Debt Free Before 3

double entendre – our journey to get out of debt before we become a family of 3 or before 3 years

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After getting out of debt in 2018, we’ve saved $4200 towards our 3-6 month 🚨 Emergency Fund so far. Since our #debtfreecharts worked so well to motivate us on our #debtfreejourney, we’ve decided to use 2 charts to show progress to are beginning full emergency fund to our really fully funded emergency fund (which is probably $5K more than needed too, but I want to feel secure) • I’m excited to be going into this year with tax refund, bonus + raise, and RSU vesting time just around the corner. Can’t wait for the progress we’ll make in just the next few months. Fully funding our E-fund is in our sights! • P.S. I haven’t posted for long to take a family break. My grandfather past away just after Thanksgiving and I wasn’t very tied to social media during that time. • Looking forward to a great 2019! • #debtfreecommunity #debtfree #debtfreedom #emergencyfund #savings #savingsgoals #2019goals https://www.instagram.com/p/BsTViL5jyWQ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=hei9sifecn4g

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📉FINALLY!! Our completed @debtfreecharts !! I took so long because it honestly didn’t feel real until we received the title in the mail and paperwork from the lender stating our car loan is PAID IN FULL!! We got those docs in the mail last week and I got to taking this photo! • Next up is working on our 3-6 month emergency fund charts!! • #debtfree #debtfreecharts #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtfreebefore3 #daveramsey #rachelcruze https://www.instagram.com/p/BqnG7xZDGPD/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1afdrw1dkyt1x

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We did it! We are DEBT FREE! Had to show our final total non-mortgage debt post. Moving forward I’ll be posting our monthly savings each month to track our progress. • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtfreebefore3 #ynabcommunity #ynab #debtfreedom #daveramsey #rachelcruze https://www.instagram.com/p/BppPpbBjs0y/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=i7to71hwrbl2

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It’s really hard to believe that we are actually DEBT FREE!! (except our mortgage). • When we started posting our journey on instagram I fully thought we would be in debt until July 2019. We set an aggressive goal of April 2019, but at first I didn’t think we would achieve that! • Everything really came together for us this year. My husband was fully on board and we were focused on the goal of getting out of debt. • We cashed out company stock, went all in when we decided to use our small renovation fund towards debt, and were blessed with an extremely generous gift that allowed us to finally say goodbye to the rest of our non-mortgage debt. • I mentioned in a previous post that we had done Dave-ish since 2011. I’ve been tracking every single payment we’ve made towards debt since then. • While many of you may see our account and see that we’ve paid over $76k in 10 months, the reality is that we’ve paid more like $245k in 8 years, 8 months!! This last year has been us really getting gazelle intense. • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtfreebefore3 #daveramsey #rachelcruze #babysteps #babystep2 #babystep3 #ynab #ynabcommunity #debtfree #weredebtfree https://www.instagram.com/p/BpnXFrXjjym/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1rya3kbencptw

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(1/2) 💸 You read that right. We are about to make our final debt payment!!! • I honestly cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by, nor that 10 months into our instagram debt free journey we would be out of debt! • To give a bit of perspective, although we have only been a part of the insta #debtfreecommunity since February, we have actually been on a #debtfreejourney since February 2011 when we started with about $140,000 in debt! • Since 2011 until about a year ago, we’ve been doing the Dave-ish plan. Here me when I say this: doing -ish is definitely not the quickest way to get out of debt. While it did help a bit to get things under control and pay off some debt, we fell off the wagon a few times and are still in debt 7 years later! • I discovered this community towards the end of last year after my husband and I completed FPU at home with an older DVD version that I bought years back. Until then my husband was kinda on board, but not completely. FPU really got him fully on board! • Discovering the community motivated and inspired us to really follow the Dave Ramsey baby steps. We worked to cut our budget, but were also very lucky to have some company stock to vest that we could cash out and put towards debt, and putting our kitchen reno off and using those funds towards debt. • Last month we were invited over to my parents for a cookout/dinner with our immediate family. My parents surprised my husband & I, and my sister out of the blue with checks for $10,000, saying we needed it more than them. They’ve been so good with their money and investments and have really been a great example for properly managing, saving and investing money for the future. • Although my parents have been good with money, my dad actually has a car loan (their only debt / paid in cash house) mainly because he can make more in investments than the interest rate on the loan. This gave me hesitation to pay off our car loan. The interest rate on our car loan is actually less than the rate on our Ally savings account. Continued… https://www.instagram.com/p/BpcibsXj3Ji/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=n8f5qmyjx32c

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Not super excited about our little progress last month, but posting nonetheless • #debtfreecharts #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtfreebefore3 #carloans #progress https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo5wYtLH2wy/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xd7xp4thtean

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Still in the 10k range as we only made a minimum payment on our final debt in September. 😕 • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtfreebefore3 #babystep2 https://www.instagram.com/p/BoiJQ2Oj1V8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ad43cbhys47i

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🍁Happy Fall, Y’all. Can’t believe we are already in October and embarking on our 10th month of our instagram #debtfreejourney • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtfreebefore3 #babystep2 #daveramsey #rachelcruze https://www.instagram.com/p/BoZ5Q35HvzQ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=yosq0g21tpd9

