Epi 61 - Alexis Fetterman
[00:00:00] Ashley: Welcome to the Money Mindset Podcast, where you will find the inspiration and motivation you need to manage your money better than you can stress less and live the life you want. 
[00:00:09] It's Ashley with Budgets Made Easy and the money mindset podcast. Today, we are sharing Fetterman's debt payoff story. So her and her husband paid up $48,000 in just thirteen months. She's going to share her tips and her motivation behind getting that done so fast. And she did have a big WHY. Now keep in mind if that feels un-doable for you discouraging, you're thinking you can't do it in 13 months. Even if you feel like you can't do it as fast as she did, please listen to the tips and the mindset and the things that helped her go from overspending, racking up credit card debt, and all the things to paying off a debt and being able to live the life that she wants.
[00:01:01] So even if you feel like that's not possible for you, you can still do it. It may just take you a longer. So the tips and the advice that she shares on how she does it is still applicable to you. Even if your situation may be a little bit different or it may take you a little bit longer to do it, you can still do it. The concepts, the foundational things are still the same. Even if you feel like, oh, that's just not doable for you. But if you are ready to get started, you can join my Free Budgeting Workshops. So I've got it set up for you to watch any time that you want itbudgetsmadeeasy.com/workshop and I'll teach you how to create and stick to your budget so that you can pay off your debt just like Alexis. So without further ado here is her amazing story. 
[00:02:00] Hi Alexis. Thank you so much for being with us. 
[00:02:03] Alexis: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited. 
[00:02:06] Ashley: Absolutely. Like I love sharing debt payoff stories and you have a pretty amazing one. So that's what we're going to dive into today. Oh, I can't believe it. Like you paid $48,000 in 13 months.
[00:02:21] So we are going to dive into how you did it, uh, before we do that, can you just give us a little bit of background about yourself because, you know, it goes into your story, right. As much as you want to share anyway. You want to let us know like kind of your background and things like that. 
[00:02:38] Alexis: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, I am married, um, and I, at the time of paying off our debt had one child. I am a nurse and my husband is a, um, at the time, again was also, I'm an HR Manager at a textile company and I was just always stressed about money, but never really did anything about it. And when, um, we helped my brother-in-law and sister-in-law move into a new house, I was, I was ready to build my own house. Um, a little bit of backstory into that was my husband and I had lived in fixer upper homes, our entire lives, um, and not like the chip and Joanna Gaines, fixer upper houses these are like houses that were never finished. Um, my parents actually just finished their house after 20 years. And his parents are still working on their house. And of course, when we got married, he bought a fixer upper. And so I was just tired of living in fixer-uppers. And so I told him that I was ready to build a house and he told me, no, not until we paid off all of our debt. So that's where we got started. 
[00:03:49] Ashley: That was enough motivation for you to jump in.
[00:03:52] Alexis: Absolutely. Yeah, I was, I was really angry when he told me no. 
[00:03:56] Ashley: Yeah, I bet. I bet. Cause I can imagine like you know, when those projects are just like 80%, 90% done and it's like, what'd you just finish it already? 
[00:04:07] Alexis: Absolutely. Yes. I was tired of constantly living in a construction zone. 
[00:04:11] Ashley: I bet I can imagine, especially with little kids cause your, um, was your, uh, one kid that you had at the time, little pretty little?
[00:04:19] Alexis: Yes. He was five. I believe when we started paying he four, he was four when we started paying off debt. 
[00:04:25] Ashley: Yeah. So that is hard, even harder. And then, um, you got pregnant while you were paying. 
[00:04:30] Alexis: Yeah, actually. Um, so we started paying off our debt in September of 2018 and in April of 2020, I found out I was pregnant and I, I actually like to think that paying off debt and, um, decreasing my stress from money helped us get pregnant because we had struggled for two and a half years to get pregnant with her. Um, yeah. So I like to think that some of it was, you know, dealing with my stress involving money. 
