Our Story - Part 2

What changed our lives? What was that one thing that helped change our perspective on life? Well, it wasn't really a thing, it was a person. My sister in law introduced us to Dave Ramsey. We started reading his book to get our finances in order. We had no debt (other than a car) but we were not being smart with our money and had almost no savings. Dave's mantra is "live like no one else so that later you can live like no one else." We stopped caring about what other people thought. We were determined to live like no one else (below our means, debt free) so that later we would have much.

We went on a buying freeze. We purchased only what was necessary. We paid off our car in one year. It was a big deal for our family on our modest income. After that, we felt like we had conquered the world. The day we paid off the car was the same day that our third child was born.



We were beginning to realize that we didn't need so much. The opposite was true. Our stuff was holding us back. Less really can be more. More time, more freedom, more (better) quality of life.

A few months later our minimalism started to take root. Read about it in Part 3.