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... and then there was one 💸 • #finaldebt #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtfreebefore3 #studentloanspaidoff #byesalliemae #fire #daveramsey #rachelcruze #babystep2 #bs2 #debtfreecharts https://www.instagram.com/p/BnRTQdnnM_P/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1l7en0lceuxd0

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Now under $11k!! • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtfreebefore3 #totalmoneymakeover #debtsucks #cashisking #daveramsey #rachelcruze https://www.instagram.com/p/BnPzuYunl9D/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gpt1d7ol3rhn

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📉AUGUST DEBT PAYOFF RESULTS: August turned out to be our 2nd biggest payoff month this year! • Check out a few posts back out how we were able to make our debt free date a few months sooner. • This HUGE payment in August allowed us to completely pay off our Student Loans, which feels AMAZING!! 👩🏼‍🎓👨🏼‍🎓 • Now on to the 🚗. Our final debt besides the 🏡 and before BS3! • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #totalmoneymakeover #budget #zerobasedbudget #debtfree #debtfreedate #daveramsey #rachelcruze #babysteps #babystep2 #debtfreebefore3 #financialpeace #financialfreedom #debtfreedom #debtisdumb #cashisking #byesalliemae #byefelicia #studentloanssuck #studentloanspaidoff https://www.instagram.com/p/BnJuKDYnZDz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1h22j8zhc9n3h

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It’s the little things... like when Staples has these packs of 132 Wet Naps for $2 a pop! I keep them handy in the car to clean up when we are on the go. • #deals #debtfreecommunity #bargains #frugal #debtfreebefore3

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We are officially Student Loan debt free!! • After we decided to use our kitchen reno fund towards debt. My husband and I sat down together to make our final student loan payments EVER!! • It was a little scary to go down to just a $1000 emergency fund, but that reality will really help to motivate us to pay off our final debt so that we can build up a full 3-6 month emergency fund. • I actually don’t think it will fully sink in until next month when we don’t have to make any payments towards student loans. In fact, I keep logging in to Navient to be sure it’s real...that we actually paid off our student loans!! • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #totalmoneymakeover #daveramsey #rachelcruze #budget #zerobasedbudget #babysteps #babystep2 #debtfreebefore3 #financialpeace #financialfreedom #debtfreedom #debtfree #debtisdumb #cashisking #byesalliemae #byenavient #studentloanssuck #nomorestudentloans

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We’ve got some exciting news!! Our Debt Free Date is now 4 months sooner than it was a week ago! Obviously money doesn’t grow on trees, so how were we able to make this happen? • We had set aside a sinking fund for a kitchen renovation. We though we we’re finally ready to start the renovation and we’re going to work with a recommended contractor. Well, the estimate came in far above what I expected it would cost, and above what we had in our sinking fund to pay for it. • We took a few days to think about it, and ultimately decided that it was a sign that we needed to use the Kitchen Reno sinking fund towards debt! We should now be debt free before the end of 2018!! • 🤞 We have some pricy expenses coming in the rest of 2018 so I hope we can make it and let 2018 be our last year with consumer debt!! • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #totalmoneymakeover #budget #zerobasedbudget #debtfree #debtfreedate #daveramsey #rachelcruze #babysteps #babystep2 #debtfreebefore3 #financialpeace #financialfreedom #debtfreedom #debtisdumb #cashisking

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We are getting soooo close to being in the teens I can taste it! I’m pretty much a lurker here and am so inspired by all of your posts daily! And even though I don’t post or share our story much (💯introvert 🙋🏼‍♀️) these monthly posts really help to keep us on track. • I can honestly say, had I not found this amazing #debtfreecommunity on instagram, we would not have come anywhere near as far as we have over these past 7 months! I thank you all so much!! • I really hope that even in a few posts each month, our journey can inspire others even (and especially) the introverts that don’t post much. • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #goals #results #julygoals #julyresults #totaldebt #totalmoneymakeover #budget #zerobasedbudget #debtfree #debtfreedate #daveramsey #rachelcruze #babysteps #babystep2 #debtfreebefore3 #financialpeace #financialfreedom #debtfreedom #debtisdumb #cashisking

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I honestly cannot believe it’s already August of 2018. On one hand it means that our debt free date is inching closer, but on the other hand I’m reminded of how quickly time flies. • Can you believe we are already in August? • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #totalmoneymakeover #budget #zerobasedbudget #debtfree #debtfreedate #daveramsey #rachelcruze #babysteps #babystep2 #debtfreebefore3 #financialpeace #financialfreedom #debtfreedom #debtisdumb #cashisking

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(When you’ve been sitting on the train and should already be at your home stop, but have barely made it out of the station, you post on insta!) • I didn’t think it would happen, but we got another Student loan paid off in July! Now down to our final 3 debts!!! • #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #totalmoneymakeover #budget #zerobasedbudget #debtfree #debtfreedate #daveramsey #rachelcruze #babysteps #babystep2 #debtfreebefore3 #financialpeace #financialfreedom #debtfreedom #debtisdumb #cashisking #commuterrailproblems #debtfreecharts