Last week I described my first week attempting project one, eating my frog. This is definitely not a check-the-box-because-it’s-complete sort of project, so I’m continuing on with it.
But, because I could easily still be working on this in a year and never even look at anything else, I’m moving on while still working on the first project.
And Project #2 in One Bite at a Time, to make a debt-free plan was easy to double up on because … it’s already done! I wish all the projects would be that easy for me, although if they were I wouldn’t need the book. 
We got married when we were both 29, so we’d both had time to work. I was fortunate to get out of college and graduate school without any student loans thanks to a combination of scholarships, work-study jobs, fellowships, and generous parents. R had some loans from college, but compared to the totals many people have when they graduate they were minimal (I think around $5,000 or so). We did take a loan out for a new vehicle shortly after we married, but we made paying it and the student loan off a top priority.
I was in grad school (again) when we got married and was a fellowship student and got almost-free tuition and a small stipend. We used my income to pay the rest of my school fees (the rest of tuition, fees, books, parking, etc.) and then put the rest towards debt. After I got a “real” job we continued to live on R’s income alone and used mine for debt-repayment as well as any costs associated with me working (basically, commuting costs plus a portion of the grocery and clothing budgets).
Once we paid off his student loans and the truck, we kept our budget almost the same. We put aside a monthly “car replacement” amount so we never have to have a car payment again, and the rest of my income went towards setting up a house down-payment and an emergency fund.
We’re currently only have mortgage debt, and although it’s tempting to think about a life with no mortgage payment, paying it off early isn’t really a priority for us right now. Our interest rate is very low, and we’ve had other priorities for our money.
At some point we may start paying extra towards the mortgage, but that’s something we’ll reevaluate later. We usually look at big picture type money decisions like that between Christmas & New Years, as we look ahead at the next year.
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