[00:05:01] Ashley: Oh, um, I'm sure it did. Like, I, that wouldn't surprise me at all. You know? I mean, you know how our bodies are. So, um, as a nurse, well, I'm sure it probably. So, can you tell me as much as you're comfortable sharing, um, you know, kind of how stress, like, what was the stress doing to you before you decided that, you know, I screw this, I want a house let's pay off the debt.
[00:05:24] Like where you laying awake at night stressing. Were you stressed about if you had money for groceries, you know, that those types of thoughts, like it, whatever you're comfortable sharing. 
[00:05:33] Alexis: Yeah. So my husband. Surprisingly, my husband likes to shop, so we'd like shopping together and I just was constantly stressed about anything we would buy. I'm the saver, he's the spender. And I was just always stressed. Like he wanted to buy stuff. Um, so I wouldn't say I was lying awake at night, but I just, whenever we go shopping or we would need to fix something. I was just constantly stressed because I didn't know where our money was going. I didn't know what was even coming in. We just were not aware. We didn't have any awareness of our finances, sadly. 
[00:06:08] Ashley: So at that time, um, when you say you didn't have any awareness, did you have like, anything written down or were you starting from absolute scratch? 
[00:06:18] Alexis: Absolute scratch. So I don't remember this, but my husband says that there were numerous times when he tried to talk to me about our finances.
[00:06:27] Ashley: You just blocked it out. 
[00:06:28] Alexis: I guess I did! Um, but no, so we had nothing written down. Um, didn't have a budget, didn't have a plan. Nothing, honestly, like I said, didn't know what was coming in, what was going out. I knew that we made decent money. I mean, with me being a nurse, I made good money, but my husband also liked to put everything on a credit card, whether we had money in the bank or not. And that got us in a lot of trouble 
[00:06:52] Ashley: To get the rewards I'm assuming? 
[00:06:54] Alexis: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. 
[00:06:56] Ashley: That's pretty common. And then, you know, you're, if it, especially if you're not, you know, tracking the transaction stuff. It's very easy to get away from you. I mean, that happened to me as well before we started paying off debt and it's like, wait a second. How did this balance get this high? What happened? Like how did this happen? So, um, once you guys decided to pay off debt and it sounds like, correct me if I'm wrong, kind of your husband was kind of more on board with it and getting you on board with it, uh, as well, like what was kind of the first thing that you guys did?
[00:07:30] Alexis: So actually, that's not quite what happened. So when he told me that I could not build a house or we couldn't move anything until we paid off our debt and that was going to be at least five years. When we got home that weekend, I took it upon myself to start researching how to budget, how to get out of debt. Like I was all over Instagram and for the first month or two or three months, it was just kind of me learning and doing it.
[00:07:57] And finally showing him that I was committed. He jumped on board. And so, you know, I kind of led by example, and finally he came on board and we, you know, finally work together and that's how we were able to pay off our debt so fast. Cause we worked together. 
[00:08:13] Ashley: That's awesome. Yeah. You, you were like, I'm not waiting five years, like we're getting this house! It sounds like, um, did you have to, um, you know, cause I get the question a lot and you probably do too. How do I get my spouse on board? So it sounds like, was it fairly easy for you to get him on board then after you kind of started working the plan? 
[00:08:34] Alexis: Yeah, I, I believe so. Um, like I said, just leading by example and showing him that I was committed to do this really helped.
[00:08:42] Ashley: Awesome. So what were some of the things that made the biggest impact? Cause you paid off a lot, really fast. Tell us how you did it. 
[00:08:51] Alexis: So I would say number one, having a why, and you need to have a strong enough why so that you are committed and don't want to give up. So that was definitely the first thing I wanted my house. Also sitting down and just having a budget or a spending plan, knowing what money is coming in, what money is going out, and then being committed to paying off your debt. If you know, if that's your goal. So definitely those things, having a why in a budget and then sending as much to debt as possible and working overtime or selling things. If, if you have to. 
