A testimony from Cristina
My husband and I were married in 2012 and decided to take Financial Peace with Dave Ramsey beforehand. It was one of the best decisions we made! It helped us get on the same page for budgeting and made us realize our goal of living as debt-free as possible. We immediately paid off the credit card with wedding gifts and stuck to paying cash for everything else from then on.
Other than school loans, we had no other debt and thought we were off to a good start. No sooner had we breathed a sigh of relief when a major car repair made it clear my husbands 2002 Corolla would need to be replaced.
We knew a car payment was not an option and would go against our goal of living debt free. We also had no idea how we would have enough time to set aside enough cash to purchase a reliable vehicle before his current one died.
We started immediately by cutting back on anything extra. We worked on saving gas money and conserving electricity at home. Instead of budgeting $40 for a date night we found more creative ways to spend time together. I found cleaning jobs in our neighborhood and did these after my regular job in the evening. We learned to enjoy the company of friends in public without always buying food to go along.
With much prayer, research, and careful planning, we were able to purchase a 2007 Toyota Yaris with 32,000 miles on it about 6 months later — for $8000 in cash!
It was the best feeling ever as we drove off the lot and still had our grocery money set aside to pick up food after.
Ironically, a short time after this my 2001 Celica began having issues as well. We knew my car would need to be replaced soon, but we did not know it would be that soon! Long story short, we started the saving process over again and in less than one year, we purchased another new-to-us cars in cash and avoided a car payment. We are creatures of habit and bought another Yaris, a year newer 🙂
Looking back, we were so blessed to have had the means to do this. We stuck with our way of life even after the cars and now have the cash to pay for the delivery of our first baby, which we are expecting any day!
Striving to live debt-free has brought us closer together as we focus on things more important in life than possessions.
Cristina and her husband live in Cleveland, OH. They are soon-to-be parents and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their baby girl.
Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
This post is such an inspiration. We need to replace my car at the end of the year and while I know we won’t be able to pay cash in full, it’s motivating to read a story like this and get the incentive to pay it off as soon as we can.
Congrats on the baby! Hope you have an easy and short delivery!
We also try to pay for our vehicles in cash. We have money saved for a new to us SUV. For the winters we have here, we need a SUV. Only once in our 20 years of marriage did we put a vehicle on payments, and we hated it! Paid it off within a year. So much nicer knowing you have your vehicle paid for.
I would have used the money to fix up the old Toyota….good for her though spending money and getting two paid off cars!
Way to go, Cristina! You did awesome! And I agree with Jen – I love reading these “We Paid Cash” stories! They always motivate me. Thanks!
Me too, Jamie!
Great job!
Good for you! Its so awesome when husbands and wives are on the same page about debt!
Great job! Love these stories as they are very inspiring 🙂
We always try to do this too, it’s such a good feeling to pay cash for cars. And don’t you just love Toyotas? They’re such great vehicles. I’m driving an ancient Corolla that I need to replace soon. This makes me sad because it’s run like a champ for so many years:)