Debt-Free Recipe

UNDATED—The family favorite at the Hildebrandts’ dinner table: egg noodles, crackers, and cream of chicken soup…

Kandy Hildebrandt: “Mama’s cracker casserole.“

A meatless dish…one small way this family of five dug themselves out of a mountain of mostly credit card debt, more than twice their annual income, $123,000, the result of 16 years of overspending.

Russell Hildebrandt: “It didn’t happen overnight. It was just a few thousand every year.“

The tipping point?

Kandy Hildebrandt: “We’d been assessed $1,544 in finance charges in just one month on 11 credit cards.“

Russell Hildebrandt: “I was ashamed. I was ashamed I let it get to that point, we were always big dreamers.“

But, the dreamers didn’t take the easy way out, ruling out bankruptcy and opting instead to pay off their debt.

Russell: “It was my debt. I made the mistake. It was my responsibility.“

Kandy cut the budget so much that at the end of the month she often had less than $5 to spare.

Gerri Willis, reporting: “A lot of people have $1,200 in debt. Lots of people have $12,000 in debt, but to have $120,000 worth of debt…how can you possibly pay that back?“

Kandy: “We quit eating out. That was right away. We quit buying brand name things that were costlier. We would go down to the generic. And actually as I was running out of my brand name things, I would add water to stretch it.“

The Hildebrandts saved $70 a month by doing their own car repairs, $250 by stretching leftovers and eating dehydrated hash browns. They saved $150 a month by buying at thrift stores, $200 by cutting their own hair. No more CD’s and DVD purchases…only essentials. Russell got a second job, working nights as a janitor in addition to his day job as a chemist, sleeping only a few hours a night.

Russell: “Some nights, I admit, I didn’t know I’d make it. But, I knew one thing…whether I made it or not, I was going to give it the best try I could.“

To save on gas money, he slept in his car.

Russell: “And I put my hood on, put my pillow over, and snuggle in for the night.“

Twin daughters, Holly and Heidi, put together a newsletter and sold it to relatives. Dinner time became family time.

Russell: “We would sit here for two hours and tell stories and laugh. And, I think that was the funnest time. And, I even though I would be dog tired, I just enjoyed it, because that was the time I spent with my family.“

And, having a common goal brought everyone together.

Kandy: “It’s not so much what’s on the table as what took place while we were here.“