Selling as many of one’s possessions as possible was one of Dave Ramsey’s suggestions to help pay off debt more quickly

May 2016

Nat’s face was a blur as I looked through the bottom of the freshly washed drinking glass.

“Did it work this time?” he asked.

“Almost,” I answered, putting down the cup. “A bit more citric acid next time, and I think it’ll be perfect.” I was playing with a recipe for homemade dishwasher-detergent powder, and I was close to figuring out the perfect balance of ingredients to tackle our city’s infamous hard water. The best part was that making a tub of the stuff would cost less than $5, and last for over six months.

“Science in the real world,” Nat said, smiling. “You should tell your students about this!”

I chuckled.

It had been several months since we’d started aggressively paying off our debt, and we’d turned to some creative methods, like making our own cleaning products, to help keep our expenses down.* There had been some setbacks — like when we forgot about the car registration fee, which threw off our budget in March — but we tried our best to be flexible, and adjusted our spending as things came up.

Beep! chirped my cell phone from across the kitchen.

“Do you mind getting that?” I asked Nat. “It might be a buyer.”

Nat walked over and looked at the screen. “Yeah, it looks like someone will be here in ten minutes to pick up a box of books.”

Selling as many of one’s possessions as possible was one of Dave Ramsey’s suggestions to help pay off debt more quickly. Over the past months, I’d combed through our home, finding unused clothing, books, and household items, then posting them online for sale. I was as glad to be rid of the clutter as I was happy to add more funds to our debt payment at the end of each month.