Disney World - December 2018

Ronda, Spain - March 2019

This blog post came sooner than we had expected! Our original end goal was September 2021!! But here we are, officially debt free!!!! 29 months early!! Its surreal! We paid off our last debt on April 24, 2018.  We were very fortunate that things fell into place for us. It really does feel liberating, and now that we're on this end of the journey, we highly encourage all of you to get on some kind of debt free journey. It doesn't matter what method you do, or follow, just be on one. And go all in.  Live frugally until you've reached your end goal, because its so worth it. As Dave Ramsey would say "Live like no one so [later] you can live like no one else." Having debt seems to be the norm. Everyone has it, or has had it. You got a car loan? You're in debt. Since getting on this journey, we have truly understood how it is to live below our means. It meant saying no to things that did not benefit our journey, being picky about the things we buy, and really plan ahead when it came to our finances. Most of this journey is about having a plan and sticking to it. Don't compare your journey to others because we all though all walk similar paths, its not the same situations. Do you, and do it with purpose. Prioritize what is important to you, and right now having the financial freedom was way more important than upgrading my car (which we almost did). The van can wait.


Seeing that "Congratulations" banner when I logged into my student loan account after the payment had been processed, felt really really good.  Im sure you're curious to know, how we crushed baby step 2 in just 7 months? Consistency and determination. We set a budget and stuck with it. Also, the odds were in our favor. John re-enlisted back in January and with that reenlistment came a bonus. We used some of the bonus pay he got to pay down debt and using majority of the profit we made from selling our house to eventually pay it all off. Being able to pay everything off last month couldn't have come at a perfect time.  John moving to a shore duty command and no longer on a ship, meant he lost sea pay... which meant a pay cut. All $500/month of it. Thats a lot, since we were already on a good rhythm with our budget. So we had to sit down and adjust the budget plan. We had to cut back in a lot of areas. He does eventually get instructor pay to make up for some of the money lost.

Fast forward to April! We sold our house and at asking price!! We decided to sell our house when John got new orders. We were thinking of putting it up for rent, but after several horrible stories we've heard about rental properties and horrible tenants, we just didn't want to deal with it at the moment. John does eventually want to buy a couple of houses (in the future) to use as rental properties, once we've saved up a good amount of money. We also decided to just rent a home in our new duty station since we will only be here for 3.5 years, and promised we wont be those horrible tenants we hear of! Haha! We will most likely continue renting until John retires in about 8 years. With the profit we made from selling the house, we were able to pay off my student loan and become DEBT FREE, while putting the rest of it in the FFEF, putting us at 85% funded by the end of April. Surreal!!

I used to only read stories of people being debt free, now here we are a part of that tribe, sharing our story. It all started one summer with Dave Ramsey's book and the drive to change our lifestyle. I hope that we at least get one person to think about their financial goals and journey. We all get wrapped up in wanting all the new gadgets, keeping up with the trends and keeping up with the Joneses that sometimes we get into so much debt for it. Its pretty human nature. Trying to fight the urge to splurge/shop was hard, but it was definitely a habit we had to break. We hope to pass this life lesson down to our kids so that they'll hopefully make better financial decisions. Its possible to have a good time, while being on a budget. Don't let the word "budget" scare you. Being on a budget doesn't have to restrict you, if you play it right, it actually has the opposite effect, at least for us. It is so liberating because the burden of having debt has been lifted. Being debt free is just the beginning. We've got so many more financial goals to accomplish.

Tune in and follow us along to see what we're up to now that we're debt free!

