You really saw the decrease in the amount that we owed. TYRONE HARRIS: And she would say, Hey, if we continue at this pace in three months, this is how much will owe. So that we could kind of organize ourselves and make sure we were on the right track. Every little expense, every dollar we brought in, we made sure it was accounted for. There was a line item for everything, even entertainment and food and gas. JENNIFER HARRIS: We literally listed everything and actually created a budget and stuck to it. Jennifer says all of that came into focus for them when they put pen to paper, or actually fingers to the keyboard in excel, and documented all of their expenses. You can see more clearly how to chip away at it. That's probably the biggest decision that we made.ĬHAKRABARTI: Now, things get mentally easier to confront when they go from the abstract to the concrete. And they're thriving in their private school. ![]() Because as every parent, you want the best for your child. It's one that we went back and forth with. ![]() It was something that we both were really nervous about. And that was a major area that she felt like if we deleted, we'd have a better opportunity of getting out of this debt. TYRONE HARRIS: One of the things that was really tough for myself, being an educator, and for my wife as well, was at the time we had our both of our sons in private school. But for Tyrone, an educator, there were certain things he was deeply reluctant to give up. But month after month, Jennifer would come home from Michelle's classes and talk about all the things she learned, things they could give up to beat down that debt. You know, it was going to be at our funeral with us.ĬHAKRABARTI: Insurmountable. It was going to go into a new house with us. I felt like it was just going to be a part of our family, it was going to go on family vacations with us. TYRONE HARRIS: I did not believe that we were ever going to be able to climb that mountain of $228,000 worth of debt. It was undergraduate degrees for both of us, as well as graduate. JENNIFER HARRIS: We had car notes in there as well, but the majority of it was student loans. She works for the federal government, and they have two sons. But does the congregation listen? Well, Jennifer and Tyrone Harris are also members of Michelle's church. So then when you need a car, add another 10 or 12 years or 15 years, which is how long my husband and I keep a car, then you'll have the money for a car.ĬHAKRABARTI: But you know, a woman can preach. Then after you get that one, when you pay that one off, you take the payments that you weren't paying on it, you pay it to yourself. When you get a car loan, you only get one. But you can.īecause here's a trick my grandmother told me. Because we shouldn't be getting loans for cars. ![]() And I'm not even saying, don't get a car loan, although you do know that you can pay cash for your car, do you not know that? They will take cash. MICHELLE SINGLETARY : I don't want you to think that I say, don't get a mortgage, that's not what I'm saying, because most of us can't afford to get our home without a mortgage. She preaches it from the pulpit at First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Maryland. The multitalented Singletary doesn't just dispense money advice in her column. And we also talked about her personal finance ministry. ![]() MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: We talked a lot about what Michelle has learned about Americans and their money over the past quarter century. Her column, The Color of Money, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. On today's main program, On Point talked with the wonderful Michelle Singletary, nationally syndicated personal finance columnist at The Washington Post.
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