- You guys thanks for being here.
- Of course, you're welcome.
- Thanks so much for having us.
- Chris and Skye, you guys, what an amazing journey.
- Absolutely.
- $57,000.
- It has been crazy, crazy awesome.
- Yes, so I wanna know, what caused you in your life
to look up and say, okay things have gotta change
we've gotta get out of debt, we've gotta change the way
that we were handling our money.
- My husband got a new job, and when we moved
to the new city, it's a very affluent area
that we live in now.
- [Rachel] And where are you guys,
you actually, Houston right?
- We live in the woodlands, north of Houston,
and we sort of looked around and were like if we don't
get our finances together we're gonna drown here.
- Yes.
- And we knew about Dave Ramsey, we knew about
Financial Peace University, we'd never done it.
We always felt like we didn't make enough money
to pay our debt off.
- Yes.
- And we kinda sat down and said, if we don't do this now
we're never going to get ahead
we're never gonna make it here.
So we actually drove to Oklahoma for Christmas.
He wasn't fully on board yet.
- Kay, the reluctant spouse.
(laughing)
- And I had read The Total Money Makeover in,
maybe in graduate school.
- [Rachel] Okay.
- And so I had started to do a little bit of saving,
but at the same time, I still like to buy stuff.
- Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
- So I sequestered him in the car for eight hours.
- Yes.
- And we listened to the Dave Ramsey podcast
for eight solid hours, and I showed him
my array of spreadsheets
(Rachel laughs)
and I said we can do this, we're gonna make enough money now
that we can totally pay this off--
- Wow.
- In less than two years.
And he was like two years is so long. I can't wait that long.
I said in 24 payments, we will be debt free.
- Completely
- No more debt.
And he was like, I can make 24 payments.
Oh I can do the 24 payments.
- I can do that.
So when you look at the 24 payments, is it,
are you looking okay, we're gonna have to take our budget
and we're gonna have to like sacrifice major lifestyle.
Was there a lot of sacrificing in this process for you guys,
or was it more managing the money you have so much better?
- I think for the most part is
managing the money that we have.
The truth is that we, we worked super hard.
We're in, you know, we do a good job--
- [Rachel] Yes.
- At the end of the day, we don't buy new cars.
- [Rachel] Sure.
- Our cars are always two to four years old.
- [Rachel] Right.
- And so, but at the end of the day,
we're making payments on those.
And so we just decided that we
were going to tighten that up.
Most people that we talked to, it's about eating out.
(laughing)
- [Rachel] Yes, yes.
- Hundreds of dollars eating out.
And so we just have a way that we just started to work
and kind of tightened that up.
- I love it, because I feel like this story
is the perfect example of, you guys weren't in crisis
it wasn't like you were getting foreclosed on
or anything like that.
But it was this point you looked up and you were like
we are just kinda being sloppy,
like we're just not intentional, and being not intentional
caused us to have $57,000 in debt.
But if we are intentional, in two years we can clean it up.
- Exactly.
- I mean, so that's amazing.
Okay so you guys are on the same page now it feels like.
- Yes.
- Were you always, or you weren't,
'cause you kinda had to get on board.
So did you guys fight about money?
Did you guys feel that at all
as you were getting on board together?
- Not really getting on, once we were kinda
on board together it was pretty much smooth sailing
from there, but we definitely had some arguments before.
- [Rachel] Yeah.
- I was guilty of hiding purchases from him.
- You were?
(laughing)
- I totally was, but it always made me feel guilty.
I would buy something from Target, something from Amazon.
I would unpack it. Honey, we've always had these pillows,
what are you talking about?
- [Rachel] What do you mean?
- But it made me feel guilty--
- Yup.
- And that's, money shouldn't make you feel guilty.
And so that's, when we started budgeting, it was like
totally guilt free permission to spend--
- Something.
- Whatever we wanted to.
So I didn't have to hide my Target bags anymore.
It was wonderful.
- Yes, so for you guys, I mean, you guys seem like
you're on the same page.
- [Skye] Yeah.
- And even budgeting together. So how has this
changed your marriage in general?
