Uncle Dave Says "Get a Second Job"...

If you haven't read the first two posts in the series, read:

This was a hard decision to make: Give up time with my wife two nights a week, or continue to pay off our debt at a mediocre pace?

After ignoring the lingering voice in my head for about three months, I took the plunge and got a second job at a food distribution warehouse that I worked at while in college, and Kelsey picked up as much freelance editing as she could get her eyes on. It was a team effort, and when we made the decision that I would sacrifice two nights a week away from home so that we could get out of debt sooner...we cried.

We knew it would be tough on our relationship, but we also knew that it would make us stronger in the end. The idea was: sacrifice now so we don't have to later in life. This was a hard lesson we were learning, and paying for mistakes we had made in the past.

There were a few nights I worked where I would text Kels during my 20-minute dinner break and tell her how much I wanted to quit my second job. It wasn't that I disliked the job really, it was the amount of time it kept me from spending time at home. But it built character. We gained momentum with our debt snowball and things were getting paid off.

It wasn't easy--but if it were easy, nobody would be in debt or have credit cards. We would all be wise stewards of our time and money and live like our grandparents lived (frugally). Nevertheless, we made it through, and I am so excited to move forward to the next baby step.

The details (for you nerds): With this extra money and our full-time salaries, we were making between $65,000-$75,000 in take-home pay and paid off the $39,772.05 in debt in exactly 23 months.

And...on Dec. 16, 2010, I worked my last night at the warehouse! FREEDOM. Woot woot!

The dreaded second job helped us immensely, but there were some things Uncle Dave would have frowned upon through our journey...

All posts in this series:

Money, Our StoryEric WilliamsJanuary 18, 2011Dave Ramsey, family3 Comments