Melissa's story

I had been dating my boyfriend for only 2 months when the conversation about debt came up. He was debt free, but I had about $36,000 in debt between college/grad school loans and my car loan. Luckily, I had no credit card debt and was pretty responsible with my money. I made the mistake of calling my debt "good debt" because everyone has college/car loans. Right?! Needless to say, my boyfriend didn't see it the same way. Our discussion became a debate and he mentioned that when he got married he didn't want either party to have debt (easy for him to say), but somewhere inside me a fire was lit. Over the course of the next year and a half, I worked a full time job and three part time jobs and just ATTACKED the debt! Little by little the numbers were dropping and the momentum was building. Every extra penny was going towards hitting that zero mark. We also enrolled in a FPU course at our church to help get us both on the same page about money. It took exactly 18 months, but I made my last college loan payment and it was TIME TO CELEBRATE!! My boyfriend surprised me two months later by proposing. We were married in March 2012, and with neither of us having debt, we set up our budget, got our fully funded emergency fund safely put away, and with no kids yet, we're working on investing and paying off the house! It's been such a blessing and a learning process going through FPU! I'm now hoping to teach an FPU course in the near future at our new church, and I'm fired up to spread Dave's message, not just about how to handle money, but God's view on money! I encourage anyone out there, regardless of your current financial situation, to invest in yourself, your marriage, and your life by listening to Dave's message, and truly understanding what it means when he says, "Live like no one else, so you can LIVE like no one else!"