Family overcomes $26,000 in debt in 20 months

In 2008, Brad Chaffee and his wife were $26,075.75 in debt when they decided to pay it all off, according to U.S. News.

Now the Charlottesville, Va., couple is debt-free, according to the article. Chaffee is currently working at his t-shirt printing business and blogs about life without debt at enemyofdebt.com. Chaffee's wife works part time as a nurse and is a top eBay seller. Both have recently become health coaches and hope to be able to put 100 percent down on a home.

Chaffee decided it was time to get out of debt in 2007 when he reread "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey, according to the article. Chaffee and his wife had a hard time getting on the same page about their debt in the beginning as she was still going to school for her nursing degree.

After a short time, Chaffee's wife caught her husband's excitement and started selling items on Craigslist and eBay, according to the article. After 20 months, the couple had emergency savings of $2,000 and had completely paid off the $26,000 of debt.

"We almost became minimalists in a way," Chaffee told U.S. News. "To this day, my wife and I look back at that experience and we think, gosh, we learned so much and that whole debt-free journey changed us completely."

EMAIL: bbullock@desnews.com