- Thank you, guys, so much for being here!
And your story is just amazing!
So catch me up a little bit.
Kind of walk through why are you here in Nashville,
and yeah, what brings you here?
- Well, we are here for our debt-free scream,
and we made a vacation out of it since we're here.
- [Rachel Cruze] Nice, nice.
- But, yeah, we have worked for four years
to pay off our house,
and we paid off $192,362.
- You guys!
- Four years!
- That's insane!
Okay, so how long have you guys been married?
- Six years this week.
- Yeah.
- The anniversary.
Okay, and you have two girls.
I met them already. - [Joey] Two little girls.
Yeah. - So sweet!
And they're like the exact same age as my girls,
which is just so fun!
Okay, so it's crazy that you're like 29, right?
- Yep.
- 30, and you have a paid-for house.
So like, what even makes you get in the mind-set to do this?
'Cause a lot of people that are in debt think it's hopeless.
Right?
They think that, "Oh, yeah, you're just always
"gonna live with debt.
"It is what it is."
And especially a mortgage.
That is the one type of debt I don't yell at you for.
But the fact that you paid it off this young,
like what made you even wanna do that?
Like, why not take that money and go on vacation?
- You know, I'm in sales and so, my job's pretty volatile
when it comes to if I miss my number, I may lose my job,
so if I don't have any expenses at all—
- Yep.
- It just makes going to work easier,
and I don't feel desperate in my conversations
when I need that commission check.
And then, you know, our relationship gets a lot stronger
'cause we don't have anything to pay for
except for the lights and food.
- It's amazing!
So who was like the kick, who like kicked this off?
Like who had the idea "Let's pay off our house"?
- I think it was her.
(laughter)
- Was it?
It was a common goal, it really was.
- Yeah.
- We were both on the same page.
Right when we got married, before we even had a house,
we went to Financial Peace University.
- Yes, yes!
- Just in our local neighborhood.
Some guy put it on, so we did that.
- Yeah.
- And I think that maybe made us wanna say, you know,
"When we do get a house, let's just pay it off
"as fast as we can."
So, I think it was a common goal,
and it was right in the beginning of our marriage,
so a lot of our marriage was just built upon that.
- Yes!
Okay, so I'm curious, tactically,
how did you go about this?
'Cause a lot of people are gonna hear,
like, okay, you paid for your house,
so, like, did you write, like, just big checks randomly
throughout the year?
Did you have, like, a tracker and you were like,
you know, progress payments,
like how tactically did you do it?
- Yeah, so we would sit down,
how much can we do each month
compared to our annual salaries?
And we first started with a certain amount,
and then about six months through it,
we were like, (sigh) "We could probably double that."
And so we doubled it,
but it's now it's on automatic draft.
- Yep.
- And it's coming out.
And then, two years went through, and we're like,
(sigh) "We could probably double that again."
So we just like—
- Oh my gosh! (laughs)
Because your income's going up
during this time— - [Joey] Income's going up
- So you're having more cash flow in,
you're like, "Let's just throw it.
"Let's not live on it."
Was it hard to make that decision?
- You know, I wouldn't say it was hard,
'cause it was really motivating,
especially to see the amount of interest
we were paying each month.
That just going down and down and down,
and it's like, "Oh!"
At first you're paying several hundred dollars,
maybe even a thousand dollars.
- Yep.
- Even just like, - And then,
- The 15- to the 30-year difference.
- [Kari] Yeah, so--
- The 15-year mortgage versus 30.
- It was like, okay, if we pay, you know,
if he'd get a commission check,
say $10,000 commission check,
we already predetermined it was going to the principal,
and be like, "Wow!
"Look how much it took down the amount of interest
"that you're paying every month."
- Yes.
- So it was really motivating,
but yes, we still went on vacation,
we just did it really frugally.
- So what was the number one sacrificial move
you had to make where you were like,
"Okay, we—"
- We have one car.
- Our car.
- To this day. - You have one car?
- We've had one car our whole marriage.
- So how does that work?
(sighs)
- Well, it's always worked out
where, you know, when we were both working full-time,
it was close to each other, so we would just commute.
- Yep.
- He would drop me off.
I did longer shifts than him,
so he'd drop me off and then pick me up.
When we had kids, he would take the tracks.
- Yeah, our public transit,
every job I've ever had has been literally
right to the front door from our house, so.
- So, is the car gonna be a purchase you'll make?
Will y'all do two cars now that the house is paid off?
(Rachel laughs)
- We need a family car.
- Yes.
- 'Cause we have a little car.
- Yes.
- We need a big family car.
- Yes.
Oh, you guys.
(Kari laughs)
So, how does it feel, like when you write that last check
for your mortgage?
Which you're like in the .001% of the world, right?
- Yeah.
- Of America that pays off their house.
Like how does that feel when that last check is,
or it was, you know, taken out, right?
Auto draft.
Like, what do you think?
Like, how does that feel?
What's that conversation like?
(Kari laughs)
- First off, I didn't even know how to do it,
so I had to like research "How do you pay your house off."
There's not a lot of, like, research.
- Yeah, you don't just pay it.
You have to, like, pay a fee to close your mortgage out.
Like, we didn't know any of that.
(Kari laughs)
- But when we finally had the,
I think you have to do it through a wire,
when the wire came out, and we opened our phones,
and it was like, "Paid in full!"
We were like.
- Yeah, we kept like opening the app.
- Like, this is real?
- Yeah, paid in full.
Okay, the next day, paid in full,
still paid in full.
(Kari laughs)
- Yes, yes!
- A little surreal, but—
- And what, it's been since May?
- Yeah!
- So good!
'Cause it's the opposite feeling you have
when you are deep in debt, right?
And a lot of people that are that feeling of living
paycheck to paycheck,
and if they lose their job,
their whole world turns upside down.
Like, they don't have a plan.
And so, for those people that are in that position,
what would you tell them?
Words of encouragement to say, like, you know
that you can do it.
It is possible.
What would you tell another couple,
another 30-year-old couple who's sitting here,
and they may have credit card debt and car payments
and the mortgage.
They can't even imagine.
What would you tell them?
- Well, I think obviously, Dave's plan works.
The hard part is actually doing it.
And then just don't buy stuff.
Like, stop buying stuff.
(Kari laughs)
We buy too much stuff!
It's like we buy a box that we live in,
and then we fill the box with stuff,
and then, when you buy another box,
it's like, "Why did we buy all this stuff?"
So.
- That's it!
Like you said, I mean, you're just determined.
You stick to it, and you have a plan,
and you can execute it if you do it.
- [Kari] You know, it's worth it,
and it might seem like so long from now,
like even thinking about four years from now,
that seems like such a long time,
but it just flies by.
And the motivation keeps you going.
It's not just a, "Four years from now, I'll be fine,
"you know, then we'll be fine."
It's no, like, next month,
you're gonna feel a little bit better.
And the following month, you're gonna feel even better.
It's just gonna keep snowballing and motivating you,
and making you feel more peace as you go.
It's not an end.
It's a journey.
- [Rachel] Well said!
Oh, well, congratulations!
Your story is just amazing!
- [Dave Ramsey] Count it down!
Let's hear a debt-free scream!
- [Kari and Josh] Three, two, one!
We're debt-free!
(Narrator laughs)
(audience claps and cheers)
- [Dave Ramsey] Yeah!
Oh, that's how it works!
(funky techno music)