[00:09:26] Ashley: Yeah, I bet. I bet you probably were able to work some overtime too. Um, so it sounds like that your stress was lowered just by getting started and going, like, not even, you know, it wasn't, even until you paid it all off, like just the process helped your stress levels.
[00:09:47] Alexis: Absolutely. Yes. Um, once I had that clarity, um, definitely my stress level went down and clarity and control. Um, I'm a little bit of a control freak, so, so just having that clarity and control definitely helped with my stress levels. For sure. 
[00:10:07] Ashley: Absolutely. So how did you get that clarity and that control? Like what were some of the steps that you did to kind of get. 
[00:10:15] Alexis: Of course again, it's going to go back to the budget and I'm a pen and paper girl. So just, you know, seeing that on paper and working it every two weeks when we got paid. Just, it honestly gives me an adrenaline rush now. I love, I love doing my budget. And, um, so that just gave me the clarity and control that I needed. 
[00:10:36] Ashley: And did you do a zero base budget? And if you're not sure, you know, whoever's listening, if you don't know what that is, is just planning, you know, every single dollar. So we're, did you do that or was it just, um, can you tell us kind of like how you did your budget.
[00:10:52] Alexis: Yeah. So I like to say that I'm a, a loose zero-based budgeter. Um, so I love the idea of zero-based budgeting, but I do it flexibly. Um, I, I don't want it to feel so tight or that I like absolutely have to budget every dollar that it's going to stress me out and feel overwhelming and complicated. But yes, ultimately it is zero-based just loosely. 
[00:11:16] Ashley: Yeah, I understand that completely. I'm the same way. And so like, I like to have a decent sized buffer or miscellaneous, you know, just kind of get some wiggle room in there, but you're still being intentional with your money. And I'd say that, you know, you can correct me if, if you don't think so, but I'm sure you do, you know, that's kind of really the magic behind it is just being intentional. You know, and doing, working towards your goal, your wife, just like you said.
[00:11:44] So, um, so you did your budget, uh, worked over time. Anything else that you did that like helped speed this process up so much, five years down to a little barely over a year. 
[00:11:57] Alexis: Yeah. So the first month that my husband and I got on board together, we, you know, went through all of our bills, all of our credit card transactions and notice that we had subscriptions coming out. We had no idea about, so those were canceled. Yeah. Like that's how bad we were with money. Um, but we canceled those. We lowered any expense that we could. So I had previously worked with an MLM company where I bought product ahead of time. And I had a whole bunch of that leftover. So I sold that dirt cheap on Facebook marketplace.
[00:12:29] I sold whatever we could. 
[00:12:31] Ashley: That's awesome, but yeah. 
[00:12:32] Alexis: Oh, I did the Field Agent App where you take little jobs and get a few dollars for it.
[00:12:39] Ashley: Oh, I haven't heard of that one. 
[00:12:41] Alexis: Oh yeah. It's a real nice to it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It's a really cool app. It gives you like little jobs in your area, like going to Walmart and taking a picture of a certain product and it'll pay you a few dollars. Like it really adds up over time. Yeah. The one job I had was going to Wendy's and taking a picture of their like menu sign or outside and I got paid $15. 
[00:13:05] Ashley: Dang. 
[00:13:07] Alexis: Yeah. So just doing little easy creative things like that. And I could take my son with me. So any little extra money we could get. 
[00:13:15] Ashley: Yeah, I'm going to have to look that one up. That's when I have that heard of, but you know, that does require leaving my house, which I don't really particularly care to do most days. But maybe I can look on those days I am like venturing out of the house. Um, so you sold things you found some ways to make some extra money. Um, was there anything that you did to maybe celebrate your wins along the way? Any rewards or did you just like gung ho it all the way through? 
[00:13:48] Alexis: I think we just gung ho did it all the way through. I mean, I was just so happy every day or paycheck and I threw extra money. to debt and that was rewarded enough, I guess. 
[00:14:01] Ashley: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I was kind of the same way now our stick a little bit longer. So we did, like, we didn't say no to everything, you know what I mean? But we did say no to some things and you know, we did a few things along the way, but you did it so fast. I probably would have been the same way, but like, no just do it, just get it done. 
