Peronal Question: How long did it take to pay off your debt and how much did you have

**kettlecorn** · 03-25-2008, 06:57 AM

if I can ask :smile: Also, did this include your house? DH and I are trying to pay off our debts but it will be about 5 years I would imagine to have CC, SL and car paid off. The after all that we want to tackle the house. Just want to see what I am up against. Thanks

**YankeeMom** · 03-25-2008, 09:00 AM

Our debt started out at 60k, not including the house or car payment. We started in September of '06. The van was paid off in August '07. The cc debt will be all paid off in 2009. We are about halfway paid off right now.

**M55FF** · 03-25-2008, 09:25 AM

took me less than 10 years to pay off the house and zero years to pay off credit card and all other personal debt because I didn't get into any.

Can you imagine how life was for me ? so old fashioned to not buy everything I wanted on credit cards... but saving up for what I wanted?
My friends said it was "freak like"... but look at things now...
They are up to their eyeballs in debt, still paying on that expensive sofa they bought in 1994 on a credit card
( not to mention everything else they bought on credit cards)
They are having to work not only full time but overtime just to keep up...
where I took my extra money
from my simple furniture bought with cash
( as well as everything else bought this way, often through yard sales and thrift stores)
and I invested it... and now get an income from it...
meaning I could QUIT work.

They are still paying while their houses falll apart from neglect
and I am now starting to upgrade into better stuff, like my vitamix blender

Avoiding credit card debt is better than trying to control it.

Far as the house, paid that off as soon as I could and had to pay my first new car on payments but paid that off early too ( about 2 years instead of 4)

**M55FF** · 03-25-2008, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by M55FF

took me less than 10 years to pay off the house and zero years to pay off credit card and all other personal debt because I didn't get into any.

Can you imagine how life was for me ? so old fashioned to not buy everything I wanted on credit cards... but saving up for what I wanted?
My friends said it was "freak like"... but look at things now...
They are up to their eyeballs in debt, still paying on that expensive sofa they bought in 1994 on a credit card
( not to mention everything else they bought on credit cards)
They are having to work not only full time but overtime just to keep up...
where I took my extra money
from my simple furniture bought with cash
( as well as everything else bought this way, often through yard sales and thrift stores)
and I invested it... and now get an income from it...
meaning I could QUIT work.

They are still paying while their houses falll apart from neglect
and I am now starting to upgrade into better stuff, like my vitamix blender

Avoiding credit card debt is better than trying to control it.

Far as the house, paid that off as soon as I could and had to pay my first new car on payments but paid that off early too ( about 2 years instead of 4)

at age 36 I was 100% debt free, by age 40, retired with investment income.

**forHISglory** · 03-25-2008, 09:58 AM

We built our house (I mean, we literally built it, not a contractor), at age 30, so we had a lot of sweat equity in it. It was paid for in 5 years. We have never carried credit card debt, so I can't help you there. We have had a vehicle loan, but swore to save up for the next vehicle before we bought it. The vehicle loan was for 5 years, but we paid it in half of the time. At one point in our lives, we ran into a big emergency, far more than what our savings would cover, and we got a home equity loan. We took 2 years to pay that back.

We now live debt free. I encourage you to look for ways to make extra payments when you can, and to not add to your debt. I found uncommon joy in making extra payments, and crossing it off on the re-pay schedule sheet. And now I live with a freedom that enables me to do what I want. And that included retiring early!

**forHISglory** · 03-25-2008, 10:00 AM

Forgot to say that I had student loans from college to pay back, and I had them paid off in 5 years.

**IntlMom** · 03-25-2008, 10:16 AM

Well, we've never carried CC debt. For the first several years we were married before kids, I worked, but we never counted my income in the budget. Instead, we paid cash for cars, vacation, extras, and saved. When we finally "had" kids, we had debt due to our lifestyle choices. Our home should be paid off in 2-3 years. We own less than 99K on it.

**IntlMom** · 03-25-2008, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by IntlMom

When we finally "had" kids, we had debt due to our lifestyle choices. Our home should be paid off in 2-3 years. We own less than 99K on it.

We had NO debt...............hmmmmm, wonder why I couldn't edit that?!?!?!?

**JustJoy** · 03-25-2008, 10:23 AM

We started out 8 yrs ago being close to 30K in debt. We thought we'd never get done with payments, but I just made the last one a couple of weeks ago!

**Denvergirlie** · 03-25-2008, 10:44 AM

$27K in credit card and IRS debt and another $3K in divorce fees. Paid it all off in a little over 2 years.
Truck loan is $8K and will be paid off before the end of summer.

**JohnP** · 03-25-2008, 10:55 AM

Before I was married, I had a student loan of 7,000 dollars and a truck loan of 10,000 dollars. I paid both off in 1 year after graduation.

When I was married:
42K Credit Card/Department Stores
20K Signature Loan
32K Auto Loan
5K Parent Loan
10K Loans from before my wife was married to me

Took 3 years to pay off by traveling extensively for my company, patient teaching of my wife about budgeting, credit, and opportunity cost, and living far below our standard of living.

I paid for my divorce in cash in 2004 and I've been debt free since 2005.

**mom2matty** · 03-25-2008, 11:06 AM

We've never really had cc debt but we did have a car loan ($20K) and a vet bill ($4K) so.......$24k and it took us about 18 months to pay.

We just have the mortgage now and we are working hard to get it paid off ASAP!!

**brenda67** · 03-25-2008, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by M55FF

at age 36 I was 100% debt free, by age 40, retired with investment income.

That's great! It helped by not having any children or a spouse till later in life in your case....

**COUNTRYBUMPKIN** · 03-25-2008, 12:30 PM

We have no debt. Our home has been paid for for 18 years(compliments of dh's parents) and we have always paid cash for all of our purchases. Our gift from our dear friends who won the lottery in 98 is all invested for our retirement. We did use just a small amount of that to purchase a new vehicle and some for our living expenses. Dh is retired and I work two day's a week and also do some volunteer work. I also am selling antiques. We have alway's been frugal and have never felt the need to keep up with the rest of society and their unfrugal spending habits. Good thread!

**mombottoo** · 03-25-2008, 12:45 PM

The first time around once I started we had all of our debt paid off in 18 months, including the house. Debt was $18,000, not incl house and the house was paid off with a settlement.