Get FINANCIALLY Fit: Graduation :)

Today was graduation from our Financial Peace University class. 

When we started at the end of August, we had three credit cards (two were paid off, but we still had them open), two cars, and a student loan.  We also had a plan to save money.

And then we took this class and realized we were doing it ALL wrong.  We didn't need to save money, we needed to PAY BACK money!  And thus began our gazelle-intense journey to pay down our debt.  And the same for six other families.  Twelve weeks later:

This is SIX families.  SIX!  I am happy to say that $6,500 of that debt and two of those credit cards were ours!  It doesn't say how many cars were paid off, but if it did, ours would be up there!

Last night, Rick and I sat down and went over our goals again:

1. Establish an emergency fund of $1000 CHECK
2. Pay off Loan #1 - car.  CHECK
3. Pay off Loan #2 - credit card. GOAL: Paid off by Christmas 2013.
4. Pay off Loan #3 - other car.
5. Pay off Loan #4 - student loan.

We have only placed goals next to the loan we are currently working on in an effort to stay severely focused on the baby-step approach, but just for the heck of it, we mapped out what our debt-spending might look like if we kept this intensity up.  It was pretty exciting, and actually had us out of all non-mortgage debt much sooner than we originally anticipated.

And the REALLY great news is that we are going to have Loan #2 paid off by the end of November instead of December!  That means we jump an entire month ahead!  YAAAAAAAAAAAY!

As we celebrated our successes over breakfast with our class this morning, we all shared what was most significant about this experience.  It was neat to hear what everyone learned - things like how to shop for insurance, how to manage the debt snowball, how understand and communicate with your spouse about money, but my favorite moment was when my husband shared something like this:

We have always talked about money, struggled with money, tried to be responsible with money, but for the first time in our marriage, we have had a single, common financial goal that we are both 100% committed to, and it's working.  We are already seeing the results, and we have a plan.

This is our book, our diploma, and the $10 gift card we won!

In closing, if you have the opportunity to take this class, TAKE IT!  Even if you aren't struggling financially, I promise you you won't regret it.  You will learn something, even if feels more like marriage counseling than a finance class.  It costs to enroll, but we ended up taking the class for free, because the church reimburses all who graduate from the class at 50%, and Rick's work will reimburse all employees who take the class at 50%!  You really can't beat that.

Congrats to all our graduates!