If you had told me in February 2025 that we'd be completely debt free 17 months later, I'm not sure I would have believed you.
At the time, we had $72,000 of consumer debt. And honestly, seeing that number was overwhelming. But we decided it was time to do something about it. We wanted to get out from under our debt, become better stewards of what God had given us, and ultimately have more freedom with our money.
So we made a plan, prayed a lot, and started making some changes.
On July 28, 2026, we officially made our final payment. We're debt free!
And when I say debt free, I mean completely debt free. Our cars are paid off, our consumer debt is gone, and now we've moved on to our next big financial goal: paying off our mortgage early.
We're definitely not done with the journey, but this feels like a huge milestone.
We Had to Get Really Honest About Our Spending
The first thing we had to do was actually look at where our money was going. We started budgeting more intentionally and tracking our spending with Monarch. Having everything in one place made it much easier to see what was coming in, what was going out, and where we had room to make changes.
Once we had a goal in front of us, some of those changes became pretty obvious. We cancelled Disney+ and our Canva subscription, paused Amazon Prime, and stopped using Amazon Subscribe & Save. We cut way back on eating out and stopped our regular Starbucks trips.
We also stopped buying new clothes unless we really needed something. For our kids, we were blessed to receive hand-me-downs, which saved us a lot of money during a season when they're growing out of clothes constantly.
We put home upgrades on hold, too. There were definitely things around the house that we would have loved to change or improve, but we decided that becoming debt free was more important.
And we decided not to take a vacation in 2025.
None of these things felt particularly dramatic on their own. But when you're trying to pay off $72,000, all those little expenses start to matter. We had to remind ourselves that saying "not right now" didn't mean "never." It just meant we had a bigger goal.
We Made Some Bigger Changes, Too
Some of our decisions were a little more significant. We switched our phone plan to Mint Mobile, which helped lower our monthly expenses, and we looked for other ways to reduce our regular bills.
I also sold my 2023 car.
That one was a big one. We realized that having newer vehicles while carrying a large amount of consumer debt didn't really make sense for the season of life we were in. So we made the decision to sell it.
For about five months, we even borrowed a family member's car while we saved enough money to buy a ten-year-old minivan with cash.
Was that necessarily the most glamorous season of our lives? No.
But it worked.
We also refinanced our second car loan to free up some monthly cash flow and found a lower-income energy savings program that helped reduce our energy bill. Eventually, we were able to eliminate our car loans completely.
That was a huge part of the bigger picture for us. We didn't just want to pay off our credit cards and other consumer debt. We wanted to get to a place where we didn't owe money on our cars, either.
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We Started Throwing Extra Money at the Debt
One thing we became really intentional about was not letting extra money disappear into our regular spending.
If we received extra money, we tried to put it toward the debt. Our tax refund went toward the debt. Bonuses went toward the debt. Birthday money went toward the debt. Any extra income we received went toward the debt.
I also started putting the money I made from my blog toward our debt. I joined the Amazon Influencer program and used that additional income to help pay down our balances.
We sold things we weren't using on OfferUp, and I used apps like Fetch and Achievement to earn rewards and gift cards. We also shopped sales and bought certain things in bulk when it made sense.
Little by little, those extra dollars added up.
It was actually encouraging to realize that extra money doesn't have to be a lot of money to make a difference. Sometimes it was $20. Sometimes it was $100. Sometimes it was much more.
But every time we sent money toward that debt instead of spending it somewhere else, we knew we were getting a little closer.
We Learned From People Who Had Done It Before
We also spent a lot of time watching and learning from Dave Ramsey and his 7 Baby Steps.
Having a framework helped us. We didn't have to reinvent the wheel. We could learn from people who had already walked through the process of getting out of debt and then figure out what made sense for our family.
We also sold stocks from my previous company and put that money toward the debt.
It wasn't always easy to watch money leave our hands instead of using it for something fun. But we kept reminding ourselves why we were doing it.
We wanted freedom.
And We Prayed. A Lot.
This might actually be the biggest part of the story for us.
We prayed. A lot.
We prayed daily that the Lord would give us wisdom and guide us toward becoming debt free. Because ultimately, we didn't want this to just be about paying off a number.
We wanted to become better stewards. We wanted to learn contentment. We wanted to stop looking at our money as something we needed to spend just because we had it.
And there were so many moments along the way where we could look back and see God's provision.
My husband received a promotion at work—praise God! That additional income made a meaningful difference.
We found ways to earn extra money. We sold things we no longer needed. We received hand-me-down clothes for our kids. We found ways to lower our bills. And somehow, month after month, the balance kept going down.
It wasn't always easy, but we kept moving forward.
Then We Made the Final Payment
And suddenly, July 28, 2026 arrived.
The number was finally $0.
Seventeen months after starting with $72,000 of consumer debt, we were officially debt free.
I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling.
Because this journey wasn't just about cutting out subscriptions or eating at home more. It taught us a lot about ourselves.
It taught us that we can live with less. That we don't need to have everything right now. That used can be just as good as new. That staying home for dinner can actually be something to celebrate. That hand-me-downs are a blessing. That sometimes the best thing you can do with extra money is not spend it.
And, maybe most importantly, it reminded us that God is faithful.
We had to do our part. We had to make hard choices, change our habits, and stay disciplined. But we also saw God's provision throughout the entire process.
What's Next?
For the first time in a long time, when we look at our consumer debt, there's nothing there.
$0.
And when we look at our cars, there's nothing there either.
$0.
Now we're taking that same mindset and turning our attention toward our mortgage. Our next big financial goal is to pay off our house early.
We're excited about this next chapter, but we're also trying to remember to enjoy where we are right now. Becoming debt free took a lot of sacrifice, and we don't want to rush past the blessing of actually getting here.
We're incredibly grateful for what these 17 months taught us. We're grateful for the ways God provided, for the people who helped us along the way, and even for the things we had to give up.
Because looking back, I don't think we really gave up as much as we thought we were giving up.
We were trading some temporary wants for something we wanted much more.
Freedom.
And now we get to see what God does with the next chapter.
We're debt free. We're paying off our mortgage next.
And we're just getting started.
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