Category: Debt Free Stories

Today’s debt free story comes from Michelle Schroeder-Gardner. She’s the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She recently left her day job to focus full-time on her online business, and she hasn’t looked back once. (Go Michelle!)

How much debt did you pay off, and how long did it take?

I paid off $40,000 of student loans at the age of 24. I accrued them throughout undergraduate school and graduate school, but I didn’t start working on them until after I received my MBA. I had some money saved up, but overall it took me around 11 months to pay it off.

While I was in school, I did have full-time jobs (management at a retail store during my bachelor degrees, and then a financial analyst job during my MBA). I didn’t work on paying my student loans off while I was in school at all, instead I frivolously spent all of that money. You can read more about how I went about paying off my student loan debt here.
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You’ve asked for more debt success stories, and so here’s one from Kathleen O’Malley. She writes about fun, frugal things to do in her hometown of Portland, Oregon as well as ways to make the most of our short time here on the planet. Topics include living simply and having fun on a shoestring.

Of course, she’s also PAID OFF HER DEBT! Woohoo! Here’s her story, with my comments in italics.
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Three and a half years ago, my husband and I entered debt-free life before either of us turned 30. We paid off our mortgage ($111,000 remaining on an original purchase price of $140,000) in March of 2010 and have never picked up debt again.

Getting started

We originally took out a 30-year mortgage to buy our first house. Three months later we enrolled in Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover class as a gift from my dad. Now we weren’t exactly big spenders prior to the class – our only debt was the mortgage – but Dave’s class opened up our eyes to what was possible if we were completely debt free. It was a complete mindset shift. We started thinking about early retirement, extensive travel, and a less stressful approach to life. About halfway through the class, we committed to trying to pay off our mortgage as soon as possible.
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Wherever you look online, you are sure to find many resources who have the steps and tools you need to get out of debt. While I am sure that they are able to help you out, I wonder if they really understand the toll debt can take? Have they been there? I wonder even more so if they know what bankruptcy feels like. I am not sure that I feel I can relate to anything they say as they are not me.

You see, I am one of those people. I’ve declared bankruptcy. My husband and I have even paid off our current debt with blood, sweat, tears — and LOT of determination. I am sharing my story with you to let you know that there are people who get it. It sometimes helps to know that you are not alone and there really can be a light at the end of the tunnel (no matter how long that tunnel might be).
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