Quick answer? HARD WORK!

There’s a great article on DaveRamsey.com discussing the 7 Characteristics of Debt-Free People. Read the whole thing but here’s the quick list.

• Wise – debt is dumb, not a tool
• Patient – can walk past the shoe aisle and put off the big screen TV purchase
• Confident – don’t care when your friends think you’re weird
• Goal-driven
• Responsible
• Not materialistic
• Willing to make sacrifices

As I read the article I agreed and thought how each one of them applied to our debt-free journey.

Our first “milestone” was the realization that debt was not a good idea. That we didn’t HAVE to be in debt for the rest of our lives. That we didn’t need to have a car payment. That there was a better way of doing things.

Then comes the patience as you walk through the baby steps. We were fortunate in that when we were getting rid of our consumer debt we were making pretty good money and so we zipped through it fairly fast – I think about 10 months or so. Of course selling one of the cars helped.

But I know people that take a year or more to pay off their debt. It’s hard to stay motivated and patient but it is so worth it.

Dave has a saying, “Normal is broke. Be weird.” It’s a good thing I don’t care too much what others think. I remember when my oldest brother couldn’t believe we didn’t have a credit card.

“What if something happens?” he asked.

“Name something that might happen that I can’t cover with my $10,000 emergency fund… that a credit card would be the solution.”

He couldn’t. (He’s since jumped on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon.)

I will say that the “not materialistic” part sort of evolved during our journey. It definitely wasn’t there at the outset. But the interesting thing was that as we did without something temporarily, when it came time that we could afford it, often we realized we didn’t care that much anymore.

What other characteristics would you say it takes to become debt-free?

 

My husband has been blessed with the gift of bargain-finding.

Example #1
Our main TV died (huge old tube-style). After lots of research and shopping he found a 42″ 3D Plasma flat screen. Original price? $899. On clearance for $399. As if that wasn’t good enough, he took the two pairs of 3-D glasses that came with the television and sold them on ebay for $120. Final cost $280. (We didn’t really care about the 3-D feature and the kids can wear those paper glasses right 🙂

Example #2
While shopping for above TV (on date-night I might add) I said sweetly “When our DVD player dies, I’d really like to get a Blu-Ray player honey.” He found a $79 3-D Blu-Ray player that came with a bonus Blu-Ray DVD of the Director’s Cut Edition of “AVATAR”. Sold that on ebay for $74. Final price? $5 (Actually he bought two and sold the second DVD and player for a profit of $80.)

I put him to the test once again when, during my chair reupholstering adventures, I rather forcefully said “I want a NEW sewing machine!”

“I see them all the time at thrift stores,” he said. Which made me kind of glare at him, I’ll admit. At that moment I was not in the mood to be patient and wait for his hunting to pay off again.

But I had my mom’s machine so I was okay. I spent a bit of time doing some research. I don’t need anything super complicated but the one I had (WHICH he bought for $20 at a pawn shop 19 years ago) did a basic stitch and a zig-zag – that’s IT.

Yesterday he was out running errands (that’s code for bouncing from thrift store to thrift store) when he called me and told me to get on the computer and look up a certain sewing machine. Actually TWO sewing machines. Both were even better than I really needed.

Price? $9.99 each.

They are both selling used for $110-120 on eBay. So I had him buy both. After I try them out I’ll keep one and then the other is going to my friend Stace who’s been wanting one too.

He gets the Hero of the Week award…again.

If you’re looking to trim household expenses so you can save more for your adoption, check out this blog series I found called “Living on Less Than $28,000 a Year“.

Let me know what you think of her ideas.