Today we’re sharing another extension of our Success Stories interviews. This interview series is from people who are sharing their story about reaching debt freedom and is appropriately named Debt Free Finally. Today’s interview is from one of our blogging friends, My Son’s Father (MSF). You might remember us mentioning him in our three-month blogging update. So it was only right that we finally built up the courage to ask him for an interview. If you haven’t had a chance to check that post out yet, we met MSF through Twitter and blogging when he decided to leave us a comment on one of our posts. So enough with the introduction, let’s get into this interview!
How old are you?
37 Years Old. I was born at the end of 1979, so I fall into that weird generational gap between being a Gen Xer and a Millennial.
Are you married? Kids?
Yes, my wife is way out of my league, but I somehow convinced her to marry me. We’ve been happily married for the past 10 years and have 2 boys’ ages 7 and 6. My oldest is a carbon copy of my wife and my youngest is a carbon copy of me.
Why did you want to get out of debt?
I was taught at a young age that debt should be avoided. For some reason, this sage advice didn’t sink in until I found myself in a fair amount of debt. But once I woke up and realized just how bad our debt was, drastic action was taken. I hate the feeling of being indebted to someone.
I’ve always been a natural saver and even as a kid I would much prefer to keep my money than buy something with it. So I’ve tried to limit our monthly bills to have as few as possible. And paying off our debts was the best way to keep the money we were earning.
How much debt did you pay off? How long did it take you?
So we still carry our primary mortgage but hope to be in a position to pay that off in the next few years.
But if you add all the debts that we carried, our grand total was around $358,000 (this includes our mortgage). We didn’t have all that debt at the same time, but it gives you a rough estimate of what we were dealing with.
We also had 2 kids during this time and my wife and I each had some medical issues that needed to be addressed. So we could easily add another $10-$12k in medical bills during our debt repayment journey.
It took us about 8 years. Some years were more aggressive than others.
What type of debt did you pay off?
The vast majority of it was student loans, but we didn’t discriminate. We had car loans, second mortgages, credit card debt, and even some medical bills we had to pay off during that time.
What’s your income range?
We started tackling our debts right around the time that we got married and our combined yearly income at that time was around $60k. It has grown steadily since that time.
What was your plan for getting out of debt?
I mostly followed Dave Ramsey’s plan. Reading his books and listening to his podcasts were so encouraging while tackling our debt.
The one place I diverged from Ramsey’s plan was with retirement savings. This was primarily because it would take us years and years to pay off the debts. If it were only a matter of months I would have likely followed his plan to the letter.
How does it feel to be debt free?
This is a tough question to answer. It was different from what I thought. We were paying off debt for so long that by the time we got to the last few months, debt freedom felt inevitable.
Don’t get me wrong, when we sent in our last payment, it felt great. Just not as great as I expected it too.
Then the real surprise came. The weeks after paying off our debt, I felt lost. We’d worked towards this one goal for so long and when we finally achieved it I didn’t know what to do with myself. I hadn’t really thought about what came next.
I eventually settled on financial freedom as my next goal, but there were a few weeks of soul searching before I got there.
Are you investing?
Yes. Our primary investment vehicle is currently our 401k’s. Shortly after becoming debt free, we upped our contribution to the maximum allowable. In the last couple of years, we’ve also maxed out our HSA accounts as well and will plan on continuing to do so as long as we are able. Next will be Roth IRA’s followed by 529’s for our 2 boys. If there is anything left over, it’ll go into a taxable brokerage account.
What role did doing a budget play in you getting out of debt?
I’m a natural budgeter, but my wife is not. So when we first started paying off debt, I slashed our budget to the bone. And month after month my artfully crafted budget would fall apart.
While our budget was an integral piece of the puzzle in helping us get out of debt, it served a more important purpose in our debt free journey. It helped me understand that our priorities are different.
Not dramatically different. We still had the same end goal; we just had different tolerances to get there. Turns out my wife wanted to get a haircut every once in a while and buy new clothes more frequently than once a decade.
What’s your focus with your money now that you’re out of debt?
Is debt free spending a different feeling than spending with debt?
I’m not much of a spender and have always had a really hard time spending money on most things, with the exception of food and travel. However, now that we have no debt and a decent sized emergency fund, spending money feels really different.
