When I first started my Toul debt free journey, I struggled with an all too common dilemma that many debt-free journeyers face, slay debt before saving money or do both at the same time? Initially, I wasn’t really sure what my plan of attack should be, so I did what most people do—NOTHING. But this obviously didn’t work out well for me! So eventually, without any sound reason whatsoever, I decided to do both. I just knew that having some money saved and paying down debt felt like the “right” thing to do at the time.
At the beginning of my journey, my savings account was my safety net. It was something that kept me anchored to the shore (my comfort zone and something I treated like a piggy bank) in the event that I drift too far out in the debt-free sea of dreams. Then one day, I came across a podcast with businessman and author, Dave Ramsey, and basically, he said that if you want to start getting out of debt and have money saved, throw all of it except $1,000 (this acts as a tiny emergency fund) towards your debt. [Read more…]