Grow It, Build it, Save it. A Book Review.

If you have been reading my blog for a while (or have gone back to look at previous posts) you know that my husband and I are trying to get out of debt. When we got married we had a credit card, 4+student loans, a car loan, no emergency money, and were living very paycheck to paycheck. Barely making ends meet and expecting our first child.

It was extremely important to us for me to stay home with our kids.
Both of our moms growing up were able to stay home and we love the memories we have from that. We wanted to be raising our kids and not feeling like someone else was doing it for us. (This is not to say that if you have to work outside the home or choose daycare for your family that it’s wrong or that it makes you a bad parent. Not at all! You have to do what is best for your family and this is what we felt was best for ours.)

With all of that debt we felt weighed down and it looked like it would be close to 15 YEARS before we could get it all paid off. Talk about discouraging.
We want so badly to buy our own home and not be renting forever.
We want to be able to put money away for the future.
But all we could see was money going to people we owe….and no real end in sight.

The average family today carries $8,000 in credit card debt according to the American Bankers’ Association.(Source)

While we didn’t have that much in credit card debt, we did have credit card debt and it was rarely fully paid off for long if at all.

The average American household debt: $117,951!

(Source)

Isn’t that crazy?! And it doesn’t seem to be slowing down either.
But there is hope and help.

Recently I was given the opportunity to read
Britni Ross' book "Grow it, Build it, Save it!"

I’ve read several books and have taken a class on getting out of debt but honestly they tend to be so much information packed in that it gets very overwhelming quickly.

As I started reading Britni’s book it really hit home with me….
Her story starts out much the same as mine. Married, new baby, and having “Too much month at the end of your money”. Student loans, car loans, new furniture, and credit card bills filled her with dread as well.

Britni is honest and tells you what they have done to change spending habits, cut costs, and get out of debt in a light hearted and easy to read format. With 34 pages I found this very informative and not at all overwhelming. It was almost more like sitting down with a friend and chatting over a cup of coffee rather than someone telling you what to do.

The assignments at the end of each chapter are really helpful for thinking things through differently, changing your perspective, and overall changing the way you think about money.

Her book retails for $2.99 on Amazon (Pricing as of 3/3/13).
It is definitely a great starting book to read about getting out of debt.

Now having personally taken some intense get out of debt classes, I didn’t feel like I read anything new per say but it did motivate me again to keep moving forward. It’s easy to get discouraged and wanting to give up but after reading that “Over the course of four years we [the Ross’] have paid off over $66,000 in debt and secured three months of living expenses in our emergency fund. Having a new found financial freedom has brought a lot of contentment into our lives. We have enjoyed multiple vacations that we paid for with cash. We quickly discovered that a vacation is more relaxing when there isn't a credit card bill waiting for you when you get home! The holidays have been much more enjoyable without that credit card bill too! Our most recent financial victory was being able to pay cash for a lightly used 4-wheel drive vehicle.”
I want to get out of debt more than ever!

If you’re just starting out in this get out of debt journey this is fantastic place to start.
Again it’s not overwhelming and the price isn’t overly high putting you into more debt.

Get the book HERE!
From March 4^th-6^th 2013 you can get her book for Kindle for free!
The great thing about this is you can read it anytime anywhere from your computer, Smartphone, or tablet.