Temperance: WE'RE DEBT FREE!!

It has taken me a lot longer to post this than I had hoped but it is finally up, and we're still in the black 8 months later! God is good! 

On February 13th, 2013 we accomplished a goal we've been working toward since Miss E. was only a few months old (September 2008). We made the final payment on my student loan, the last of our non-mortgage debt. The moment when I logged in to my student loan account and scheduled the final payment was AWESOME! This feeling of  relief passed over me and I couldn't help but remember the day when Jared told me that we were going to attempt what I thought was impossible and live without credit cards. If you remember my original post, Temperance: Getting Out of Debt, about our journey toward freedom, we were hoping to be debt free by Christmas 2011 so we could call the Dave Ramsey Show to make our "Debt Free Scream" as a Christmas present to ourselves. 

But Murphy came knocking and delayed our progress. We had to replace our van (since it was the only vehicle that could fit our whole family) and wanted to pay cash for it so extra money went toward that instead of debt. Then the company Jared worked for hit a rough patch and all bonuses stopped. Needless to say, those last 18 months were really hard and we wanted to make a big deal out of our accomplishment so we did something big. We decided to take Mr. R. and Miss E. on a road trip to Financial Peace Plaza to make our "Debt Free Scream" live on the show at the beginning of April. Grandma graciously took Miss A and Miss S, we rented a car, and headed for Nashville, TN. We drove pretty much non-stop till we got to Bowling Green, KY where we spent the night. Then we got up and drove to Nashville. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip but it was worth it. It took a lot of work to become debt free and the reward was awesome! Of course, we had to fit a trip to Puckett's Grocery in while there as you'll see from a few of the pictures. :)

Here's a short picture video of our trip and live appearance on the Dave Ramsey Show. I still get a little emotional when I listen to it and think about all that happened in those 4 1/2 years that it took to get things paid off.