About the Author

Hi, I’m Kraig. I’m 28, single and living on my own in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. A couple of years ago, I got tired of being broke and the anxiety that came along with it. I want a future that is bright and full of options. My main goals are to not be broke, not be stuck and to be happy with who I am.  I believe that one of the best things I can to do to make my future bright is to build and secure financial health and momentum. I’ve made a lot of progress recently and want to invite you to join me in going forward from here. We can help each other. If you find this blog helpful, please subscribe and I’ll do my best to make it worth your while.

My Financial Journey

I graduated from college in May, 2007 and started my first after-college job at the same time. I saved for two months over that summer to pile up the $1,400 needed to get into my first, non-mommy paid for, apartment. Rent was almost an entire paycheck at the time but I still remember feeling loaded.  I immediately signed up for cable and Internet and set my lifestyle to be right at my income. I bought all sorts of toys that I felt were a necessity for after college life, like a new computer and an HD TV. When my car broke down on a vacation that I could barely afford in the first place, I was easily talked into trading it for an almost brand new one.  Right after that purchase, my “debt is bad” natural instinct kicked in.

The expensive car that started it all.

I panicked when I calculated how much sacrifice would be needed to pay off my newly 100% financed $20,000 car. My income at the time was slightly over $30,000 a year. This was in June of 2008 (You all know what was coming around the corner in the fall). Out of fear of what I had done, I paid down all extra income on that car loan for the remainder of 2008. I got the balance down to $12,500 at year-end, which was quite an accomplishment at the time. At work, we lost some clients and had to lay off some people, which scared me quite a bit. I had almost nothing in the bank, was barely right side up on my car and had about $5,000 in student loans. Again, I panicked about my financial situation and for the entire year of 2009, I piled up cash and did not pay anything on my car (I paid so much in advance that I didn’t need to make any payments that year).

When 2010 came around, I had managed to pile up about $10,000 in cash from the previous year. I now had to start paying on my car again. I started looking for advice on what to do with my cash in the bank. I felt like I had to pay off my car ASAP, but I also loved the feeling of having the cash in the bank. I found Dave Ramsey after little effort of searching around online. That was a turning point in my life.

My last fancy vacation before I said "That's it. I'm not living like this anymore."

It didn’t all turn at once, though. I learned Dave’s philosophy and slowly started applying it. I canceled cable TV and started tracking all of my spending. Since I was still new to all of this budgeting and saving stuff, I stupidly planned another vacation. As it turned out, I needed emergency dental work done the week before my vacation, bringing that month to one of record level spending (about two times what I made that month). I hadn’t planned on using any of my savings for dental work. That was not part of the plan. Combining what I learned from Dave Ramsey, along with my already existing financial stress and now with this record level spending in one month, I had reached my tipping point. “That’s it”, I said. “I’m cutting big. I’m not living like this anymore.”

And it has been all progress from there. That was Memorial Day Weekend, 2010, when I decided to get “Gazelle Intense”, as Dave Ramsey would put it. Before that point, I was spending as much as I made. From that point forward, I have been spending less than I make every single month, in increasing numbers. I paid off my car 5 months later in October, 2010 and my student loans 2 months after that, in December 2010. I was then debt free and decided to never go back.  As of writing this in November 2011, I have been spending less than half of my take home pay for an entire year. The progress I have made has changed my life so much that I want to help all of you experience it as well. Here’s to all of us making our futures brighter, one step, one month, one year at a time.