Episode: 300 - From Debt to Freedom: How to Make 2025 Your Year
To learn how to take the stress out of your finances so you can breathe again, follow this link: https://www.debtfreedad.com/lwp-masterclass-opt-in-page-podcast
As 2025 approaches, it offers a fresh chance to reset and recommit to your financial goals. This new year presents an opportunity to prioritize personal finance and debt freedom, making this year your most transformative yet. Here are actionable insights and strategies to help you break the cycle of debt and achieve financial freedom.
The Journey to Debt Freedom
Debt freedom is more than just paying off bills; it’s a journey of transformation. Each path is unique, but common themes like perseverance, adaptation, and balance emerge as critical factors for success. These journeys demonstrate that debt freedom is possible with the right approach and mindset.
Finding Your Balance
A sustainable plan is key to avoiding burnout. Extreme restrictions can lead to frustration and failure. Instead, find a rhythm that allows you to enjoy life’s pleasures while staying mindful of your financial goals. Consistency is often more important than speed. Taking small, steady steps ensures that you stay on track without feeling deprived.
The Importance of Accountability
Having someone to hold you accountable can make all the difference. Whether it’s a partner, friend, or community, sharing your struggles and victories with others provides motivation and perspective. Being part of a group focused on similar goals can keep you inspired and committed.
Budgeting: Your Financial Blueprint
A budget is more than just numbers; it’s a blueprint for achieving your financial goals. An effective budget includes:
- Tracking Income and Expenses: Understand where your money is going.
- Setting Goals: Break down large goals into small, manageable steps.
- Being Flexible: Adjust as needed without losing sight of your objectives.
Planning for irregular expenses, like car repairs or holiday gifts, prevents financial surprises from derailing your progress. A thoughtful budget ensures you’re prepared for both the expected and unexpected.
Embracing the Marathon
Achieving financial freedom is a long-term commitment. It’s important to view the process as a marathon rather than a sprint. Progress may be slow, and life will present challenges, but consistency and perseverance pay off. Keep your focus on your goals, and the rewards will come.
The Power of Choice
Debt freedom provides more than financial security; it offers the power to make choices without stress. Whether it’s changing careers, traveling, or saving for the future, being free from debt allows you to shape your life on your terms.
Take the First Step
Embarking on the journey to financial freedom isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. Discipline, consistency, and a clear plan will help you make significant strides in 2025.
Let this year be the stepping stone to a future where you control your finances—not the other way around. Start today and take the first step toward breaking the cycle of debt for good.
Resources Mentioned
The Totally Awesome Debt Freedom Planner https://www.debtfreedad.com/planner
Connect With Brad
Website- https://www.debtfreedad.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thedebtfreedad
Private Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/lifewithoutpayments
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/debtfreedad/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@debt_free_dad
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bradnelson-debtfreedad2751/featured
Thanks For Listening
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Transcript:
Brad Nelson:
Hey guys. So 2025 is just around the corner, offering a fresh chance to reset and recommit to your financial goals, and in today's show, we're gonna be sharing some insights and some strategies to help you make this year the best financial year yet. Stay tuned.
Announcer:
You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with Brad Nelson. Brad and his co-hosts experience the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck before learning the fundamentals of financial success. They are now on a mission to empower regular people to pay off their debt for good and enjoy happier, less stressful lives. Keep listening for inspirational interviews, tips, tricks and practical advice to gain financial freedom.
Brad Nelson:
Hey guys, welcome to today's show. I am Brad Nelson, founder of Debt-Free Dad. I paid off about $45,000 of debt. I've been debt-free now for more than 11 years, outside of my mortgage. I've also been fortunate to help thousands of other people save and pay off tens of millions of dollars with the work that we do here at Debt Free Debt.
Amber Taylor:
And I'm Amber Taylor, and we paid off $54,000 in debt in 20 months and we've been living debt free outside of our mortgage since 2018.
