A small victory here, but we just paid off dh's student loans! Good bye Sallie Mae!

We still have 1 credit card left which I'm expecting to be gone by March (or earlier depending on our tax return) and then my van should be paid off by the end of 2008!

Of course all this depends on whether or not we move! Hopefully we'll stay here long enough to get out of all this debt since DH wants a new car! We'll see!!

Baby steps! (all of this made possible by Dave Ramsey)

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WE'RE DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

HOOOORAYYYY! ps---there's no such thing as a size in a victory...any victory is a great one!! Congrats my friend, and thank goodness for our friend dave!!

and paid off our car three years ago. We lived with our mortgage as our only debt for three years. My DH was injured and out of work for three months last year, so we went into savings to cover everything. This spring, we had approximately a $12,000 home repair (basement system because we got hit in the Nor'Easters several times), a surprise adoption in March, significant medical expenses for the baby, and our car died this summer. We took as much out of savings as we felt comfortable with and then took out a HELOC. We will be able to pay it down some when we get the adoption tax credit with our income taxes. But, we'll just keep plugging along until we can pay it all off and live with only our mortgage again. I can't wait !!!!!

Michelle

Being an only parent, it has been a challenge.

My ex committed suicide in 2001, leaving me with one starting college and 2 still in high school. Shocked and devastated, we took the challenge head on. Don't even think "FRUGAL" could describe our lifestyle at that point in life! Even though my daughter had scholarships that paid for school, it still left other needs to be met. And having one coming behind her in 3 years, I knew I had my work cut out for me (along with coupons and rebates!)

The times were tough, but we all kicked in and prevailed. My daughter took on the challenge and obtained full academic scholarships throughout college and law school and went to both on full scholarship. FASTWEB.COM was a constant and still is for scholarships for the other two. She graduates in May from University of Virginia Law School and has secured a job starting at $175,000 >>> what a payoff after struggling all these years! I AM PROUD! not only of her future, but of what she accomplished getting there.

My son in college has been in special education classes since second grade (dyslexic and ADHD) so I took on the challenge of making sure his education was complete. I made sure any program that was there by law for him was used to the full advantage. If he was allowed special services that my tax dollars paid for, I utilized them. He graduated with his diploma...didn't want to drop out and get a GED like so many told him to do. That in itself was worth more than I can ever put in the bank!

My son in high school already has scholarships working. You can NEVER start TOO EARLY!

Me? I made ends meet by buying only on sale, clipping coupons, rebates, cutting our monthly bills every where I could. I found an opportunity after looking for a fundraiser for my granddaughter to raise money for sports. Researched it for weeks, because I couldn't afford to be scammed. Turned out to be the best "chance" I have ever taken.

My home and car are now paid for, I still work as a paralegal part-time and work my business. I am slowly replacing my "career" as a paralegal with my business that I love.

Would we change anything? Only one...they miss their dad beyond words - but outside of that...we all realize that without the challenges we faced, we wouldn't be the survivors we are today.

We all have this motto on our walls in our homes, bedrooms and dorms -

Challenges make life interesting ~~~ Overcoming them make life worthwhile!

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Rebecca

My husband and I have are credit cards in a debt management program. We are now saving for expenses. ING Direct is wonderful. Some time all we have is $5.00 to save but it all adds up. It takes alot of work to stay focus. I use to watch QVC and I would just order. I don't watch or order nearly as much as I did before. If I'am watching and I like something I just write the item number down. If I still want it the next day (which 10 out of 10 I forget) then I will order it.

I'm just interested, how are you going to celebrate New Year? Where and how are you going to celebrate it?
About me - I'm going to celebrate it in the restaurant with my husband, just from 31 of December, and after that we'll go to the booked hotel lux room.. What about you?

My husband and I just had our second child - two kids under the age of two now. I have been working part-time since the first was born and our schedules allow us to not have to put the kids in daycare.

After this baby was born, our intention was for me to stay home full-time. Well, we started to look seriously at our finances and realized that not only could I not stay home, but I had to go back to work two weeks after he was born. I was devistated, but it was the wake-up call we both needed.

We have become sincere believers in Dave Ramey's plan. Since that horrible day two months ago, we have cut our expenses over $700/month (mostly through planning grocery shopping, only going to the store once a week and not eating out!) and have sold many things in our home to cut down on our "stuff-itis". We have our $1,000 in savings and are doing the debt snowball. We've already paid off two credit cards (and closed them!) and next week we will be sending in a $2500 payment to the next card to bring the balance down about 50%. If we stay on track, we'll have $50k in debt paid off within 30 months and hopefully then I'll be able to be a full-time mom.

If anyone is reading this and hasn't checked out Dave Ramsey, I highly recommend him. He has given us the hope and determination we were lacking before.

I decided I wanted to quit teaching and stay home with my children. I do not have any babies yet, but we are currently trying to conceive. So to reach our goal we had to pay off the cars and be debt free (except for our mortgage). I am happy to say that last night we payed off the last of our consumer debt and we now have a good start on our emergency fund (which is the next step of our plan). I have also resigned from my job and my last day will be in June and my last paycheck will be in August. We just have to keep socking away my income and trying to get pregnant . We did use a lot of Dave Ramsey's advice - he is very motivating. Congratulations to all who are beating down their debt.

We just paid off two of the three creditcards that we have a balance on and it feels good! We CANCELED them too, and that felt even better! We only have one more card and two store cards but they all get paid in full each month. It is so exciting! Now that the cards are under control we are moving on to our home equity loan. We plan to have that paid off by the middle of next year, maybe sooner.

After that we move on to the mortgage and home improvements!

Well done to everyone (me included) that are tackling and reducing their debt. We have a credit card each left to pay off, dh will reduce his as he needs it for business but i hope to pay mine off completely by May 2009 we have a loan finish at that time too, its hard at times but i'm determined to do it and put all that money to good use