Hey everybody. So glad you stopped by today. Freedom Friday is when I bi-weekly let you in on how we’re doing with our pursuit of paying off debt. I’m hoping that many of you will also e-mail me with your story (with either “Freedom in Progress” or “Freedom Achieved” in the subject line) and I can share your story to encourage others, too.
Today I’m excited to share with you Lady Amber’s story. It’s a double blessing because I’ve known Lady Amber since we were wee tots in Middle School and I’ve gotten to see her story up close and in action! This family is gazelle intense about paying off debt and they walk the talk. They’re an inspiration to me.
Lady Amber writes:
About a year and a half ago, my husband and I decided that we were tired of making payments on credit cards and other various things. We weren’t for sure where our money was going. I started reading books from the library about ways to save money and came across the Dave Ramsey book, The Total Money Makeover. One night my husband started to tell me about this great book that he was listening to and I needed to read. He started to tell me about it and I told him that I just finished it. We of course started to look at our income and expenses. We began our plans to cut back. We created our budget draft and looked at our debt, which includes our business debt. Some of the things we did were to stop using our credit cards, stop eating out as often, and only using cash. At the beginning of each month, I write a check to myself and split the cash up into our budget categories.
I continued to look for more ways to cut back. About the time we started our debt free journey, a friend of mine, The Queen of Free, began her blog. I began to see how I could save more money and cut our grocery budget in half. (Little did I know that I would eventually cut it by almost 75%!) It was great motivation. I realized the power of meal planning and freezing, and using coupons when the items were on sale. It is a great feeling when you realize you have saved more than you spent on groceries.
With a little hard work and communication, we have paid off more than $64,500 in only 20 months! We still have a ways to go, but should be DEBT FREE in less than 2 more years.
The Queen is SO proud of you and your entire family Lady Amber. Way to rock it out frugal style. In no time at all, the entire Queendom will be rejoicing with you when you proclaim from the rooftops, “I’m Debt Free!!!!!!” We’ll even throw some Royal Confetti up in the air for you (that we’ve made ourselves of course from things we already have).
Wanna share your story of Freedom in Progress or Freedom Achieved? E-mail, her royal highness at thequeenoffree@gmail.com. Share your story and encourage others on the same path!
www.queenoffree.net