There are several reasons we want to get rid of debt but it all comes down to living a simpler life. Debt freedom will give us more options to live the life we desire. We also want to set our future generations up for financial success because generational wealth is important to us.
I came to the marriage debt-free and had paid off almost 90k in 4 years – most of which were student loans. I made a lot of missteps as I transitioned from high school to college and graduate school. If I could do it over, I would have been more intentional in finding smarter ways to get through school with little to no debt. But I learned valuable lessons that I now share with others and we will be passing these lessons on to the kids.
Sean had very little debt when we got married – kudos to him! We quickly paid it off shortly after the honeymoon and that left us with just a small mortgage that we were comfortably paying month to month. But we weren’t intentional at paying it down quickly.
Fast forward and we purchased 2 rental properties, one before the birth of each child.
Those were intentional decisions each time. We also bought a ‘new to us’ vehicle after baby girl was born to accommodate our growing family.
The last debt onboard was a HELOC used to add on to our home in preparation for baby boy’s arrival – again, growing family. Do you see the trend?
We love our neighborhood and our home, and purchasing a larger home would have been more expensive than expanding the one we are in. It was a calculated decision, an intentional one that we do not regret. But we don’t want to hold on to this debt for the rest of our lives.
Gratefully we are on the same page with spending but as we relaxed into life we also lost focus and weren’t assigning every dollar a job. Don’t get me wrong, we still did fairly well. We saved an emergency fund and saved down payments for each of the rental properties we purchased. But there was definitely room for improvement. We aim to improve.
Now it’s time to work!
Our grand total of debt a few short months ago when we decided to pursue debt freedom was $377,740.98.
Here’s the breakdown:
Vehicle: $2,832.30
Rental Property #1: $41,455.52
Rental Property #2: $51,290.16
Primary Residence: $282,163.00
We paid off what was left on the vehicle earlier this year and now that we are refocused, the goal is to pay off the rental properties as quickly as we can. Our current total remaining debt is $353,049.24.
Progress!
Using the debt snowball method made popular by Dave Ramsey, we are focused on the smallest debt – rental property #1.
Join us as we chase debt freedom to live a simpler life. We’d love to encourage you along your personal finance journey, whether you aim to increase savings, build up investments or pursue debt freedom like us!
What are some of your current financial goals?
With Intention,
Sean & Simone
Definitely a good goal, and it looks like you have mostly “good” debt in the form of real estate which is great! Just don’t go back to college any time soon and you should be in good shape!
We struggle with that term “good debt” because ultimately we want no debt. But we understand why its labeled that way. Don’t worry, no more college debt ever! Thank you so much for reading and commenting. We appreciate you.
Love your blog OurIntentionalFarm! Great job implementing Ramsey’s Debt Snowball Method. Before you know it, that debt will be zeroed out! Keep up the great work!
Thank you FreshLifeAdvice! Appreciate your positive words. We hope you are right with the zeroed out before we know it. That sure would be nice. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. We appreciate you.
It is a good goal to be debt-free and you are doing a great job pursuing it! I really liked the fact you bought rental properties before each of your children. As they will give you so many options when your kids are older e.g. a place for your kids to live or your ability to sell them to pay for your kids education. Not to mention, how you will continue to get rent cheques every year anyway!
Thank you Financial Fred! We are hopeful that the rental properties will be of great value to the kids when they get older. All of those options you’ve mentioned are fantastic! The rental income goes directly to the mortgages so they are paying for themselves, we just want to accelerate the payoff. Stick around to see our progress. Thank you for reading and commenting. We appreciate you.
Congrats on paying off the car. Nothing like having a plan and purpose for your money. To have rentals and be debt free sounds like a dream–a very peaceful dream. We’re debating possibly using leverage and getting a rental property to diversify in the next year or two. Curious to see if you guys would have done anything differently with the rentals looking back?
Thanks Noel! Sounds like you have great plans ahead. I’ll be keeping an eye out over on your website for what decisions you make. Honestly, we don’t think we would have changed anything besides maybe working harder to save more of a down payment each time. We could have squeezed the budget more but we’re glad we bought when we did. Property values have since gone up and had we waited, may not have been able to get in or likely would have had to purchase further out. We want to get more properties in the future but we plan on doing cash purchases next time, so going to have to be patient and wait on the right deals when that time comes. Thanks so much for reading and commenting. We appreciate you.
Great goals indeed!
I witnessed the pre-wedding sacrifices Simone made and look forward to a zero balance this decade.
My goal:
First up to pay off my $4k in consumer debt by January 18th (one month before my birthday), build an emergency & savings account and tackle my student loans aggressively. After that will be my mortgage.
*I do plan to go from a 2001 Honda Accord to a used SUV to accommodate business needs more than anything. Naturally, I will not get one beyond a certain amount with plans to pay off within 30 months.
Shon, I got there with your help. You are one of the best accountability partners I could ask for! Thank you for sharing your goals! That’s what this site is about – supporting each other through our journeys. You’ve got great plans ahead and they are well within your grasp. Please continue to check-in and let us know how it’s going. We are cheering you on! Zero balance is ahead for both of us. Thanks for reading and commenting. We appreciate you and your continued support.
You guys have been and continue to be a great inspiration for my journey towards debt freedom. Keep up the great work!!
Thank you, Donas! We will do our best. You keep us going. Keep us updated on your debt-free journey too, we love hearing about other experiences and want to cheer you on. Thank you for reading and commenting, we appreciate you!