Last summer we were on the brink, debt was sucking down all of my income. Too many loan notes to count. Our rental property was upside down and vacant. The credit cards were maxed out, so we had to use "real money" to buy food... and there was almost none left after the creditors had their take.
I sold a kit airplane project that started as a "I deserve it" facepunch idea but for which I rapidly ran out of funds, and then it languished uncompleted in a hangar for over two years. I took a net loss on this sale, but reasoned (correctly) that every month sooner that I sold it was worth $670/month payment on the note plus $300 for the hangar fee. A few weeks later we paid off about 1/3 of my wife's student loans, and by March this year we'd paid off all $27k of credit card debt. I had to swallow my pride to sell that airplane, but doing so was a great experience and the best thing I ever did for my family's financial situation.
Along the way from there til now I sold several thousand dollars worth of expensive hobby equipment that I'd been hoarding, unused, also for years. Every time I go through the garage I find more such stuff. I look at something and ask myself, "Would I buy it today?" if not, I sell. If that's not enough to flip my switch, I ask "If I need one of these in the future, can I find it easily/cheaply?" If yes, I sell. I find more such stuff every time I go in there. eBay and craigslist are nearly always open tabs on my computer, which is an old one from 2002 that makes more noise than processor power, but it gets the job done.
Cancelled cable and put up a HD antenna.... were it up to me I'd have ditched the TV altogether, but wifey needs her Sunday football, and better to get it for free than watch at BWW's over $8 beers. Replaced bulbs with LEDs. Throttled back the A/C big time. Ditched Verizon. Cancelled subscriptions and clubs.
About $30k more to go... the rest of the student loans, and a little bit on her car note. Should be paid off early next year. The rental property is rented, and we're in a position now to sell it once this lease is up, to break even or make a small loss/profit. And our goal is to be well in the black by next fall, when I have a $112k career bonus coming. We're on our way out of the red forever.
...And after running several of my own spreadsheets, and many of the calculators online and linked on this forum, I realized that FI is actually in our family's reach, as long as we ditch the stupid consumer sucka ways of the past. 10-15 years tops, even after being so far in debt, and we can probably do even better. We're nowhere close yet to trimming our lifestyle as much as I know we can - doing the math and seeing the potential really gets me excited!
Looking forward to the future!