- It's definitely brought us closer.
It's given us a common language
to communicate with, which is amazing.
- Do you guys, you're killing it.
You're on the same page, you're doing it,
and you're here today to celebrate.
- Yeah.
- The $57,000.
You guys have a son. I met him in back.
- Yes, we have a son, yes.
- Yes, so great.
And his name is Jet, and how old is he?
- He's four. He'll be five in a month or so.
- Okay, and how has he been in the process with all of this?
- I think we got really lucky
in that we started doing it so early with him.
- Yes.
- He doesn't really know any different.
He was two, so it's not like he had
to sacrifice all his toys or anything.
- Right, right.
- But in the last year or so, we've implemented
the Give, Save and Spend jars,
and he is highly motivated by money.
- He is. He has $51 saved.
- He has $51 dollars saved.
- He told me that, he was like, I have $51 saved.
- Yes, he gives his offering every week.
- He gives his offering every week.
- And he buys his donut and chocolate milk by himself.
- At church every week.
- Every Sunday.
- Yes, so what was the hardest part about all of this?
Because when you have a young child,
you guys are in a nice area of Houston,
so it's like you're seeing what everyone's doing.
You're trying to be more intentional with your money,
all of it, so within these two years,
when you look back, what was the hardest thing to get over.
- Sure, well I know for me, the hardest part was
is that, being clergy, my entire life,
I mean it just rolls over.
- [Rachel] Yes.
- You never feel like you get a real break.
- [Rachel] Yes.
- You're always on call.
And so, but for me, like when I go hunting,
and I head out in the woods, like that's my thing.
That's my time away. That's when I get to
you know release a little bit, spend some time--
- Sounds like my husband.
(Rachel laughs)
That's Winston.
- But at the end of the day, I said that
for two years I'm going to sacrifice that.
- [Rachel] Wow.
- So, no new firearms, no new, no hunting adventures
other than like, hunting out of someone's backyard.
Perfectly legal.
(laughing)
But yeah, so, for me that was the sacrifice that I made
so, and I like stuff, right?
- Right right, yes.
And was it worth it?
- Of course.
- Yeah, 'cause now we can do that whenever we want,
anytime we want to.
- So great.
And you guys have coordinated
for Financial Peace University classes.
So do you just love seeing other people's journeys begin--
- [Skye] Yes.
- Just as yours has.
- Yes.
So but we get to watch the people watch the videos.
And you can see their body language.
You can see them lean forward, and do this.
Or nudge their spouse, or write something
that you can watch that and you can see it click
when they see, when they have that moment
where it's like oh this is, this is doable.
- [Rachel] Yeah.
- And that's why sharing our story is so important,
to share it with them.
And they have like a, we're sitting
in the room with them, and then we can show them this,
And they're like "oh, you really did do this."
- You can do it, like it's possible, yes.
- Like we're not just making this up.
You can really do it, yeah.
- That's amazing.
So what would you tell a couple who's kind of on the fence?
They're like, I kinda want to get going on this.
Maybe I'll take Financial Peace University, but
I don't know, they're just on the fence on this whole
idea of getting out of debt, this whole money thing.
What would you say?
- I would say to just don't wait anymore.
'Cause in five years, you can either look back
and tell yourself, I wish I had started it then,
or I'm so glad I'm already done with it.
So the time's gonna pass anyways.
Do the best you can with it.
Start today. Don't wait another second.
That's what I would tell them.
- So good, yes.
Well, thank you guys again for being here.
- Yeah.
- Seriously, hearing your story, it's so encouraging.
You guys, I mean, couple after couple,
we've shown you that this stuff works,
but you have to decide. We can sit here,
Chris, Skye and I all day, and talk to you
through your phone or your computer or your iPad,
but it's up to you to say hey,
I'm gonna do something different.
And start, I love what you said Skye,
you have to start today. Don't look back
in the next 12 months and be like
Oh I could've done it, but I don't want to anymore.
Stop with the excuses. Do it.
Click the link below and start this journey,
because you can experience exactly
what they are experiencing, being completely debt free
and in control of your money.
(upbeat dance music)