Kati Hatfield:
And I'm Katie Hatfield, and I am still on my journey to debt freedom and in just over six years I have paid off over $190,000 on a single income.
Ryan Nelson:
And my name is Ryan Nelson, and my wife and I paid off about $160,000 over eight years while raising three kids.
Brad Nelson:
Now, after listening to this episode, if you are ready to take things to the next level. You're ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck, you want to reduce financial stress, you want to build your savings, you want to finally pay off debt for good, but maybe you're someone who's just not sure where to get started. We've created an incredible free resource to help you get there, and we're going to be sharing some details about how you can get started with that later on in today's episode. Katie, I mean shoot, we're talking about how to kick your finances and how to just crush them here in 2025. $190,000 in debt paid off since starting. What did you say? 2000? When? What year did you start?
Kati Hatfield:
2018 in July. So just over six years, and I'm glad that you make us track our numbers. Otherwise, I would never believe that number. Every time I add it up, I'm like how, how, I don't. Yeah it works, it works.
Brad Nelson:
Well, it's incredible, I mean seriously. All three of us could just sit back and you could just teach this.
Kati Hatfield:
None of us are perfect. I'm not doing this by any means perfectly.
Brad Nelson:
Right, right, but you'll definitely be able to provide some pretty great insight for those people who are like I'm ready to start, but I don't know where to get started, and that's what this episode is all about. Also, guys, I want to just congratulate everyone here, all the hosts, including myself. Episode 300 today, which is really, really cool. Now, I know for our listeners and we talk about this all the time consistency is just key to everything, and there's so many times I think, especially in the first year or two when we started this podcast like is this really working? Is what we're doing? Are people actually getting anything out of this?
Brad Nelson:
And I will say this year we've gotten more messages than ever before of people all over the world who are listening to this show and are making huge strides in improving their finances. And the same thing goes with your finances. If you want to get out of debt, if you're going to do some of the stuff we're going to talk about on today's episode, it's going to be a slow go. When you first get started, it's going to feel like nothing's really happening in the first few months, maybe even the first six months, but then, all of a sudden, you keep sticking with it and things start eventually going in your direction. I in your direction, I would say that's like the biggest thing that I think I'm proud of is that we've stuck with this for 300 episodes. You guys even believe that.
Amber Taylor:
That's wild.
Ryan Nelson:
We started out we're like I don't know what we're doing, let's just try something. And I think that's the point for me in this, when it comes to getting out of debt too, and all that is like stop waiting for the perfect moment or till you have it all figured out. We had no idea what we were doing when we started this. I remember Brad talking to me and saying, hey, you want to do a podcast? I'm like sure, and we just started it and a lot of ways we didn't know what we were doing. Things weren't perfect. If you're going to listen to some of our first episodes, it's like I was probably scared to talk or whatever it might be, and I think it's the same with finances it's. You know, there is no perfect moment. Just get started. And if you just get started, you'll be amazed at how far you'll come in a few months, in a year, in two years, you know you'll be on the other side of it.
Kati Hatfield:
It just reminds you that we're all just normal everyday people. We're not professionals. We've done this. We can help other people do it, but it doesn't mean we're like rock stars.
Brad Nelson:
I mean we are, but right, well, we're human and I think I say it all the time. I've been doing a lot of podcast interviews this year and they say how'd you get out of that? And I say it all the time I failed my way there, you know, I just I just kept messing up, learning, redoing, and you just don't quit and I think, um, it's just an awesome place to be to see 300 episodes and us wrapping up our fifth year, which is crazy.
