Debt stinks. Trevor and I have come to an agreement on that. Neither one of us thought too much about our debt when we were first married, but it is certainly on our minds lately.
When we got married I owned about $16,000 for student loans and Trevor had about $5,000 worth of student loans from NIU. When it came time to decide where to go to seminary, Trevor chose Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). Although we decided that he would not get his masters of divinity because it would take four years (and two extra years of taking out loans) we did decide despite the high price tag it was worth it for Trevor to attend. Trevor loved his experience there and I am so glad he got to go there because I know he really wanted to, however, it left us an additional $23,000 of student loans to pay off. Even though that is a lot, it could have been a lot more if Trevor had not gotten scholarships and grants. Two years ago when my car was near its end we financed a new car for about $12,000. Adding it is incredible, it amounts to $56,000! What’s more incredible is that Trevor and I have never even made close to that in one year even when we both were working.
We started out faithfully paying the minimum payments on our debt with the goal of paying off my student loan before we had to begin paying Trevor’s (his were in deferment because he was attending graduate school). We came close to accomplishing that, but not quite. It was this past summer that we got serious about getting out of debt as quickly as possible. I read a book by Dave Ramsey (and although I do not agree with all his Baby Steps I do agree with at least steps 1-3) and got fired up about living debt free, Trevor got on board and then things really started moving. If you are familiar with Dave Ramsey we are on Baby Step 2-Debt Snowball.
Despite not having an income for about the first 3 months that we lived in Kansas we managed to pay off the $4,000 we had remaining on my student loan from NIU. We also decided that one of us would get a job (either me a part-time job or Trevor would take on a second job). Currently, besides working his full-time job Trevor also works an additional 20 hours or so at Target (all income earned there goes directly to debt).
It has been amazing to be able to see God’s provision for not only our daily needs, but to see his provision for our desire to get out of debt. One month someone from Harvest (the church we attended before moving) sent us a check for $500! Another month we miscalculated our income in a good way that left money to put towards our debt. In October we didn’t realize there were five weeks, which meant we had an extra $600 to put towards our debt. I can’t wait to see what God does next. Another great thing is that even though we are trying to get out of debt we have been able to give a greater tithe to the church because of the extra income from Target. Because we always pay our bills and give at least the minimum on our debt each month we also have the freedom to give freely when an opportunity arises.
We have been paying faithfully on our car loan and still owe about $8,500. We are really looking forward to January-in January we get to pay off Trevor’s undergrad (only $1,500 left)! Our goal is to have our car title in our hands by July. Then we will only have one debt left, a $22,000 debt, but still, only one instead of three or four.
Elizabeth NIU- $16,000 6/08
TEDS (directly from Trinity)- $1000 10/08
Trevor NIU-$5,000
Car-$12,000
TEDS (IDAPP)-$22,000
It is my hope that I will be able to continue to share of the ways God is helping us to get out of debt in future posts.