In debt to well off in 1 year

At this point last year one of my New Years resolutions was to get better with money. I was 25k in the hole. Between a credit card, truck payment and boat payment I look back now and wonder how I got by. I routinely had less than a couple hundred dollars in savings and checking combined and was not putting a dime in any investments. I picked up a book called the total money makeover by Dave Ramsey and it definitely changed how I handled money

It requires a change in lifestyle but I had to get over instant gratification and impulse spending. Going to bars and casinos every weekend wasnt helping my case. So I sat down and made a budget, I spent every dollar on paper before I got a paycheck. I cut up the credit card and paid it off first but then came the hard part. I love being on the water but a Malibu wake setter is a black hole for money and I knew it had to go. I posted it for sale and sold it for more than I pad for it 3 years prior.

The next month I used some of the money from the boat and paid off my truck. It's a strange feeling but for the first time in my adult life of 25 years I did not have any debt of any kind. It's absolutely liberating. Since I paid off the truck I started putting 15% into work sponsored RIRA's and another 10% in mutual funds which have earned about 7% interest since i started investing. I am pretty proud of how far I have come in 1 year. So for anybody staring at a mountain of debt it's not impossible you just have to work at it.