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When is it okay to buy toys for the lake - things like boats and jet skis when following ...

Five years ago my husband and I hit our financial rock bottom. His 6 figure job as a new construction real estate agent came to a a sour end when the real estate bubble burst.Up until this point we had lived high on the hog and our reckless financial habits left us in MESS. We had 8 investment properties weighing us down and no income to float the notes. None of the homes were income producing. Although we lived in a paid off home and had a rental property paid off we still owed over a million dollars to banks and other lenders. After many hours of prayer and lots of tears we decided to make good on every loan no matter what the cost. We sold our two paid off properties and used the money to sell the other 5 homes. Our kids went from private schools to public. We stopped eating out and had 400 a month budgeted for food for a family of 7. We no longer had lavish parties. Gifts to our family and friends became hand made cards. We moved into the the 6th home because it was distressed and needed major work and wouldnt sell until it was complete. Our normal nights and weekends of movies and date nights now became dedicated to laboring to make our home liveable. My five children have learned how to paint,install baseboards,hang cabinets,and every aspect of yard work and landscaping. We traded our newer cars for beaters.My husband worked for one year in construction (a job he swore he would never do again).I no longer spent my days having lunch and shopping with girlfriends.Instead I was babysitting,working at a preschool and cleaning houses(yes a few months prior I had a cleaning service cleaning my house). When the smoke cleared a little we started to follow the Dave Ramsey plan and we became gazelle intense. God blessed our decisions and several amazing things happened. My husband landed his dream job as a sales rep for a company that offers a base pay, commisions, retirement,a pension, and a medical plan that covers our family of 7. Two years from our bottom we became debt free from everything except our house. And on August 9th 2010 we sold the final house that we renovated and with a combination of savings and equity we PAID CASH for our 4 bedroom home in a wonderful neighborhood. We are free from the bondadge of debt.The best part for me is the 5 years of hard work and sacrafice has developed the character of our 5 children in such an amazing way. Thank you Dave and we look foward to seeing you in November in Orlando.

My husband and I have been married 14 years and have never been debt free. Sure, we were ALMOST debt free a few times, but would sabotage ourselves one way or another. We would be out shopping and see a 'want' and convince ourselves we would put it on a credit card. We would say we'll only have 'just this one debt at a time', and pay it off quickly. Well, if you get a $2500 TV at Best Buy on the 0% interest card, you also need a beautiful entertainment center to showcase it right? And of course, to justify it, the center was on SALE! And, sadly, on another credit card, OOPS! I grew up watching my mother put everything on a credit card. She was a waitress, and had so many cards it looked like she was selling them. She would borrow from one, and make payments with the cash advances. I learned that credit cards were used for every purchase, and that's just how it was done. It really is very hard to overcome what you see as a child everyday. I finally found Dave, constantly hearing about living like no one else, so I can live like no one else, made me want to change. We had 14k in credit card debt and paid it off in 23 months. Not much in the way of debt, but actually paying it off without racking up MORE is amazing. I am a full time student, and we have payed for my school with cash! We also took a trip to Maui while becoming debt free, using the debit card of course. Not a whole lot of suffering as you can see. I am making sure my daughter knows that credit cards are evil, and to always use cash or debit. When we go out and she sees a card pulled out of the wallet, she never fails to say 'now mom, that's a debit card, right?' And I can smile and say 'yes it is!'

Dear Dave, God works in funny ways sometimes. We sometimes do things thinking they are for one reason (like getting out of debt) only to find out they are really for another reason (to take care of a child). We started your program back in September of 2007. We were over 100K in debt, mostly from student loans (over 50K!), car loans, braces, and one credit card. We finished Baby Step 2 by February of 2010! Then we finished Baby Step 3 in June of 2010. It was a lot of work, selling everything but the kids, and realizing that stuff is just stuff. Experiences with people are more important to us now than buying things that collect dust. This month, our four year old, sweet baby girl, Emmy, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Although she is going to St. Jude and her expenses are paid for, we can now take her to the gift shop and buy whatever she wants and let her eat as much ice cream as she wants while at St. Jude without having to worry about bills back home. It is such a blessing to know that we can focus on her without worrying about bills. Thank you, Dave. Thank you for sharing your story, for helping others, and for being you:) We are so thankful to be debt free with an emergency fund and to be able to take care of our daughter without worrying about bills. Life is good:) Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!