How in the world did we get here? Between my husband and I, we are thousands of dollars in debt. Through student loans, car loans, mortgage and credit card debt, we both feel like we are both swimming in a sea of debt just barely scraping by. A few months ago, after talking to some co-workers, my husband and I decided to start on the Dave Ramsey Plan.
We were young and dumb and did not value the dollar. While in college, my husband, Ryne, and I took out the maximum student loans. Looking back now, what a huge mistake!! My husband got his college education for free and lived with his parents for the first two years of college. He had no expenses besides gas. I took out my maximum student loans because I was too proud to ask for money and I didn't want to get a job because I played softball in college and this was a priority for me. I sent my money on fast food, even though I could have eaten in the cafeteria since I was paying for it anyway. I bought items I did not need. My family didn't have a lot growing up and I wanted to spoil myself.
After college, Ryne and I both got teaching jobs in the same school. Luck for us, that doesn't happen very often. We had money coming out of our ears. But, we were not smart with our money. We blew it on fancy electronics that we did not need. We ate fast food a lot.
A few later, the school was making budget cuts. My husbands position got cut and he got let go. Though threw several applications and job interviews, there was no luck for finding a new job. I still had my job and Ryne took a significatly decrease in pay as an associate at the school. Come to find out, we were going to have a baby during this school year. Which Ryne was my sub while I was on maternity leave. This lead to a lot of credit card debt because we were not making as much as what we once were.
A year later, Ryne got a new job. Yay! Praise the Lord. This would make for some big changes in our lives. We were going the have to move. We had to sell the house that we were living in and look for a new one 50 miles from where we were.
Still not making as much money as with our house on the market it was very stressful. Ryne was driving 100 miles a day, I was working part time, and we were having to pay for updates in the house we currently owned. More money got put on the credit cards.
We eventually sold our house and moved in to the school district where he taught. We bought a 3,000 sq ft house that was a the maximum of our price range. I had to resign from my teaching position. So then he was teaching. I wasn't. I substitute taught some but wasn't bringing in enough.
I eventually got a job and Under Armour as a manager. This was nice because I was bringing in a steady pay check. The bad thing is that they give a 50% off discount to their employees. In the long run, I think I paid to work there.
The next school year, I got a teaching job and a neighboring school district. FINALLY, steady pay with benefits. This was huge! So what did my husband do? We made another baby. So just when we could have started paying things off, we were paying doctor bills.
Ugh! Debt! Debt! Debt! Medical bills, mortage, credit card bills, car payments! Ugh! My husband and I were close to 200,000 in debt including our house payment. How are we ever going to get out?
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