We Are Deep In Debt... How Do We Get Out // Hump Day Q&A
8 May 2024 · 6 min
Episode of the Naked Marriage "Hump Day Q&A" (hosts Dave and Ashley Willis) addressing a listener question: "We are deep in debt — how do we get out?" Hosts share personal testimony of being in deep debt and practical, faith-informed strategies: stop adding new debt, create and follow a budget, get help/resources (e.g., Dave Ramsey/Financial Peace University, EveryDollar app), sell unused items, consider income-generating moves (they cite house flipping), downgrade lifestyle/vehicles to reduce expenses, and pray/seek God's provision. Emphasis on freedom from debt as spiritual and relational well-being rather than a measure of self-worth.
Questions this episode answers
May 8, 2024
A 2001 Toyota Avalon with 273,000 miles.
Chapters
Cuando entras a Burlington, encuentras precios increíbles y regalos geniales. Eso es energía de protagonista. Porque en Burlington, los ahorros festivos no son lo único que llama la atención. Descubre hallazgos de calidad y regalos perfectos para todos en tu lista. Desde juguetes y joyas hasta nuevas marcas de belleza y estilo. Estos regalos están listos para debajo del árbol. ¿En serio, con estos ahorros, para qué comprar en otro lugar?
¿You know what time it is, Sweetie?
It's Hump Day Q and A Time.
Hump Day Q and A. Hump Day Q and A Welcome to the Naked Marriage podcast Hump Day Q and A We love answering your questions. So every Wednesday, we're dropping a special podcast episode focused on one of your questions. You can Submit your own marriage related question online at NakedMarriagePodcast dot com or by sending us a message on Instagram. Avillas. We've got a great question today, so let's dive in.
Hey there. Welcome back. We have a really good question today that I think many of us, if not all of us, can relate to on some level. And it's this question. We are deep in debt. ¿How do we get out? ¿Man, we have been there, right, Sweetie? I mean, as, you know, this is part of our story. We were deep in debt and we really wanted to get out. ¿And we didn't know at first we were like, how do we get out of this? And so, I mean, number one, I think recognizing that being deep in debt is not good for you and is really like a prison of its own. Is the first step, you know. Don't keep on getting more debt. I mean, that's number one. Don't keep on adding to the debt. And I would say number two, and Dave can add to this too. You got to get help, you know. I know, for us, it took. ¿It took kind of really looking at everything that was coming in, everything that's going out and then thinking like, in maybe some different ways and how can we reduce this debt? And I know. I mean, you know, it looked a lot of different ways. It looked like having a budget. It looked like, you know, making sure we're not getting any new credit cards. I know that for us, we got into real estate. I mean, this is. I'm just gonna give specifics like we got into. We took the money that we did have and invested in a home that we could flip. And through that flip, we were able to make a significant amount of income that cut down that debt. And we did that several times over. And that really helped us. Now, that may not be something you can do, but there's other ways. Like through Dave Ramsey's resources, like Financial Peace University. And you can use their app every dollar. There's other resources out there too. That can help.
You know, I think our pastor, Marty Baker always says, there's money laying around your house. You know, times where things are lean, he says, look, look for stuff to sell. You probably got stuff in your house, in your attic. ¿That is worth something to somebody, right? And even when they were in a rolling time, he pulled out this. This saxophone that he had played in school and band his parents had bought for him years ago was still in good condition. And he sold that. And he was shocked at how much he got. I mean, he made like three thousand dollars. I think this was years ago when his family was really lean and. And it was a life changer for them. And now, years later, his kids are all grown. And just a couple Christmases ago as a way to kind of honor him and thank him for all the sacrifices he'd made. They went together and they bought him a saxophone so sweet. And that's just one of the most meaningful gifts. But it was just. The whole story's a reminder that. Like, sometimes we have to. We gotta sell stuff. Sometimes we've gotta sell the vehicle we have and get a little bit junkier.
Of a vehicle we have done that.
We've done that over and over multiple times. I'm telling you, one thing better than a new car smell is a paid off car smell. And I drive a car right now. It is old as dirt.
It's as old as our marriage.
It's a two thousand one Toyota Avalon with two hundred seventy three thousand miles on it. And I'm so proud of that thing. Every time I turn the key and it turns on one more day I just smile. And I feel like I'm winning it life. I got one more day out of this thing. So, yeah, I think sometimes we get in debt because we're trying to create this standard of living to impress people somehow. And it's just, you know, that's just dumb. Frankly. I mean, we need instead to. We need to fight for peace. We need to have peace in our lives, in our homes. We need margin in our. In our budgets, in our time. The stuff that we're buying, man, like, none of. It's as nice as just the peace that comes from not having to lay in bed at night thinking about the debt hanging over your head. And we've been there early on, like Ashley said. We. We made hardly any money. We weren't smart with money. Debt came fast. And then it's just a snowball in the wrong direction of interest and more debt. And we slowly started getting out of that. And I'm just telling you on the other side, I never want to go back. I will drive an old car. I'll do whatever I just never want to go back. So there are so many resources We've given you just a few exomarriage Dot Com Comma. We have. We have some great resources from some money experts that have written and shared things right on our site. We've done other podcast, episodes and interviews with some Christian money experts. There's a lot out there. So just don't think you got to figure it out on your own. And don't feel like your net worth is a reflection of your self worth. Don't feel like that God loves you more when you are out of debt or have a bunch of money in the bank or that you're somehow more valuable. That's simply not true. Your soul is priceless. Whether you owe a million bucks or have a million bucks, your soul is priceless. And you can't take any of it with you anyway. But God wants us to live in the freedom that comes from not being shackled by debt so that we can be free to do all the things He has for us.
That's right. Freedom is wealth, you know. Having the freedom to not worry about money. I think that's the main thing. And also not worry about money when you don't have a lot of money. But also not be obsessed with money when you do have a lot of money.
Exactly.
¿And so just pray about that too, you know? I'm telling you all we in those extremely lean times we would pray specifically about our finances. And we still do. But I remember really praying specifically like Lord help us get out of debt. And I'm telling you there were moments where He miraculously would provide and it really can broaden your faith. And so, you know, definitely pray about it because I'm telling you God wants you to have freedom from debt.
Really does, guys, great question again. You can follow us on Instagram at Dave and Ashley Willis. Submit your questions there and look at the calendar of upcoming events at Exomarriage Dot Com. We would love to meet you at one of our live events. They're always so much fun. We love meeting you there, so get that on your calendar too. God bless guys, we'll see you next time.
Thank you all so much for listening to today's episode of Hump Day Q and A. We love getting your questions and we want to answer your question so, so if You go to nakedMarriagePodcast dot com you can submit your question right there or you can follow us on Instagram avanashleywillis and you can give us your questions right there by giving us a DM. So we'll catch you next time on Hump Day Q and A.