Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.
Here’s my little Happy New Year gift to you. Each day in January, I’ll bring you a simple, concrete and easy to put in place tip to fuel your efforts to Save Money, Pay Off Debt, and Be Awesome this year. Looking for a quick plan? Well this might not to be the right place for you. Most things down well take time. But that doesn’t mean you can’t begin to implement systems in your life that will help you achieve your goals. I’ve said it many, many times before. Paying off debt isn’t complex. It’s just not easy. You have to punch the clock daily and do the hard work. Here’s another way to make that happen
Day 15: VISUALIZE VICTORY
V-I-C-TORY, VICTORY! Have I mentioned I was a cheerleader in a former life?
You know you want victory over debt. You know you want to win with money. You’ve mastered the art of budgeting. You’re quickly becoming a coupon ninja. You’ve taken on extra jobs. You’ve sold extra stuff. You’re all over the cash envelope system.
But let’s face it. If you’re in the middle of a fierce battle with the Debt Dragon, things can get wearisome. You are tired. It’s difficult to see the big picture. It feels like this journey will never end. Maybe it’s time for you to pause and visualize your victory over debt.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about a hand holding “Kumbaya” everyone cries and gets emotional session. I’m not talking about some power of positive thinking (not that thinking positive won’t take you far in this life). It’s not a self-important, self-righteous, self-worship mumbo jumbo either.
I want you to physically visualize paying off debt.
Here’s what it looked like for us to put this practice into action. To this day, on the side of our refrigerator are two insanely important pieces of history magneted in place. We see both as we pass by on the way in and out of our home. Both were incredibly important in our journey of paying off $127K. I would honestly pause and contemplate grabbing them on the way out of the house if it were on fire.
The first is a stack of bills. Every single time we paid off a debt, we wrote the date on the final bill and then we stapled it to any other paid off bills. As the stack grew, we could visually see the change in our lives. We could leaf back through our journey. We could see the totality of our efforts. Pinned to the final document is a little button that says, “To Have More, Desire Less.” It’s a paraphrase of a G.K. Chesterton quote. It reminded us that we had all we needed and we would be ok in the midst of battling the Debt Dragon. Those papers on the cover of my book? Those are the very same papers.
The other document is a single sheet of notebook paper. Its edges are worn and you can even see the little edges of where it was once spiral bound. Marked with coffee stains (oops) and scratch math, it is a running total of the debt we paid off. Dates and totals filled the lines and then began to make their way around the edges of the paper. Whenever we felt discouraged, we pulled out that sheet and literally marveled at the miracle that God had worked in our finances. Things once were so different than they were now. It’s sitting on the table in the picture above.
Maybe you’ll make a giant thermometer. Maybe it will be a dart board. You need to “see” your way into Kicking Debt In the Teeth. On the days when you want to quit, you’ll be able to remember how far you’ve come and where you still need to soldier on. Pull out your pencil. Mock up a spreadsheet. Or draw a dragon (or print one here). Whatever it takes for your journey to come alive before you, do it. Gain new eyes to see and then Kick Debt in the Teeth.
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I’m so looking forward to sharing this month of challenge and inspiration with you. Together, we can show debt who’s boss and give it a swift kick in the teeth this January and throughout the year in 2016. Away we go!
Miss the previous posts? Check out:
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: BELIEVE
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: STOP IT
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: SELL, BABY, SELL
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in The Teeth: USE CASH
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: PLAN YOUR MEALS
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT BUDGETING
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: READ A BOOK
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: QUIT RESTAURANTS
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: DREAM ON!
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: SET LIMITS
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR SPOUSE
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: MOVE IT
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: WORK IT
- 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: LEARN TO COUPON
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