Ryan Nelson:
It's been a ride. I'm excited. I think, similar to how we've been doing this, though, too. And as you talk about like getting out of debt, the podcast has been like the snowball method of getting out of debt, and you look at the amount of people that we listened to over the years, that's just slowly grown and slowly grown and slowly grown, and this year we're going to on pace to do almost as many listens and downloads that we did the entire first four years, and it's like, as it picks up traction just like getting out of debt it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
Amber Taylor:
Yeah, you make a good point Because, honestly though, when you're starting to do this as, like you know, trying to get out of debt, you're getting your finances on plan. You want to have that tracker at the beginning, because if you don't write down where you're at right now, if we didn't know where we were at before and we can't look back, then we don't know the progress we made. So you want to make sure you have a good tracker saying like this is where I started. So when, in three months, something happens, you're like, oh, this isn't working. And you look back and you're like, oh wait, I did pay off X amount of dollars in the last three months, or I did save X amount of dollars in the last three months. So I think it's important to have that tracker at the beginning.
Kati Hatfield:
Yeah, I have every single one of my last four or five debt-free debt planners to show me. I wrote it in red pen every time I'm like this is how much I've paid off.
Brad Nelson:
So, guys, we're at the end of 2024 as we're recording this. It's actually this episode will air right around the holidays, but as people are looking towards the new year, money and personal finance are one of usually the top New Year's resolutions or things that people want to work on and improve, and the point of this show is really to kind of give people some ideas or some tips. I always look at November and December.
Brad Nelson:
For most families is a very hectic financial time of the year A lot of financial stress. The average person who participates in the holidays goes into debt well over $1,000. It's just a really tough time of year. So by the time you get through that and you kind of feel like you're in this fog, it's like okay, 2025 is here. What are the things that we should be focused on? So that's what I want to just talk about and just share with some of our listeners here as they look to 2020-25. In your opinion, based on your guys' experience, if you had to start all over again and start on your journey, what would be some of the first things that helped you the most in really improving your finances and getting started?
Ryan Nelson:
We just went with extreme intensity to try to get out of debt and it always failed us. We would go good for a while, we would spend two, three, four months, we'd make good progress and it's just too restrictive. We were just feeling we couldn't maintain that and so for us it was finding a balance of fun and what worked. And, yes, did it take us longer to get out of debt? 100%? I'm not going to ever argue that it didn't take us longer, but we were this the absolute fastest way. And for some people that may work.
Ryan Nelson:
For you I'd say more power to you, do it if you can maintain that. But for us and I think for a lot of people, it was just finding that balance of let's get out of debt but let's also like have some fun along the way. So we don't feel like we can't do anything for the next Cause. Like I said, it took us a long time to do it. That's a long time to say you're never going to go to a restaurant for two, three, four years, like it's just not reality. For us it wasn't reality.
Amber Taylor:
Yeah, you bring yourself out. We kind of did the same thing for a bit and we were like no, that's not working. But for us when we started looking back was like the biggest impact for us. Just looking back back at those three to six months where our money was going was just so eye-opening and it almost like brought it home, like we were like whoa, what the heck have we been doing? And it really helped us stay on track because we didn't want to go back to that.
Kati Hatfield:
Yeah, I was going to say that. Write it all down and like that gut punch moment when you're like that is a really big number of what I owe, that was like, okay, I have to do something differently, because this is not. I don't want this number to get bigger and I need to start making some changes.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, for me, if I look back, it's crazy. I still have some of the first books or notebooks that I was writing with before this business even existed and it was crazy how so much pointed to starting a business like this. But some of the things that I wrote down in that notebook were a lot of the things about why I wanted to get out of debt, to start my own business, to do my own thing, not work for somebody the rest of my life. So if you're getting started, you need to kind of find again some why power behind, why you want to put in this work because it's going to be hard work. It's not easy. Sacrificing it's not easy. Sitting down and doing a budget it's not easy. Some of the stuff that we talk about here on the show it's easy to talk about, but it's not easy in action. So you got to find something within yourself like that it's the work that you're going to put into this is going to be worthwhile.
Brad Nelson:
Like Amber said too, I would agree is going back and looking at your spending. I can't believe. I mean even today. You know with expenses the way that they are, inflation the way that it is, you know how normal everyday. People are still coming in here at every day joining roots and they're going and looking at their expenses. I mean, we just had someone about each other. They never knew, you know, and it's because we're never really taking the time to really look and see where all of our money is going. Is it going towards the goals that we want? I think the other thing too is you want to be all in, you want to have this idea that it's got to be perfect and we got to get.
