$28,249.71 in debt paid off in 494 days
July 20th 2013 was an ordinary normal day. My girlfriend and I were in debt. The following day we set a goal to pay off all of our debt individually.
Normal is having $28,249.71 in debt. Normal is making the minimum monthly payment. Normal is what your friends are. I didn't want to be normal. I knew I could be different. I knew I could be better. I just need to be out of debt.
The debt doldrums
Debt payments are exhausting. How does it feel sending away your hard earned money every paycheck? Even if it's for something good like a Toyota Corolla or a Masters Degree it still feels like a bad investment. Your money would be yours to spend if you didn't have debt.
I would work extra hours and pick up overtime to try to get ahead. Most of the time all that hard work was simply applied to paying down the debt. Without any specific plan, I simply hoped the debt would go away eventually.
In the early days of my debt I was supremely stupid. I didn't do a budget. I didn't pay for things in cash. And I did't even cook bacon because bacon is a luxury that I couldn't afford.
Silver lining of debt freedom
Rather late to the game I began listening to The Dave Ramsey Show Podcast. I was pretty stoked by the debt free screams and dreamed of the day that I was on the other side of debt. I needed a plan. The baby steps made sense. As soon as I saved up $1,000 I began knocking out the debt.
Knocking out the debt required a plan. Visual guides are not only fun but they report progress at a glance so they are incredibly useful when the goal is paying off debt or saving for a purchase.
 Corolla Loan |  Sallie Mae Student Loan |
With a goal of paying off $28,249.71 in debt we needed a target. This simple visual made the goal a reality. We posted it right on the refrigerator to look at it before thinking about spending any money, including dining out at restaurants.
Where does debt drive you
Debt is a pretty personal thing. I admit, I held onto debt like it was a badge of glory. Look at me! I financed a pretty car. Now I'm looking back and thinking; I was an idiot. My truck was transportation. Why did I need a car loan?
The truth is that I didn't need a car loan. It was a decision I made. I thought it would be nice to show off to my girlfriend who was moving across state lines to live with me. I figured that responsible adults need shiny new transportation.
Essentially what I did by getting that car loan in 2013 was delay our honeymoon by at least a year while also delaying buying a home by the same amount of time. I let debt drive me down a road I shouldn't have been on in the first place.
Debt gets put in its place
Aggressive payments to the debt was extremely successful. for 494 days Mrs. MBG and I paid an average of $57 per day toward our loans. Thats $1,715 per month or $20,586 per year. Would you say that we were putting debt in it's place? I would.
Debt freedom was within reach. It's hard to describe how good it felt to pick up a marker and fill in the debt silo. It was literally a race to finish. My girlfriend had a bigger debt but she had the advantage of a bigger income. We were literally neck and neck. Ultimately we paid off all our debt individually within a week of each other.
We put debt in it's place. We're Debt Freeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I took debt by the horns while paying off my car. I took a stand to take no additional debt. By march 2014 I had saved enough money to buy Mrs. Money Bacon Guy's engagement ring with cash. It was a proud moment. But we were still in debt. Following out wonderful $75 wedding ceremony we killed the debt in the next four months.
Baby Step 2 was complete. The debt was gone. We did't really have a debt snowball because we only had one debt each. It felt like a debt wall that needed to be scaled. It is time to move on to Baby Step 3. In about three months I saved $3,000. Wifey had $6,000 and we were secure financially for the time being.
Bacon explosion in a post debt world
MoneyBacon.com began almost immediately after becoming debt free. While paying down $28,249.71 of debt was an amazing feat, I couldn't even think of spending a mere $10 a year on a domain name at that time. I didn't have a measly ten bucks, not even for bacon.
Once the debt was gone, our income was ours. I could buy as much bacon as I want, and I did. With a great income and no debt comes great responsibility. I decided I needed a budget. It took about ten weeks until I created my first good budget.
What do people with money buy
Location. Location. Location. Where have you heard that before? Real Estate. That's right. Life after debt isn't all fun and games. Mrs. MBG and I have decided to set pretty lofty goals and it requires that we make plans for our income and stick to our plans.
| We want to buy a house, so we are buying a house. In fact we are buying a new house that is still under construction. My only regret is that we are not waiting fifteen years to buy the house with cash. It's hard to express the joy I get from paying for everything in cash. |  Money Bacon Manor |
Vigilant warrior for debt freedom
Debt is sneaky. Debt creeps into my thoughts slowly. Debt makes for a bad bedfellow. Debt is difficult to vanquish. Debt must be controlled by intolerance for debt. Be vigilant about refusing debt. You must be a warrior to refuse debt. Debt denies you from wealth.
To counteract the trappings of debt I strive daily to budget. I share my budget publicly to create accountability to myself. This week Dave Ramsey said that 40% of goals that are written down get achieved and that 80% of written goals that are shared with others are achieved. I prefer to achieve 100% of my goals so I post it all online.
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Comments: Sixteen months of debt (in reality more then 494 days) was difficult. Are you working thru debt? Does the idea of being debt free motivate you? What could you do with your income? Are you debt free yourself? Can you describe anything that gives you similar satisfaction to being debt free? Perhaps your bacon tastes better when you are debt free
