My small success and tell me yours!

**heartofmine** · 01-29-2011, 07:29 PM

I have never carried a balance on my credit cards...one major and 1 store. Each month I pay the balance. The major I only use for emergencies or let my son and daughter use it for college books or things like that (which they pay me back for). The store card I use because of the discounts I get on my purchases. This month there are no charges on either.

**PaulaMM** · 01-29-2011, 08:42 PM

Thank you for sharing your story, Shortstack. It's very inspiring to read accounts from those who are ahead in the game. I hope to be where you are in a couple of years.

My success story is this: I finally got my husband on board with the Total Money Makeover! The first time I attempted it, I was working against the tide of his disinterest and reluctance to change his spending habits. I'll admit, I lost interest myself and gave up on the whole thing.

However, this year he finally got sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck, in debt, and in a panic because he might not get enough work days in a pay period. He is fully on board and willing to keep his personal spending to a set limit each month, follow a budget and talk with me about setting goals and how to reach them.

I am completely amazed at how much energy and joy I have now that we are partners in our finances, rather than having to be the money nazi! I really think that if we really work at it and make sacrifices, we can be debt free other than the house within 1 year to 18 months!

Great thread!

**Cares** · 01-31-2011, 11:28 AM

I love this thread! It's nice to hear everyone's positives.
My small success is that we paid off our first debt!! The snowball has been made

**shortstack** · 01-31-2011, 03:28 PM

To me it has made all the difference in the world having my husband on board with the plan. It took me years and years for this to happen. So if you are reading this and your spouse isn't on board keep trying and if that doesn't work try again

We paid cash for a dining room table about six months ago and he admitted to me then that in his twenties he would have felt "poor" and like we "had bad credit" to pay cash but once he saw the bargaining power of cash in hand he was a very happy camper. We could say to the salesman "Since you won't have to take fees for running a credit card can you throw in Xyz for free?" We ended up with free delivery AND a free matching bench that way on an already great deal of a table

Originally Posted by PaulaMM

Thank you for sharing your story, Shortstack. It's very inspiring to read accounts from those who are ahead in the game. I hope to be where you are in a couple of years.

My success story is this: I finally got my husband on board with the Total Money Makeover! The first time I attempted it, I was working against the tide of his disinterest and reluctance to change his spending habits. I'll admit, I lost interest myself and gave up on the whole thing.

However, this year he finally got sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck, in debt, and in a panic because he might not get enough work days in a pay period. He is fully on board and willing to keep his personal spending to a set limit each month, follow a budget and talk with me about setting goals and how to reach them.

I am completely amazed at how much energy and joy I have now that we are partners in our finances, rather than having to be the money nazi! I really think that if we really work at it and make sacrifices, we can be debt free other than the house within 1 year to 18 months!

Great thread!

**wjcalderon** · 02-01-2011, 08:57 AM

Other than my mortgage, I only have a couple of small debts, totaling less than $2000.
I retired early just over 4 years ago. I don't have to scrimp too much, but I have to be careful with my money.
Suddenly last week, my old boss at a company I worked for 12 years ago, called and offered me a part-time job making really good money.
I start tomorrow.
I will have those debts paid off within about 6 weeks and will be able to build up my savings pretty quickly.
I was a little concerned about giving up my free time in the spring and summer when I want to be gardening.
Then I realized that I will be able to pay someone to mow the yard and still be way ahead of the game financially. Mowing was the boring, time-consuming part. Now I'll be able to concentrate on the planting, tending, harvesting, etc.
I never minded the work I did before I retired - I just hated having to do it EVERY day!

**Sassyclass** · 02-01-2011, 10:04 AM

I think my small success would be having peace of mind. Yes we have debt but we are paying it off religiously every month and making headway. We have money saved in the bank, not a lot but enough to pay the deductible for my upcoming surgery and still have a little left over. I've been laid off since Nov and even without my paycheck we are paying our bills. This time of the year is the worst because of the high heating bills but we are still managing just fine. To me having peace of mind is worth any struggle we may have to endure. If we can manage to pay down our debt on one paycheck I have no doubt we will succeed in making our goals once I'm back to work.

Cat