By Nicole in TX

If someone had told me 10 months ago that my husband and I would be debt-free today, I would have laughed in their face.

We had two school loans, one car note and our furniture on credit. Together we were only making $56,000, and we owed nearly $23,000. We were introduced to your book, The Total Money Makeover, by our pastor during our premarital counseling, but we didn't read it at the time. We got married, my husband's Jeep died, and we bought a new (used) car which added another payment to our already tight budget. We were now $30,000 in debt—it was time to get serious.

I borrowed your book from some friends and started reading it. A few chapters into it, I realized I couldn't do it on my own, so my new husband agreed to read it, too. We borrowed a second copy, and he read along with me. We finished it within three days. We created our budget, took the $5,000 we had sitting in our savings (at .02% APY-stupid, stupid, stupid) and paid off the furniture and part of a school loan. After many hours of overtime, small side jobs to earn a little extra and a pair of raises, the debt began to disappear. It was exhilarating to watch the amount owed decrease.

We just mailed the final payment on the last of our loans: the car we purchased when my husband's Jeep died. All I can say is, if we can do it, anyone can! In hopes that others will share in our joy, we purchased 12 copies of The Total Money Makeover and will be giving them as Christmas gifts this year.

Thank you, Dave, for being an amazing blessing to us and showing us that it's not un-American to live without debt. We are looking forward to purchasing a home and being able to give what we've been blessed with away so much faster than we could have ever dreamed!

We article originally published at:  http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/newsletters/company/103009.cfm?ectid=cnl0911.1_09#3