My wife generally likes to join a gym for the few months of winter that she can’t get outside. When we had our baby emergency fund ($1000) and a mountain of debt, this was a very stressful addition to our budget. Now, I don’t even blink when I add it into our budget for those winter months.
Do you plan to live a debt free life now?
Absolutely! Barring some sort of medical emergency over several years that would decimate our savings, I can’t imagine going back into debt for any reason.
One tip or word of advice for someone trying to get out of debt?
One of the things I talk about on my site is my philosophy of change. I believe that the thing that gives us the best chance to create lasting change in our life is immersing yourself in the change you want in your life.
I don’t think I would’ve been able to maintain the motivation for debt freedom had I not immersed myself in debt free materials: podcasts, books, blogs, and relationships.
So my best advice is to keep reading what Kim and Omar have to say. Find other bloggers and podcasters you can relate to and fill your “entertainment hours” with reading and listening to what they have to say. And find a social group that either shares or supports your financial mission/values.
Our Thoughts: Thank you so much MSF for this interview and kicking off our Debt Free Finally series. You definitely got us off to a good start. We enjoyed your interview. You shared some great knowledge and tips for those who are trying to get out of debt, especially the idea of immersing yourself in the change you want in your life, which in this case, was debt freedom. It’s the same thing we did during our debt free journey.
If you’re not familiar with MSF, you can check him out at My Sons Father, where he talks about personal finance, family, minimalism, and life in general.
Thanks for the kind words Kim & Omar! It was fun answering your questions. I hope your readers get some benefit from it.
Absolutely MSF! I know some people will definitely benefit from it as I did! Awesome interview!
You’re welcome and thank you!!
Thank you MSF as well as Kim and Omar for sharing this post. I enjoy reading the different debt obstacles many of us face and our ways of overcoming those obstacles. This to me serves as a good tool in helping some, if not many individuals that are in debt to work towards achieving financial freedom.
Thanks Katrice! I hope others get some value from it.
Great read and an inspiration to someone on the debt free journey.
Glad you found it helpful. I remember reading a lot of debt free stories on my own journey to debt freedom, so it is nice to be able to pay it forward.
Great post! I think immersion is key. You’ve got to surround yourself with the right tools and people to stay focused and inspired. Try to stay clear of big spenders, negative talkers and anyone who’s energy brings you down.
Thanks for sharing MSF, Kim, and Omar.
Thank you! You offer some good tips as well. Sounds like we might need to interview you too. 😉
Awesome interview! Thanks so much MSF, for talking about money matters and discussing how you managed your financial situation.
Thank you for checking it out. Glad you enjoyed it!
Great stuff MSF!
I feel the same way about a budget. Not only is it now how we manage our money, but it was an amazing tool to figure out how my wife and I thought about money. We were able to become a team and identify our wants, goals, and long term aspirations!
Thanks for sharing!
Great interview Kim and Omar!
Thank you for checking it out Cameron!
Thanks MSF for sharing your financial situation and how you got out of debt. It shows that having a plan, a positive outlook and being motivated will eventually accomplish your goal(s).
Great interview Kim and Omar! Looking forward to more success stories.
Thanks Kris! MSF was definitely spot on in his interview.
Such an important goal in life! I hope to one day hopefully sooner than later be completely debt free, but those student loans always seem to get us.
You can do it! Just don’t give up! I promise you it’s worth it!
I love to read about people’s paths to debt freedom! I’m currently working to pay off my student loans and credit card debt, and I need the inspiration to keep going.
Yep. I’m the same way. I have to immerse myself in the goal to stick with it! There are tons of blogs and podcasts where you can continue to get inspiration! These are regular people just like you and me too.
Great interview! I love the idea of interviewing “real” people that find themselves in debt rather than just giving tips to get out of debt. As someone who has been struggling with debt (although it’s not a massive amount, it’s almost been 10 years I’ve been in debt) it does bring some stress into your life. It’s not obsessively in your thoughts, but it’s lurking around. Like MSF said ” I hate the feeling of being indebted to someone”.
Thanks Carissa. We definitely plan to do more of these types of interviews as well. I didn’t realize how much of a weight debt was until I get rid of all of it except my home honestly. These days I’m getting tired of having a house payment too! Hang in there though. You can do it!