At first I was hesitant about posting this part of our lives for the public to see (& possibly judge us), but as I have been inspired by others, I hope to shed some light to at least one person. The debt free community on instagram has been an amazing motivator. It is filled with hundreds of brave people putting their struggles out there and has been amazing to watch how similar we all are. Similar, but not the same. So be careful and not to compare yourself to other peoples journey. Remember, we don't all have the same financial situations, always go with the plan that works best for you and yours! Plus! Putting it out there for the universe to see keeps us accountable (right, right?) This is also a way for me to keep track and have something to look back on and see how far we've gone. Also I had several people respond to my instagram message asking about what and how were tackling this debt free journey of ours. These are gonna be a series of blogs, so stay tuned, feel free to follow along! :)


Since my motivation for all this was partly because of Dave Ramsey's book "Total Money  Makeover" that I finally got to reading last summer, I decided I'd followed his methods, (while also making it our own): the Baby Steps. What are they?

You'll also hear of the Avalanche method, which can be found here, basically a stacking method which allows you to repay your debts in the shortest amount of time in which you pay less interest. So you pay off your highest interest debt first. I'll blog about this on another post as this is what we ended up using after the second month because John felt this method worked for our situation better.

Avalanche Method (this is how the list would look - listing from highest interest to lowest)

• Best Buy Card
• John's CC
• My CC
• Milstar Card
• Kia Sorento
• Student loan 1
• Student loan 2

I was ashamed that I've let us accumulate so much debt, because majority of it is my student loan that I put on deferment/forbearance year after year since I graduated back in 2014, and my reasoning was because I didn't have a stable job. It was such a stupid reason because I did have a job, I just wasn't getting paid much, but my mindset was different then. "I'll pay this off once I get a better paying and stable job." And would spend the money on something that only gave me instant gratification. So what happened to the stable job I was hoping to get? Nothing. I became a stay at home mom. After having had a baby one after the other, I knew making monthly payments would be difficult. I didnt make quite enough from my small photography business to pay for my loans monthly, so I paid when I could, and I didn't feel like it was fair that John would have to pay for it since it was my loan, but he was always willing to. Everything up until I became a SAHM,  Ive paid off on my own if it was just under my name. I guess I didn't want to be labeled as a "dependa" (if you're military, Im sure youve heard that word before!) My student loans weighed me down, and I knew I had to figure out a way to rise above it.

After doing a little bit of research and setting up a game plan, I excitedly brought up the idea to John. His response was "I was waiting for your lead. Whats the game plan?" I guess it made sense, since I did handle most of our finances. I love that I didn't even have to do my presentation to get him on board, he was immediately all for it! I think we both knew we needed this, just didn't know how to discuss it because we've never really laid out the amount of debt we had. We kind of just live day to day thinking we were ok, surviving. I told him, things would have to change and we would have to cut back and make small sacrifices, "baby steps" and he was totally on board. So we went all in. Before you go on this debt free journey, you and your partner both have to commit 110% and both have to understand and be on the same page about where and how you want this to go. As Dave would say "Gazelle Intensity!" You cant go in this lifestyle change with one foot in, you gotta give it your all because the first few months was the hardest. Change is always hard at first, but before you know it, it just becomes second nature.

"Stop trying to keep up with the trend!! Live below your means."  If I only had this same mindset and drive then, I could have easily started paying off my student loans, but admittedly, materialism and consumerism got the best of me (us).  Ya know, trying to "keep up with the Joneses!" and what was trendy and in. I feel like we could have prioritized and managed our money better. I cant remember where I read it, but someone once said "You cant keep up with the Joneses. You know why? Because they are either LUCKY or BROKE." Of all the stories and books I'd read, most of them say that you wont even recognize a millionaire if he were walking next to you because a lot of them (i think unless you're a celebrity) live below their means. They don't drive the fancy brand new cars, live in massive homes (read The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley). So there's a better chance that not, that the person driving that brand new lambo, if they weren't born into wealth, are in debt. Growing up I used to think that if you had all the fancy name brand stuff, luxury cars, big houses that you were rich. Crazy rich! And I was a bit envious. I was wrong. Unless they were born into wealth, or they were the Kardashians (heck even they might be in debt!), most of these people were in debt. Am I still envious now? HELL NO. It has shifted my mindset in a whole different level.