Brad Nelson:
You know, bare bones, just shoot for some small wins. Shoot super achievable, manageable goals, like we recommend. You know, having at least a thousand to a $3,000 emergency fund. When you first get started, maybe that's too big in your mind. Maybe, man, let's just start with 200, 200 bucks. Can we just get $200 in a savings in the next 30 days? Or, you know, start with something super small. Can we pay off like a small credit card? Just find like something small that's achievable because wins. Man, it feels really, really good.
Amber Taylor:
And celebrate it, no matter how big or small it is. Shout it out. Find an accountability buddy that you could just call and be like. I did it. I finally did it.
Brad Nelson:
It's hard doing it on your own because a lot of people number one don't really talk about money and personal finance. It's a very taboo topic, but what helped you guys when you first got started? I mean, ryan, you didn't go through Roots, but you followed a similar process of getting out of debt. But what helped you guys stay accountable to the plan once you got started? Because it's not knowing what to do. It's doing it consistently is the real key.
Ryan Nelson:
The two keys for us was my wife and I getting on board with each other. So we were kind of each other's accountability partner. For a long time it was I was on board and then she wasn't, or she wasn't on board and then I wasn't. And I think really where that came down to. The other big reason is kind of getting on track. And, like you had just mentioned about why we want to do this, there were reasons that we both had, but we weren't really communicating them.
Ryan Nelson:
So it was easy to not stick to the plan when it was just very loosey goosey, like, hey, I want to retire one day, well, cool, today's not that day, so I'm going to go buy something, you know.
Ryan Nelson:
But when you start getting very specific and together you're like okay, this is what we want to do, here's what we're trying to accomplish, it was easy then to have conversations about hey, we want to buy this thing.
Ryan Nelson:
If we do this, it means this sometimes we would make that choice and sometimes we wouldn't, but it was a conversation because we had a shared plan and a shared goal. So for us it was that just accountability between each other. But as far as everyone else goes, like I think this is why roots and why things are so important is, if we didn't have each other, I probably would still be in debt, because the way the world is is I was an idiot and stupid and, brad, you told me you were getting out of debt when this all started, and I said the same thing like that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, and I think that if you're surrounded with people like that, you do need to find people or a group or someone, because it's a lonely road. If you don't have anybody, you're going to get talked into spending money, because that's what people do, that's what we're accustomed to do as a society here.
Kati Hatfield:
Yeah, especially being single, I didn't have anyone to talk to about it. And when it's money and you're bad at it, you're like I'm embarrassed to admit that I've really messed up. To admit that I've really messed up, and so joining the Life Without Payments group was just like okay, these are people who are in the same boat Maybe not the same boat, but they're in a boat and we're kind of heading in the same direction. I'm just paddling along with my little oar here. So it was just nice to have other people who kind of were in the same situation and working for similar goals and being able to bounce ideas off of each other and just see them as inspiration at the same time too.
Amber Taylor:
Yeah, the accountability part, like I mean my husband and I were on board with each other too, so we were all for it. But I mean there was times where we got tired and Bruce was just our other spot, where we could hop into a group and chat and see how other people are doing and get cheered on when we were struggling. But also having a goal is what really kept us motivated and going. We had a goal to buy a house, and that is what kind of kept us motivated to keep on going. When we weren't so motivated, we had a goal to buy a house, and that is what kept us motivated to keep on going. When we weren't so motivated, we could just see that in the far distance and it was getting closer and closer.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah Well, I think that's such an important thing is to understand. And even there's still people that will come and talk to me and they say my parents told me to do this, or my brother or my sister is telling me to do this, or I have co-workers talking about that, and that's like I think it's so critical. And if you're getting started in the new year, getting started with your finances, is you got to put the blinders on and understand that the majority of people that you surround yourself with are broke? Sadly and I don't say that to be mean, it's just is what it is. You know, like Ryan just talked about what I wanted to get out of debt and he was saying how stupid of an idea that was.
