Back at the end of December 2011 I won $10,000 from Dave Ramsey. It was a very exciting time for myself and my wife. I had never won anything before. You always hear stories of lottery winners that are broke a few years after winning millions of dollars. Now I know $10,000 is a far cry from millions but it can have the same effect if you are not careful with your money. When I found out that I won I knew exactly what I was going to do with the money. We had about $4,000 left in debt to pay off. And the very day that check showed up in the mail that is exactly what I did.

Now 9 months later we are still debt free and have emergency money in the bank.

This money could of very easily gotten away from us and gotten spent on any number of stupid things. But instead we had a plan that we stuck to.

Last Wednesday was one of the most exciting days in a very long time. It was the day that I made the final payment on our very last debt. It still has not really sunk in yet that it is actually paid off but I am sure it will soon.

If you are not yet debt free I suggest trying it. Not having a single payment to anyone is awesome and it allows you to succeed financially.

I just want to scream IM DEBT FREE

Next week is going to be one of the best weeks of my life. Next week will be the week that my wife and I pay off our final debt. Its been a long time coming. We have been fighting to pay off our debt for about 5 years. Now finally the last $4400 will be paid off.

On December 14, 2011 I got a phone called that completely changed our financial plan. During the Christmas season Dave Ramsey was doing a different giveaway each day, from tv's to books and cash. I heard early on that he would be giving away $10,000 one day. I told my wife that would be awesome if we won that because then we would be debt free and have some extra money in the bank.

Well on Dec 13th I saw in the morning that the giveaway was $10,000 that day and it would be given away the next day. I was excited and started entering for the giveaway. There was no limit to how many times you could enter so I ended up entering just shy of 600 times. I really thought there was no way I was going to win until.....

On Wednesday I got a call from an area code that I didn't know. The guy told me that he was from Dave Ramseys office and that I was a top 5 finalist to win $10,000. I totally freaked out and was super excited. I was told that they would call me back at 2:30 that day. Knowing how Dave works I had a sneaking suspicion that there were no other finalists and that I was the winner but I didn't want to get my hopes up. So when 2:30 came around and my phone rang I was ready to hear what the verdict was. I was put on hold and told that Dave would talk to me in about 5 minutes. That was the most agonizing 5 minutes of my life. But when Dave came on and screamed that I won $10,000 I totally freaked out and screamed. (probably screamed like a girl, but thats ok) Dave told me that over 1 million people entered to win the money. I am still in shock that I won.

When I receive the check this week I am going to really enjoy paying off our last debt. Its been a long time coming and I am super thankful that it will now be over.