A reader's success story!

I just got this note, and I had to share it. This is just AWESOME!

I just wanted to share with you my financial step in the right direction. I think it was in August or September that I read one of your articles about budgeting. My husband and I had a very good and frank discussion about our money and where we wanted to be financially. We sat on the couch one night and broke down all the numbers. The wonderfully amazing part is that there were no tears, no yelling, just honest statements about how we have behaved as the financial decision makers in our household. We both came into our marriage with credit card debt and were both paying crazy interest on all the cards. Whereas the debt wasn't very large ($2,500 for me and about $3,000 for him), it was consuming our budget. At that point I decided that I needed to make a change in my habits. I was tired of giving away my money to a company that obviously didn't need it. Starting September 14, I took every single penny of "my money" (money that is deposited into my personal account each paycheck after our joint account is funded) and paid it toward my credit card bills. This meant that I no longer ate out for breakfast or lunch, no shopping excursions, no extras. Period. It was definitely the hardest thing I have done in a long time. I am ecstatically happy to tell you that I made my very last payment yesterday and as of now, I no longer have any credit card debt! The very best part of it, is that I had not told my husband what I was doing and that is my gift to him for Christmas. I wanted to tell you thank you for sharing your wisdom and helping people like me make moves in the right direction.

My goal is to now help my husband pay his debts off. Our reward to each other is paying cash for our next vacation in November.

Thanks again Pete and Merry Christmas!

Tonya

Merry Christmas to you, Tonya!

Do you have a success story to share? Email me at askpete@petetheplanner.com!