Brad Nelson:
So you do have to think about as you're going on and starting a new year, if you want to do better with your finances, you want to think about who are the people that you're surrounding yourself with. What are the conversations that you're having with these individuals? Are you putting yourself into situations where people are asking different questions, having different conversations about money that are above your level? And there's nothing wrong with that. I think the more you do that, the better you'll get, and that's one of the reasons why we do this podcast.
Brad Nelson:
I mean, this podcast isn't geared towards investors. That's not what we focus on here. We want to get you to that level and then you'll find another podcast that is all about investing and, amber, you can talk a little bit about that, as you went through Roots, then started an investment class and now you're doing your own investing and everything, and it's a step-by-step process. But I think, as you're getting started, I think the biggest thing I want you to understand in the new year is turn off all the noise about how everybody's broke, everybody's living paycheck to paycheck. Debt is normal, payments are normal, and the more you challenge those normal ideas and those normal conversations that people are having within their own heads, the better off it's going to be for you. So, like Amber and Katie, finding accountability, I mean it's huge.
Ryan Nelson:
Well, and I think when you say broke too, I think it's good for people who are listening to not be fooled by that word, because I did not look broke to the average person. To the average person, I probably looked like I had it going on, but when the door closed and everybody went home it was like shut all the lights off because we don't have a lot of money and hopefully the electric bill is not enough because we're going to barely have enough. And so when we say broke, we don't mean poor, we just mean like you can have a lot of things but at the end of the day, when you balance the checkbook, you have a couple bucks left to your name and you're stressing constantly that's broke. If you don't have money in retirement but yet you're going on nice vacations, that's broke. For new people coming on.
Ryan Nelson:
When we hear broke when I started, broke meant poor. But you could have people in your life that look like they have a lot, that are going to give you advice and you think they have a lot going on and they could be 100% broke, like I was.
Brad Nelson:
So let's talk a little bit about the budget Having a cash flow plan, a money plan, a budget whatever you want to call it. But you have to have something where you're calculating your income and your expenses and then you're also making sure that those goals that we've talked about, those small goals I mentioned, start a small savings goal, start a small debt payoff goal. It could be a small purchase or a fun purchase that you want to make, I don't care what it is but make sure that that goal becomes a priority on that budget, because if you don't have a plan of what's coming in and what's going out and how you're going to spend every single dollar, there's just no chance that you're ever going to have success.
Brad Nelson:
A budget has gotten such a bad rap over the years. It continues to. Like Ryan just mentioned, he's talking about broke people. For a lot of people, a budget means you're broke, means you don't have any money, means you're a penny pincher, you're cheap and ultimately, at the end of the day, it doesn't mean any of those things. So when we start talking about thinking differently, you got to think differently about the budget and understand the budget is kind of the game plan to helping you build that life that you really want to live.
Kati Hatfield:
And you can be really good at making a budget, but you also have to look at it and follow it and stick to it. And then sometimes you have to move things around because you didn't stick to it and so you have to be willing to be like all right, I screwed up this month, let's try and make it better next month.
