To become debt-free is a fight at times, but it’s a good fight to be fought. There are ups and downs when tackling any challenge in life. There are things to overcome when reaching our goals, but it is well worth it.
And you can do the same to accomplish whatever you set out to do in your life. Sometimes prayer and sacrifice will lead you down the path to the debt freedom that you desire.
On today’s episode of The His & Her Money Show, Olaolu and Brea Ogunyemi unpack their story of debt freedom. Brea is a licensed realtor in San Diego California, mom, and the wife of a military man.
Olaolu is a Captain in the United States Marine Corps and a musician. Olaolu, or Lu as he likes to be called, comes from Louisiana from a family of six children. They share their incredible debt freedom journey of paying off over $70,000 in just 8 months!
The Starting Line
In college, Olaolu applied for every scholarship he could get his hands on. His first debt was created from two car loans and he paid them off with a career starter loan. Even though they both had college scholarships, Brea got a student loan as well just to have some extra money.
After graduation Olaolu and Brea got married and they were about $55,000 in debt and accumulated more in the next five years with trade-in of vehicles with leases attached, negative equity, other loans, renovations, credit card debt, medical bills, etc.
Their journey started in 2014 when Lu’s brother handed him The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey. Lu used the book as a coaster and only started reading the book in 2016. In January 2018 their debt amounted to about $70,000 and once they had made the decision to smash their debt, it took them only eight months to get rid of all their consumer debt.
Lu is the saver and Brea is the spender, but once Lu made the decision to start saving and investing and Brea saw the sacrifices he was willing to make, she came on board. Brea had to retrain her mind on how she viewed money. She realized most things are wants and only a few things are needs. She kept reminding herself to keep the end goal in mind.
Resetting The Foundation
Lu knew that finances are one of the number one reasons for divorce and he felt that this had been an area where they had to work on. When Lu had the discussion with his wife, he ASKED her (he did not TELL her), what her financial plan and goals were.
They started to look at their “why” and not look at the sacrifices they would have to make. They decided to use one joint account to be in one accord and be in unity about their finances.
The way that they got out of consumer debt was to firstly get a joint account. Brea really stepped up and started working hard in her real estate business. Moreover, they put a plan in place by putting all the loans on paper. Additionally, they cut down their budget to only essential items, cut down on subscriptions, and used the debt snowball strategy.
Some obstacles that they faced was one of their cars got totaled, their AC stopped working, and then their fridge stopped working. Furthermore, their son had some health issues that arose at this time and Lu’s grandmother passed away.
Divine Intervention
The way they worked through their challenges was by relying on God and praying specific prayers together. As Brea said: “Glory be to God, if it wasn’t for Him, I would be rocking somewhere in a corner.”
They also kept on focusing on their “why”. One of Lu’s reasons was that his niece was born with health problems and he wants to help his brother to build his business.
The biggest lesson Brea was taught in their journey was that you need very little, you should not go into debt, save for what you want and teach your children the same. Lu’s was learned stubbornness is wrong, by working together with his wife they can achieve anything and apply the book knowledge in your head and do something practical with it.
Lu ended the talk with Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Commit to making sound financial decisions and just trust the process.
And remember to celebrate the small victories and find people that are like-minded to walk this journey with you. Put your “why”, our reason, on the fridge, and look at it every day. The moral of the story, do not give up. Your hard work will be rewarded.
What You Will Learn
- Why making a decision to get out of debt is so important
- How to become the change in financial matters that you want to see happen in your spouse
- How to retrain your mind when it comes to your finances
- Why couples should have a joint account
- Why retail therapy is not worth it
- How long-term goals will get you your dreams
- What are sound financial decisions?
Resources Mentioned
- The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
- How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Thanks For Listening!
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Today’s show was sponsored by Teach Me How To Budget. If you are ready to gain freedom in your finances once and for all then enroll in our brand new personal finance course Teach Me How To Budget.
