Be More with Less Audio Q & A
I’m familiar with the Dave Ramsey mentality that basically says do whatever it takes, work three jobs, etc. to get out of debt. The problem is, we would seriously have to neglect our family time to do that. We are frugal, but my husband’s income is low. Our only debt is a mortgage and less than 10K on our home equity line-of-credit. What do you recommend under these circumstances?
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Thank you so much for this post and your very reassuring answer. I’m a 49 yo single parent of two, 15 & 10 and work full time as a high school English teacher. Another job is possible but probably not do-able. Listening to your answer made me feel a whole lot better about my very slow progress on getting myself in better financial shape and stop beating myself up that I’m not doing well enough. Thank you.
I like how your answer doesn’t push a one-size-fits-all agenda. I think many people are striving to be debt free, we just are all on different paths to get there.
This question resonates so strongly for me. Courtney, I particularly appreciate the reminder to own our choices. What works for another family just might not be the same as what works for our family.
My spouse and I are treating our brand new budget as an experiment right now, and we’re learning what eases stress because it’s financially sound–as well as what increases stress by being too restrictive or demanding for our reality.
(And even as we’re making hard choices like the ones the question-asker describes, the budget is definitely reminding us that we’re fortunate simply to have money for our most basic necessities.)
Definitely agree with Courtney’s answer. You have to be at peace with your decision and do what is right for your family. If it doesn’t stress you out to have the equity loan, keep paying the regular payments. However, if you want to free up that money from the loan payments to do more things with your family, then commit to a short-term change in employment to pay off the loan earlier. Take a part-time job that has a definite end point.
As a follower of the Dave Ramsey plan, paying off a large loan we had from a family member felt really good. We now have plans to accelerate our payment on our mortgage even more than the extra payments we’re making now. Since our kids are getting close to college age, we would like to free up that money for future tuition. Getting rid of that family loan also freed up extra money to do work on our house. Everything we do from now on involves only cash. No credit, no loans. It’s very freeing.
This is something that’s become very poignant in our lives. Until about a year ago we’d never carried any credit card debt. We’d set up a budget and followed it closely. We’d gone through Crown Financial’s study – similar to Dave Ramsey – and were doing well on our modest income. Then, for some unknown reason, we got off our budget and suddenly the credit card debt started growing. I started working a side job that should have more than taken care of the debt, but we somehow spent right through that extra money. It wasn’t until we started working toward minimalism and put ourselves on a shopping fast that we finally started making headway on the debt. We’re closing in on the credit card debt now – should have it paid off within the next 2 months. We plan to stay on the shopping fast until next spring, hopefully we’ll be able to truly grasp the life of independence from overt consumerism in the mean time.
Thank you for this Courtney. I love how realistic you make becoming Debt-free and having a family. We have a budget plan in place to pay off our credit debt between now and July. If I were to get a 2nd job, sure I could pay it off sooner, but I would loss time with my family, whom I love spending time with. So I am going to be proud of the plan we have and feel happy that I found a great balance of being able to spend time with them while still being able to pay off credit debt within 3-4 months.
Great answer and I love your voice lol. You have a yoga/meditation voice:)