Ryan Nelson:
And I think the reason it gets such a bad rap is because I think for us, in a lot of ways these days, especially these days, because everything is instant right, instant gratification on anything, you don't have to wait for anything these days, and I think that that's why a budget gets that bad rap because you have to plan. It doesn't mean you can't buy the couch or whatever it is. It just means you're planning to buy it in three or four or five months and we, as people, like to live in the here and now. We like to go into the furniture store today and walk out with it with financing, rather than save for it. So it doesn't mean you can't have the couch or whatever it is that you want. It just means I'm going to plan and then over the next X amount of time, then we'll pay cash for it. That's all it means. It's just rewiring your brain to say a budget doesn't mean I can't have it. It just means I have to plan to acquire it, which may take some time.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, when you're thinking about your budget, think about the upcoming year, like as we're, you know, airing this episode. It is the holiday season and the average person goes into debt well over $1,000 this time of year. It is a very stressful time of the year, so think about that as you're starting the new year. What things do you need to plan for in 2025? What birthdays, what anniversaries, what trips, if you have any, what holiday expenses did you spend this year that you weren't expecting? When did the kids go back to school? What do you need money for? That for A budget is just such an important part of your overall success that you're going to have with your finances over the upcoming year. So you really want to just think about what are those upcoming expenses and get those things in your budget so you can start saving up for them. The other thing, too and Katie, you brought this up is you're going to find that writing your budget and get your budget together over time gets easier, but it's following it. That's the hard part. So be aware of some of the bad habits, too.
Brad Nelson:
You are your own worst financial enemy. We all are and we all have bad habits that have caused us to be where we are today. So what are some of those things that are keeping you stuck and how can you limit some of those, again, not take them completely out of your life. If you're someone who likes to go out for coffee, that's okay. Maybe it's just not every day, or twice a day, or every day of the week, I don't know. Maybe we need to limit that and rein that in a little bit.
Brad Nelson:
But think about those things. What are some of the areas that I really need to be more proactive in? Maybe it's convenience store stops. Maybe you're not doing a great job in planning at the grocery store or meal planning and you're doing too many trips to these convenience stores and getting convenient food, and obviously we all know that that stuff costs way more money than, say, planning and doing some of that stuff at home. So think about some of those areas that you're struggling with and, like Amber mentioned, looking over the last three to six months of your expenses is going to really make you aware of some of those.
Kati Hatfield:
And there's a lot of things that, oh no, it comes up as a surprise. But was it really? Because, like, I always forget to pay my car registration for the year and I'm like it comes up every year the same time. It's always around my birthday. How do I always forget this? It's just one of these little postcards that gets tossed somewhere and I forget about it. But then, if you're a homeowner, when's the last time you updated your roof or windows or furnace or something that could go out? How long has it been? Maybe start having a savings for when the water heater goes out or whatever tires on your car, things like that. That it does happen and it shouldn't be a surprise. But it becomes this crazy surprise emergency in so many people's lives all of a sudden and it's like but it really wasn't. If you really just took five minutes and thought about okay, how long has it been since I replaced my car battery or whatever, those things add up really fast.
Brad Nelson:
I think the last thing I want to just share with everybody is just to remind you that this is a marathon, it's not a sprint, and you're listening to a podcast where I've been doing this now longer than 15 years. If I were to go back, 2008,. 2009. I mean, kate you just mentioned, you're on six plus years of doing this. Amber, you're what Seven? Yep, ryan, you're how many years?
Ryan Nelson:
It's got to be 12 or 13 years probably since we started.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah. So I mean, you're listening to people who have been doing this a while and I think the reason I want to bring that up is to remind you that, as Ryan just mentioned, we are very much a get it now society and we are so much like you know, hey, get results in as little as 30 to 60 days or 90 days and change your whole entire life. No, you're not going to change your whole entire life in 30 or 60 or 90 days. Can you start seeing better results in that time? Absolutely, but where the real results come is with time. I mean, Katie, here's your perfect example $190,000 in debt paid off. That didn't happen in 90 days. I would be willing to bet that Katie's probably her first 90 days were struggle, very much so.
Kati Hatfield:
And when I looked at what my original number was of what I owed and I had a Facebook post that just came up from two years ago and it's like I paid off $90,000. And I'm like I've paid off $100,000 in two years and I'm like, yeah, I have. And then I had written out I only had $40,000 left. Well, I have more now because interest, first of all, adds up when you have a lot of debts. I've had a couple of medical things that came up that I need to pay for. I had a car that I had to replace. Things come up. So, yes, that goal line moves, but the goal doesn't change. It's just the deadline will be a year or two later than I thought it was, but I know it will be there and then I can pump a whole bunch of money into my retirement plan and travel and do all kinds of fun things. And right now I just have to be focused, focused, focused, because I know I can get it done.
