Life Changing Event
It happened like that, in the blink of an eye, I was in the hospital, after Amelia was born, with post-partum pre-eclampsia. And that was it, that was our life event that changed the way we spent money.
John and I were always pretty good with money. We had a budget, we paid all our bills on time and every month. We made sure we saved a little. But after Amelia was born, I started getting these awful headaches that would not go away. About 6 days after Amelia was born, my mother in law and John kept urging me to go to the hospital. I didn’t want to go because of what I thought would be a $100. copay (John later informed me that it was a $250. copay.) That was the amount of money that came between me almost losing my life and going to the hospital. One hundred dollars. My blood pressure was so high, the doctors said I was lucky I didn’t have a stroke.
On the path towards debt free living
After I recovered and returned home, John said he was fed up. He couldn’t believe he almost lost me over $100. So, we stalked Dave Ramsey’s Facebook page like a couple of ex-girlfriends. We started on his baby steps (which if you don’t know you should check them out). We paid off my school loan, my car loan, about $1000. in credit card debt, and about $6000. in medical bills from being in the hospital. All of it totalling about $13,000. And we paid it off in 8 months. We owe our financial freedom thanks to him.
It was the best feeling ever. Almost as good as the birth of our two beautiful daughters. We did it because of them. It brought John and I closer together, closer than we have ever been. It strengthened our marriage and made us find clarity in what is really important. We set our financial goals based on what we want in this life. And that’s to travel the world with each other and our girls. We are debt free and working towards paying off our house. After we pay off our house, John and I plan on taking the girls on a three month long vacation traveling around Europe. Wish us luck! 😉
