At the beginning of 2019, I decided I would openly share all about our budget each month. We have shared good months and bad. We have talked all about paying off debt, making frugal choices, and making some poor choices as well.

I am SO proud to report, that as of December 31, 2019, Brett and I are CREDIT CARD DEBT FREE!!!! The goal this year was to pay off our credit cards, and I could tell over the last few months that we were going to fall short of that goal. I had come to terms with the fact that we would be bringing around $1000 into 2020 with us.

Brett had other plans. He surprised me and asked how much we needed to pay off the card. It wasn’t a strange question– it’s something we talk about (a lot.) When I told him I didn’t think we would have it paid off until Feb-March, he said, “Nah it’s done now.”

I don’t think Mr. PrettyPlus gets enough credit around here. He works SO HARD and goes along with all my crazy goals and budgeting. He worked hard to get his own side hustle money and since we usually keep it totally separate, it was such a surprise that he did that. I cried like a baby. He’s honestly the best ever.

How much debt did you pay off?

We started this crazy journey to pay off our debt in July 2016 with $25,000 to pay off. We worked our butts off, making mediocre incomes for 2.5 years and have FINALLY met our goal of becoming credit card debt free! In 2019 alone, we paid off $14,445 in credit card debt alone. This doesn’t include INTEREST we paid or other debts (IRS, sneaky new bills, or medical bills.)

In 2019 we paid a total of $21,006 toward debt. This includes car payment, medical bills, credit card payments, interest, unexpected bills, etc. This doesn’t include our mortgage debt.

Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps?

I think it’s important to note that while we started with Dave Ramsey’s baby steps, we have taken liberties to make it fit our life as well. We completed Baby Step 1 as usual, which is having $1000 in an emergency fund. Baby Step 2 is to pay off all consumer debt using the snowball method.

This is where we already differ. We aren’t treating our car or medical bills as an immediate MUST pay off since they are 0-3% interest. We are slow paying them. It just makes sense to us! You have to do what you want, but this is why I am saying we are CREDIT CARD DEBT FREE and not just DEBT free, as we still carry some debt we are fine with having for now.

What’s Next?

We owe ourselves some money from getting our roof/chimney repaired, so we need to pay that back to our Home Equity Line. We will work on that, and then start Baby Step 3, which is saving enough to cover 3-6 months of expenses in an emergency. I do plan on sharing my budgets still every month, but will probably vary in the way I deliver them. I’ll try to keep it interesting for you!

Hope you all made the most of 2019. December was a GREAT month for our family, and I just keep thinking about how 2020 is going to be our best year yet. Happy New Year to you all, and best of luck with your budgeting and debt free journey in 2020!