Its funny because now that John is a chief and making a little more than he was, we finally decide to cut back on our lifestyle. It took us long enough. It was a change we needed badly. Ya kow "live like no one else, so that later, we can live like no on else." If you read Dave's book, you'll understand that quote! Now we truly understand the term "live below your means." Just because we got a raise, it didn't mean we had to raise our lifestyle either. I often hear people talk about "Man, I cant wait to land a 6 figure job, so I can finally afford a bigger house, this car, that car." Im not going to lie, I probably have thought this way. I think after all this, we no longer want to fall in that path again. We want something? Fund it ourselves.

Along with John's promotion, we are also fortunate that John's rate in the military allows him to receive re-enlistment bonuses. John was supposed to buy a Toyota Tacoma (the truck he's been wanting for a while) after he started getting his E7 pay, but since we've decided to go on this journey, he willingly said it can wait. He recently re-enlisted at the beginning of the month and got a generous bonus, and we put a portion of it towards debt, and the others into our 3-6 month EF, and certificates. Being on the same page and understanding that little sacrifices like this will be worth it in the end is what keeps us going. Long term goals > instant gratification is now carved in our minds. This mindset has helped us walk way from impulse buys and wants and stick to what we need. Don't get me wrong, we still have fun. I have a 'Fun Money' category in our budget plan,  along with Vacations, which I will discuss in another blog post, but our budget planning now allows us to plan better and do better without having to tap into money we don't own. We've also been more conscious about what we buy and bring in the home (this could partly be because of Marie Kondo, if it doesnt spark joy, it doesnt belong in our home. Haha!)


** Please note that not everyones journey is the same. Find out what will work best for you and your family. Be consistent. Im writing about my journey to hopefully shed some light and motivate you.  Im no financial advisor, FAR FROM IT. But take our journey, and make it your own. I have added several people on instagram in the debt free journey/debt free community and it has been such an inspiration and motivation for us because we know with hard work, consistency and drive.. financial freedom is possible. I wish you the very best on this journey of yours, and thank you for following along on ours! Stay tuned for more! **

Since Ive been gone for more than two years, I figured I'd do a little introduction on our sweet girl! 

Amelia Cassidy was born on June 23, 2017 sometime around 7:50 pm. Bare with me as I dont remember all the exact details! This was, after all, 18 months ago! Anyway, I learned from my labor with Tristan to wait it out. I remember waking up that morning and instantly knew I was going to be in labor soon cuz my contractions where off the wall! They weren't super painful yet, but by 10a.m. I started calling everyone that needed to know. I called John who had duty the night before and was at work, and of course I couldn't get a hold of him! So, I put it out there on social media and someone from his work relayed the message to him. He was home by 11am. I also called my sister who was at work as well, and she was able to come home after lunch time. 

In contrary to my experience with Tristan, we didn't rush to the hospital. I made sure to take a nice warm shower, fixed myself up, took photos with Tristan one last time before he officially became a big bro, and ate a little bit because I knew once I got to the hospital, that was it. Ice chips all day. Lol! Around 3:00 pm, we finally decided to head to the hospital because my contractions were getting closer and closer. By the time we got to the hospital, I couldn't even stand straight anymore. I didnt have to wait in the triage room, or whatever room it was that I waited the first time. They rolled me in a wheelchair straight to the birthing room. It turns out, I was already 5cm dilated. 

I was checked in, changed, hooked up to monitors and on that bed by 4:20pm. It all happened so fast. There was no waiting around for 12 hours like we did with Tristan. Luckily I got to say good bye and kiss him goodnight and got some more photos before my sister dropped him off at his Godparent's house where he will be staying the night. 

Three hours later, around 7:40pm, I pushed for about 10 minutes and out came our sweet girl, Amelia. It was the easiest labor compared to what I went through with Tristan! No rips, nothing. I felt a lot better this time too. I went straight into breast feeding and she latched on like a champ! Thank goodness! We also asked them to take her into the nursery so we could actually get some sleep this time. What a difference it made!! We were out of the hospital and at home by June 25! John took the 10 straight days vs. breaking it up! My parents flew in 5 days after I gave birth and they were huge help!! 

