^[2]Getting out of debt is a lot like baking a cake. Mix in the right ingredients, in the right proportions, and pop it in the oven. Then the waiting begins. You can smell it baking, the sweet aromas of vanilla, butter, eggs, and flour. You can see it baking as the once gooey batter transforms into a golden dome of goodness. Then you carefully bring it out of the warm oven to a cooling rack … and you wait some more as your taste buds scream for cake!

No matter how you slice it though, TIME is one of the most important aspects of baking. Time is a key component when it comes to getting out of debt, provided you’ve mixed the right ingredients. And once you’re on the right path, you can almost taste the freedom!

I shudder to think about how much debt I had acquired. But, in just 52 short months my wife and I have paid off:

• $35,000 in credit cards ^[3]
• $5,500 on my truck (sold it)
• $25,000 on my wife’s minivan
• $12,000 on another car (sold it)
• $15,000 in medical bills
• $6,000 on my daughter’s braces
• $2,700 to Lowe’s
• $20,000 in student loans

Today, I still owe $15,000 on my remaining student loan and quite a bit more on my mortgage ^[4], but that student loan is squarely in my sights!