[00:14:21] Alexis: Yeah. I mean, we were like, you, we, we still went out to eat once in a while and did things, but, um, you know, we had a goal in mind and stuck to it.
[00:14:30] Ashley: That's awesome. Uh, do you have any tips for people that are listening that maybe want to pay off debt and they're not sure how to get started or they definitely, probably don't think they can do it as fast as you did, which is fine. Like everybody's journey is their own, but do you have any tips for getting started or getting, going, 
[00:14:53] Alexis: Getting started? Um, so again, it's going to go back to the definitely having a WHY. Um, know why you want to do it and have uh, a goal. And it has to be a significant goal, um, so that you want to keep going. Um, definitely going back to that budget. Um, and I do think that a lot of people in today's world really don't know how to budget or where to start, um, make it simple and, and just start somewhere, start looking at your expenses.
[00:15:23] Ashley: Yeah, absolutely. Do you have any last words of wisdom before we, or anything that you want people to know about your story that maybe I didn't ask you. 
[00:15:34] Alexis: So definitely focusing on your, why just keep going back to that. Um, but I think the key too is when you start a budget just first off, learn, learn what it is, how to do it and make it super, super simple. Um, I personally think I have ADHD and so a complicated budget would not work for me. If you're having trouble getting a significant other on board, just have a conversation with them explaining your, your goals and your why's and a heart to heart. Just really lay it all out there. And if that's still not working, then again, lead by example. I really do think that there's power in that. And don't, it's not a race. So yes, I paid off our debt in 13 months, but you don't have to do that. Um, just start and make progress and be proud of that. And have that end goal in mind and get there. 
[00:16:32] Ashley: And did you get your house? 
[00:16:34] Alexis: Yes, I did. 
[00:16:36] Ashley: I almost forgot to ask. I was like, I thought about that earlier. And then I was like, I think it's been enough time, probably, hopefully before the interest rates went up, I didn't realize how high the interest rates are this, now until a friend of mine was talking about it. I, I didn't pay attention to it cause I'm not in the market. And I was like, they're over 5%. I didn't even, I didn't even know that like that's crazy! 
[00:16:57] Alexis: Yes. So there's actually a story in that as well. So. We finished paying off our debt. We made our last debt payment on Halloween of 2019. Um, and my daughter was due Christmas Eve of 2019. Um, but on December 20th I went into labor and my husband wanted to take me for a ride to kind of speed things up. And, um, he's like, I found this piece of land. I want to, I want to take you to. So we went and it's this cute little development and I fell in love with it and then had my daughter 12 hours later. And I don't know. I think it was like a week later we went to meet with the builder and December of 2020, we moved into our brand new house.
[00:17:40] Ashley: Ooh, that is awesome. That just gave me goosebumps. Like, that's just such an awesome story. Like everything worked out and the timing was perfect for you. Like that is so awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today. Um, how can people maybe follow you or learn more, learn more about you. 
[00:18:01] Alexis: So I can be found on Instagram and Facebook @fettermanfinancialfreedom. Um, I also have a Square Space site that is linked in my bio of both of those and will be linked in the podcast news. 
[00:18:14] Ashley: Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us today. 
[00:18:19] Alexis: Thank you so much for having me. It was so much fun. 
[00:18:22] Ashley: Wasn't her story? Amazing. I mean, can you imagine. Now you may not be able to imagine doing it as fast as she did, but what have you just paid off your debt. Like how amazing would that feel? How much stress would be taken off of your shoulders. If you are ready to get started, you know, just like she said, it starts with your budget. I do have Free Workshop, training, whatever you want to call it budgetsmadeeasy.com/workshop on how to start and stick to your budget.
[00:19:01] So if you're ready to get started, go sign up for the free training. Get going today before you forget. And if you loved this episode, please leave five star review on whatever app that you are listening to. I would so much appreciate it. And I will talk to you guys next week.