Get Busy Livin' or Get Busy Dyin'

 I'm an accountant by trade and my wife an artist.  Oddly if you look at our DiSC profiles I'm an iD (influence/dominance) and she is an SC (Steadiness/Conscientiousness).  Both personalities don't match the career, but it's what we chose and with a bit of reframing over time it's worked out fabulously.

One point we've never really been aligned on is finances.  We are both (mainly her) pretty frugal and more money has come in than has gone out, so it's never been a pain point.  But we are getting up there and our dreams aren't getting smaller so we started following Dave Ramsey.  It started as an ironic purchase of a book we would likely never use, and turned into a tectonic shift. 

Absolutely worth the read

Over two years we poured all extra resources into paying off debt.  This isn't easy, but there are quick wins that keep your eye on the prize.  

First were silly credit cards (we never let this get out of hand, but always had a bit of credit spread about on consumer cards).  This was sorted in a matter of months with some tight budgeting.

Next were the bigger loans, which for us was a Toyota Tacoma and windows for the house.  These took over a year to pay down.  When we finally tackled these there was no overwhelming sense of ownership that I thought would come.  We maybe had a beer to celebrate in the front yard...but we probably would have found something to celebrate anyway.  

What we did realize was how much extra cash came in after those payments ended.  Every subscription, every card payment, every car note had a material impact on our bank account and our savings kept growing.  Cobbling together an emergency fund when the pandemic hit took mere months. 

Growing our savings became addictive, and in a matter of years we had all debt paid off...with the minor exception of our house. 

This all started before COVID and became more important through the Pandemic.  In times of uncertainty you take stock and prepare for the worst.  Financially we were right where in a great place, but realistically I didn't own my truck or house and couldn't last more than a few months if my income dried up.  

The pandemic continued, politics went off the rails and as the uncertainty grew, we realized we needed to do something about our mortgage.