Our Debt-Free Story

We made some really lame financial decisions in the first few years of our marriage. When we finally got serious about creating a game plan, we started to change our marriage, and our family tree.

We paid off $39,772.05 in 23 months.

The journey is far from over, but we've kicked it in the pants and are now debt-free. It's not been easy, but it's sure been rewarding. We've been able to do some pretty cool things since paying off our debt like: Having a baby, Kelsey switching to part-time, Eric becoming a Financial Coach.

Book

It's Your Money: What Will You Do With It? We were a few years out of college with a brand new house we could barely afford and nearly $40,000 in debt. After overspending $1,500 one month, we decided to clean up our act before starting a family and spent the next 23 months digging our way out of debt on a very average household income. This book will tell you how we did it and give you practical steps on how you can do it, too.

You might be frustrated with all of the money advice you get. It can be very pointed and opinionated. But there is usually more than one way of doing things. While understanding financial principles is great, you'll ultimately have to discover what works for you and your money. It's Your Money is a book with two parts. The first part tells our' story, filled with money lessons we learned throughout our early adult life - how we ended up in debt due to financial mistakes and lessons we were never taught growing up. Part II is filled with practical action steps to help you get a handle on your own finances and start developing a plan to help you achieve your goals. You'll be motivated and inspired to win with your money.

We all have different stories of how we first learned to handle money. In this video we share our personal experience in how we grew up learning about money.
This is video two in our money story series. Watch the video to learn: How much student loan debt we graduated with Which one of us had a job in college Who paid for things while we were dating Our first experiences with credit cards How Eric paid for my engagement ring Leave a question in the comments or email us at eric[at]wordsofwilliams[dot]com.
We continue our money story with our engagement and how we handled money early on in our marriage.
Watch the Video to Learn: -Why we think budgeting saved our marriage -How we paid off $39,772.05 in debt -Why paying off debt is emotional and not mathematical -How I felt when Eric got his second job -How long it took us to get out of debt -How it feels to be debt-free!
This Video Is All About: -Where we were when we decided to take Financial Peace University -My (fake) love language -How long our first budget took us and why it ended in tears -The first line item on our budget -Watch the other three videos to hear how we learned about money growing up, the college years and our first jobs, and our early years of marriage.

Featured On

Eric was interviewed by Jess Lively for her podcast "The Lively Show." She had this to say about our story...

After reading this book, I was so inspired by his story that I spent the rest of the day with my husband reevaluating our finances. Since then, we have killed two(!) student loans and are now substantially saving for a new home in the next two years. I can quite honestly say that his story has made a profound and positive impact on our financial future... -Jess Lively (with-intention.com)

Check out the podcast and show notes from the Lively Show