It was the car we had our first date in (In n’ Out Burger style!). The car that drove us to our San Diego honeymoon. The car that had to get towed 212 miles on our way home from Vegas after the clutch blew out. The car that has so many memories attached to it.

Joe’s dream car. A 2002 BMW M5. Gray with two-tone red and black leather interior. Sport Package.

I loved that it always had the same sweet leather smell that I can recall from my very first ride. And the way it knocked me back in my seat a little every time we pulled onto the freeway. And how I could hear Joe driving into our neighborhood long before he reached our driveway. I loved the way I felt as he opened my door and I stepped into the passenger seat. My seat.

As I read through The Total Money Makeover earlier this year, I became so inspired by each couple’s testimony but one stuck out to me the most. They were a young couple in their twenties with mountains of debt ($169,000 to be exact!). They attributed it to things like frivolous spending on house stuff and clothes (something I have been guilty of), vacations and the big one….the BMW purchase. I felt the knot well up in my throat as this was hitting a little too close to home. But I read on…

‘We got crazy and sold our rental property, and we paid off the BMW, department-store card, medical bills, and student loan. We were invited to do fun stuff, and to spend money doing it, but we held off. We decided to have a garage sale that ended up looking like an estate sale; we ate ‘creative’ meals, and then I committed what some people would consider the ultimate sin: I sold my wife’s BMW’

I inwardly laughed as I read that line as I, too, could understand how unthinkable this is to a BMW owner. Sell the BMW?! Yea right! But I read on again…

‘We knew that if our family could just make it through these six months, we could ultimately change our family tree. And we did it! We became debt-free except for the house and were named one of the Total Money Makeover finalists. The most important part of this whole process was learning to delay pleasure. It’s like Dave says, “Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else!”

Wow! Talk about inspirational! $169,000 of debt…gone?! If they can handle that, surely we can tackle our hill. So for the past 6 months, we have been committed to becoming debt-free and are seeing the fruit little by little. And this weekend, we also ‘committed what some people would consider the ultimate sin’: we sold the BMW M5! We are now that much closer to being debt-free!

For as much as I will miss things about the BMW, I am excited to ‘live like no one else, so later we can live like no one else!’

Bye, Bye Beamer!! We shall meet again someday :) But next time we’re paying CASH!

It always seemed to put a smile on my face!

Except when I had to watch it being towed behind me :(. And even that makes for a good story!

Bye Bye Beamer, Hello soon-to-be debt-free life!