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 21: Knock Off the Pity Party

When we first started paying off debt, I must admit I threw myself a grand pity party. There were pity balloons, wallowing streamers, whiney horns, tant pis confetti (that’s right, 2 years of French for that, Lords & Ladies), and a guest list that was me and anyone else who endured listened to me.

We’re never going to have any more fun.
We won’t be able to take our kids to museums, the zoo, or enriching activities.
Oh dear Lord, our kids are going to be STUPID because we can’t do any of those things.
But everyone eats at restaurants.
But everyone goes on vacation.
But everyone goes to the movies.

All of the above couldn’t be farther from the truth. Paying off $127K in debt was the greatest adventure of our lives. Yes, we lived through seasons where it *seemed* like everyone else was having much more fun than we were. However, we got incredibly creative about the fun that we had for free or cheap. And as we were faithful in a little, God blessed us unexpectedly with a lot.

At a press conference, I won FRONT ROW tickets to an Indiana Pacers game. It was my first NBA game. Sitting on the front row was wild. The tickets had a face value $700+ A PIECE people (and yes the thought of selling them did cross my mind but I’m glad we didn’t). I flew in a vintage plane in formation over Lake Michigan UPSIDE DOWN. I won a ticket to a blogging conference and toured Dave Ramsey’s studios a couple of times. 

None of that would have been possible if we weren’t paying off debt, friends. My pity party was unwarranted. You will still have fun. Life is more than spending money. Your kids will thrive. In fact, we all found that while the flashy joys of life are fun, we still prefer the simple things even now that we’re debt free. We are well entertained and we know each other well. We trust each other as a family. That is worth way more than any movie, vacation or restaurant meal. Want to know some of the frugal fun family activities we did while paying off debt (and still enjoy)?

• Constructing a Homemade Sprinkler instead of going to an amusement park.
• Buying a board game we can play again and again rather than spending $ on a date night.
• Going to the Library for books, programming, movies, and more.
• Putting the kids to bed on time every night so that we can have a “date night” at home.
• Buying steaks or lobster at ALDI & then cooking a fancy meal at home together, spending less than 1/2 of the same meal out.
• Going to community festivals.
• Visiting the grandparents.

Yes, seeing everyone else living what *seems* to be a better life is difficult. Yes, paying off debt requires sacrifice. However, you need not pity your plight Money Saving Lords and Ladies. You might need to get creative but you’re still going to have fun. I PROMISE. Plus you might encounter a Divine surprise of blessing along your journey, just like we did time and time and time again (and still do).

Want to be sure you don’t miss a single one of the 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth? Be sure to subscribe to my daily newsletter! Look for the bar that looks like this in the upper righthand corner.

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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
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: VISUALIZE VICTORY
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: CHOOSE GREAT FRIENDS
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: CLEAN YOUR ROOM
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: EMERGENCY FUNDS
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: QUIT FUNDRAISERS
• 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: STOP FREAKING OUT

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 on Kindle.  

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!

Related posts:

31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: QUIT USING PAPER GOODS 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: STOP FREAKING OUT 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: DON’T QUIT 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: OPERATE FROM A MINDSET OF WEALTH