This is the second entry in a series of posts designed to encourage you to pay off debt and become financially free.

When you’re working hard to get out of debt, it can be easy to feel like you’re all alone on Frugal Island.

The truth is, you’re not.

There are thousands of people on the debt-free journey with you. Jeanne and Shawn are a real couple from Virginia. They’ve been showing debt who’s boss for about two years. Hopefully their story will motivate you to stay the course and obliterate that debt.

Names:

Shawn & Jeanne Hopkins, Chesapeake, VA

Occupations:

Jeanne is a community college professor; Shawn works on car exteriors.

Starting debt:

$52,000 in student loans, medical bills and back taxes

Debt paid off:

$22,000 in two years, with plans to go full throttle and be debt free by Dec., 2014.

Debt busting motivation:

Listening to Dave Ramsey’s radio show, reading his book, Total Money Makeover and talking to people who were successful at becoming debt free. “THOSE are the people to listen to—not the broke people who tell you you’re crazy,” Jeanne said.

Debt busting method:

They stick to a tight budget and use cash only. They’re not buying any new clothes or taking a vacation this year. They plan to offer a settlement on some of the debt that’s in collections to greatly reduce the amount.

Shawn also sold his motorcycle to fund their $1,000 emergency fund, which they ended up using to pay for moving expenses so Jeanne could take her dream job in Virginia. (Good thing they had that emergency money ready!)

Best thing about the debt-free journey:

The unity and closeness it’s brought to their marriage.

“Our monthly budget meetings help us stay on the same page and make decisions as a unit,” Jeanne said. “The results are exciting. I actually find myself saying, “I can’t wait until our paychecks hit the bank tomorrow! We are totally going to get out of the $30Ks!”

Debt busting philosophy:

You don’t have to have sky-high salaries to obliterate debt.

“We are not rich,” they said. “We work hard. We were paying off debt when we both made $12-$15 an hour with no benefits. It’s all about choice and discipline. When we made little, we trained ourselves to budget. When God gave us more, we still lived the same.

The world feeds us so many lies: ‘You work so hard; you deserve a vacation,’ ‘You haven’t bought clothes all year; you need them for your job,’ ‘You can just make payments.’ We don’t fall for those lies and keep our eye on the prize.”

First thing they’re going to do when they’re debt-free:

Travel to Nashville and do the “debt-free scream” on the Dave Ramsey show.

Bible verses:

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. (Luke 16:10)

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth.

So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—and give your neighbor no rest!

Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.

Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. (Proverbs 6:1-5, emphasis added)