We had several visitors while we were at the hospital. But our favorite one was when Tristan first met Amelia! He walked in and I swear it felt like he became a big kid over night. He looked taller, but I know it was just me and it was all in my head. He was more excited to see the balloons in the room than meet his sister though! Haha! After grabbing a balloon, we sat him on t he bed and he finally got to meet Amelia. He saw her and said "baby?" and then he gave her a kiss on the forehead without us even asking him too! It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Im glad my sister caught it on video! Tristan also had a "big brother" gift basket waiting for him in the hospital room that I had put together before I went into labor. I also made them t-shirts that said "biggie" and "smalls" that they both wore at the hospital!

• I got a full-time job working at the Treasurer's office. It was good, but I feel like everyone I worked with were so pessimistic and it was toxic. I just feel like they weren't happy with their jobs and you can really tell. I didn't last long because around the March timeframe, Amelia decides she was no longer going to sleep through the night. It was the time she started teething. And holy moly! She was up twice at night. Id breastfeed, go back to sleep, then she'd wake up an hour later. It was torture! I'd sometimes go to work with 2.5 hours of sleep. I finally decided to just leave because it wasn't worth my sanity, and the kids were starting to get the bad side of me.

• Amelia got baptized and became part of the Catholic faith on Feb 4! We had a small celebration at our house after the church ceremony.

April - May

• My dad came back the middle of April!! John was gearing up to finish the last few underways and these were longer periods, so my Dad came back and stayed until July. He came back to spend time with the kids, but having him here is always so helpful!

• My sister got engaged! My now brother in law graduated from basic in April, and he proposed to her. They have known each other since they were maybe 10/11 through dancing? And story goes, he's always had a crush on her and they finally started dating in 2016. 

• We hiked Cascade Falls with my Dad and sister! It was Amelia's first hike! 

June

• My Mom and Aunt from Australia joins us in Virginia for some amazing family time! They flew here to celebrate a special girl's first birthday.

• HAPPY FIRST BIRHTDAY, AMELIA CASSIDY!! <3 (June 23, 2018) - We celebrated at our neighborhood clubhouse! No catering this time, but my mom and Aunt did a lot of the cooking and they were delicious! I did most of the baking! We got to celebrate with family and friends!

• My sister got married!!! They decided to do a civil wedding so that she can join him in Spain when he moved.

• After 13 months of breast feeding Amelia, my journey came to an end (by choice). She started biting my nipples really hard and it was just time, personally. 

• We went on a family road trip for 6 days (with my parents, sister and aunt): Washington Dc, NYC, and PA. We also went to Maryland and Richmond and North Carolina during their stay here. It was nice to just be with them. The kids did so well and Im sure they had the time of their life!

• Lantern Fest!! We finally got to experience it! This even was postponed three times!!! Im glad my sister was still here to join us! 

• My sister moves back to San Diego, before moving to Spain! We were sad to see her go, but excited for the new adventures ahead!


• Tristan finally got over his fear of the deep water! It was our last pool day and he finally got the courage to go on the deeper end instead of just staying on the kiddie pool area! So so proud of him for conquering his fear!! 

• Halloween- this year we were the Incredibles! Tristan's pick after watching Incredibles 2 at the movie theater! 

• House hunting leave! We went to scout out possible neighborhoods we wanted to live in and base housing in early November! South Carolina was as charming of a city as I remember! 

• I decided to start my photography business back up! Im so glad I did! Being on hiatus for almost 2 years was long enough!!

• HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY, TRISTAN EZRA!! Wow! 3?! My goodness how fast time flies! We haven't thrown him a big party since his 1st birthday. Last year, John was underway so I decided to just skip the party and have something small at home instead with close friends. For his third birthday, we surprised him with a week long trip to DISNEYWORLD!! It doubled as a family trip as well.