We are Gazelles!

Chris and I just completed the 13 week Financial Peace University last night and we're giving ourselves an A+.

In the class, Dave Ramsey frequently talks about having "gazelle intensity" when it comes to attaining financial freedom. Proverbs 6:4–5 says, “Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.”

Basically, when you're in debt, you need to work as hard to get out of it as a gazelle works to run from a cheetah. Cheetahs can run up to 75mph, but gazelles have learned that the cheetah’s speed is limited to straight-line running. So, the gazelle bobs back and forth until the cheetah gets tired and gives up.

If you apply this to the financial world, credit card companies are the cheetahs — always after you. Dave Ramsey encourages you to be gazelle-intense as you try to escape debt.

In the past 13 weeks, we’ve made enormous progress with our finances. Here are some of the victories we’ve been able to celebrate:

• We put $1000 into an emergency fund that will prevent us from using credit cards if something unexpected comes up.
• We’ve lived on a budget for 4 months now and have not had to tap into savings or worry about overdrawing our account once.
• We’ve paid off 5 credit cards, reducing our total debt by $8,249.49!
• We’ve started saving for upcoming events and major purchases, like vacations and Christmas.
• We went on our first paid-for-up-front vacation in April and returned owing nothing for it!
• We applied for additional life insurance coverage to make sure that neither of us will have to worry about money if something happens to the other.
• In June, we’re scheduled to pay off our last credit card and will then begin paying off the car.

Yep, I definitely think Dave Ramsey would agree that we’re gazelles. But none of these victories are as important as our most significant accomplishment…

We’re finally on the same page about money!

We both know how much we have, where it’s going and what our goals are for the future. Chris is no longer bearing the full responsibility of our finances and I’m now fully aware of all of our bills, accounts, passwords, etc.

We still have a long way to go, but we're in a much, much better place with our finances now, thanks to this class.

If you're interested in learning about Dave's 7 Baby Steps to Financial Peace, we HIGHLY recommend looking for a class in your area.

-The Gazelles ;)