and I also convinced Zac to take his program, Financial Peace University, at a nearby church with me. It was a great experience for both of us, and it gave us the motivation we needed to attack our debt with intensity.

Our debt free journey officially began in the summer of 2017, and in the two years following, we managed to pay off over $54,000 in debt. We still have a long way to go, but we are slowly and surely making progress each day, and now that we have our daughter, Bella, we are even more motivated to make our dream of becoming debt free a reality so that we can build a better future for our family and bless others along the way.

Thank you so much for stopping by and being a part of this journey with us! Your support means the world to us!

– Tracy