Category: Debt Free Stories

They say debt can be good. That debt can be a tool.

And they say debt with low interest rates isn’t worth thinking about – just pay it every month and move on.

They say all these things – absolutes, simple judgments – and I listened.

Boy did I listen.

What I heard helped me rationalize the mounting balances of our student loan accounts as my husband, Sam, and I both worked our way through graduate programs. Instead of asking hard questions about our mindless pursuit to have our cake while also eating it, we maxed out our loans to prop up our lifestyle despite our very limited (read: absent) income.
Read more

Dr. Jenn MD got a full ride to college and medical school, married her college boyfriend, and got a job near family when she graduated. What could go wrong? Debt, of course.

Not too many people feel bad for a doctor in debt. After all, doctors drive fancy cars, make six figures, and take exotic vacations; luxuries that the average person doesn’t have. It took not having the money for an unexpected $14,000 tax bill from the IRS (more on that later) to realize she was $1.9 million in debt.

So far, $1.2 million of the original $1.9 million has been repaid in almost seven years. Here’s her story.
Read more

Last month, we paid off the $195,000 mortgage on our dream home.

After 4 years of focus and partnership with my wife Nicole, we’re now completely debt free and thrilled about the future ahead of us.

To help our two young children remember this family tree-changing moment in our lives, we decided to celebrate with them.

Instead of just burning the mortgage and tipping back a few glasses of champagne (which we did too), my wife came up with a completely original idea: “The Mortgage Pinata”.
Read more

For me, every year’s New Year’s resolution was to get my debt situation under control. But it would never last.

That’s how Leslie Walsh, then age 47, felt year after year.

New year, new you, right? Except when it doesn’t turn out that way…

She adds:

As my children grew older, expenses that I thought would go away (child care, braces, etc) just morphed into different expenses.

I was scared, and lost a lot of sleep worrying about my family’s debt situation. Especially with college looming out there for my two kids.

I felt desperate almost all of the time. Sometimes I would actually cry.

As the year would proceed and my New Year’s resolution would fail, I would feel terrible about myself. It felt like I couldn’t breathe on a regular basis.

That was her life two years ago.

Leslie was struggling with debt and budgeting, just like so many people do right now.

She was anxious and tired of those failed New Year’s resolutions. Tired of being in debt, and the accompanying stress.

That’s when she ran across a spark of hope in a Costco Connection article that talked about my own debt free story. (I’ve also been there and done that, having paid off over $147K to become completely debt free.)
Read more