Slaying the Debt Dragon, by Cherie Lowe

It's a new year, a great time to make changes and build new habits, but as Cherie Lowe points out in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After, "there is no good time to begin paying off debt.  There is only today." She tells the story of her family's four year journey of paying off over $120,000 in debt.  Their combined student loans, credit card debts, and assorted debts were a burden; they decided to make some changes and get it done.

Readers or radio listeners familiar with Dave Ramsey will recognize his attitude and principles in Lowe's book.  She looked to his Total Money Makeover for inspiration.  She and her husband are avid fans of Ramsey, and even appeared on his show to declare "We're debt free!"  Lowe doesn't necessarily introduce new ideas for paying off debt in Slaying the Debt Dragon, but it's refreshing to hear her perspective and gather some of her money-saving tips.

Like Ramsey, she tries to keep it simple.  "It isn't that complex.  Spend less than you make so you can whack away incrementally at the debt dragon with all you've got."  The biggest key (again, no surprise) is making a budget and keeping it.  She's a fan of the envelope system, and using cash only, especially at the grocery store and eating out.

She explicitly ties in freedom from debt to freedom to live a fuller life as a Christian.  "We had lost a sense of contentment. . . .  We had lost the bigger picture of the adventure God wanted to take us on through our story.  Living day to day, paying bill after bill, our lives had been locked into a boring status quo existence." I like this perspective.  It's not about making money and saving money.  It's all about making space in your life and your lifestyle to follow and obey God.

Slaying the Debt Dragon is a very personal, honest book, but I wish she had given a bit more perspective on the income side.  Her husband is a lawyer, so I assume he was making a decent income. On the other hand, she mentioned that he picked up some side jobs, but she doesn't go into what they were or what kind of hours those demanded.  $120 thousand is certainly a ton of debt, but did they pay it off while earning a salary of $40K a year, or $200K a year?  I was just curious about that detail of the story.  Whatever their income, their story is still inspiring and informative.  She doesn't make paying off mounds of debt sound easy, but she definitely makes it sound doable.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!