Ryan Nelson:
And I'll just ask you know, if you're listening to this what's the alternative? You know, and I think we've all had those moments where a year or two go by and you think to yourself, whatever it might be maybe it's debt, I don't know working out, whatever it is, and you're like man, why did I wait? And it's like you're like man, why did I wait? And it's like you're listening to this. You know it took me eight years, katie's on six years, it took Amber almost two years. And you might be thinking like, oh my God, that's like two years. But what's your alternative?
Ryan Nelson:
You can either two years from now, be or three years or four years, or eight years or six years, be debt free and rid of this, or you can keep digging that hole and be more miserable, and it could just be a hundred times worse. That's the option you're choosing. If you're saying I'm not going to do this, and so it's like, yeah, it takes a long time, but the other side of this is amazing, you know, I think we're all proof of that. The other side of this is like, truly like. I call my brother crazy when he started and then I'm on board doing this because the other side of this is awesome, and you can create a totally different life for yourself.
Amber Taylor:
Yeah, the choices you open up are amazing and it's not just money related. It's like I can choose to change my job tomorrow and it wouldn't hurt me Because maybe I'm not getting as much money, but I don't need it because I don't have a ton of debt to pay for Right.
Brad Nelson:
Well, it's that old saying of you know, getting out of debt is hard, but being broke the rest of your life is even harder, right? And so, yeah, I would totally agree. And, guys, this resource that we have for you guys, it's absolutely free I would go check this out. So, again, if you are ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck here in 2025, you want to reduce financial stress, you want to build savings and finally pay off your debt for good, but, again, you're having trouble with where to get started.
Brad Nelson:
This masterclass that we're going to share with you guys here, called Life Without Payments, is going to give you all of the getting started tips, including some of the stuff that we shared here on this podcast episode, but we're also going to give you some pretty awesome worksheets to help you get everything organized and everything put into place, so you know what things to pay off, and we're going to explain how everything is going to work. If you want access to this masterclass, all you got to do is click on the link in the show notes for this episode and you get started with that here today let's talk about dead.
Amber Taylor:
Tune into Dead, free Dead. Tune into Dead, free Dead. And that's how it means it's time for the celebrations of the show. First we have Mariah. I sat down and did my first budget, tweaked it a few times. Today I got paid and will use the envelope system for groceries, gas spending money and house repairs. My husband and I usually eat out on Fridays. I found a recipe for his favorite out to eat meal coconut shrimp and we'll make it at home prior to karaoke.
Brad Nelson:
Awesome. That is such a great win, Paige. I paid off another $200 today on my SCU credit card. I also paid $1,100 in debt off this past month. Paige, Incredible progress. Keep it up.
Kati Hatfield:
And Lauren had a very fun unexpected bonus at work today of $1,100 and immediately put it on her credit card. She did have that moment of weakness where she's like, well, it would be nice to treat yourself, and then she reminded herself I'm treating myself by getting out of debt and that feeling of being debt free is worth so much more than a trinket Way to go, lauren.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, that's awesome. We talked about all that today. It feels amazing Good job.
Ryan Nelson:
And Claudian, where is she at now? She's been with Roots and Debt Free Dad for one year and she has paid off $9,133.15 since last October.
Brad Nelson:
Yeah, that's incredible. They're a perfect example of just getting started, just taking one step at a time. Awesome job, Claudian. Hey guys, as always, congratulations to all of you guys who are taking a stand for your financial life and you're wanting better. Hey, we get that. Getting out of debt isn't easy, but with our help and hopefully with your consistency and discipline, we promise you guys, this will be some of the best work that you guys do in your entire life. Thanks for joining us on today's show and we will see you guys on the next episode.
Announcer:
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