Freedom Friday: This Amazing Journey (subtitled Free As a Bird!)

Greetings, Money Saving Lords and Ladies, it’s my favorite day of the week – FRIDAY.  And not just because the weekend is near but also because we get to share a little bit of our debt slaying journey with you.

Hey everybody. So glad you stopped by today. Freedom Friday is when I bi-weekly let you in on how we’re doing with our pursuit of paying off debt. It’s also when many of you have e-mailed me with your story (with either “Freedom in Progress” or “Freedom Achieved” in the subject line) so I can share your story to encourage others, too.

Howdy, Money Saving Lords and Ladies.  It’s that time of the week again.  Time for me to check in with our debt slaying progress but before that, allow me to share some pictures.

This is me:

It was a week ago and I’m still pinching myself.  You can see more pictures here if you haven’t already.  I’ll speak more specifically to the adventure itself on Sunday but I think that one of the biggest misnomers of paying off debt is that you won’t get to have any fun in the process.  Or at least it was one of the mistruths I told myself before we bit the bullet and began to even try.  No vacations, no eating out, no movies, no theme parks, no fun.  And to a certain degree that has been true.  We’ve not taken any big vacations (the King and I did do a weekend getaway to celebrate our 10th anniversary last summer but other than that, we’ve been vacation-free), we don’t eat out often (not at all for the King of Free this year), the last movie I saw in a theater was Up and the Queen Mum paid for the Eldest Princess and I to go.  No trips to Kings Island, Holiday World, Six Flags, Cedar Point here.  We have done some daytrips upon occasion but usually whatever we’re doing is free or close to it.

Don’t thinking I’m harumphing or whining.  Life hasn’t been any less rich.  And in fact, I’ve had opportunities I NEVER dreamed I would.  Like flying in an aerobatic plane which was amazing!  Thanks again Lady Erika and the fine folks at the South Shore CVA.  And I NEVER thought I’d be given the opportunity to speak, to be on tv, to be in the newspaper, to be in magazines.  It’s really kind of ridiculous when I think about it.

But someday, oh someday when we’ve kicked Sallie Mae so hard in a teeth that she goes running and never comes back, we will be able to live like no one else.  We’ll be able to take vacations, pay cash, and not feel the heat when we get back.  We’ll be able to occasionally go to the movies and not have to worry about having enough $ paying our bills.  We’ll be able to eat out now and again.  We will be free as a bird flying high in the sky.

My sneaking suspicion is that we really won’t “want” those things as much as we thought we did at one point in time.  Living simply, being surprised by unique opportunities, being overwhelmed with gratitude for the MANY things we already have in our lives.  It’s been a beautiful part of this amazing journey –   Worth far more than its weight in gold to us.

But while we’re taking about gold (aka cash money), let’s speak digits, shall we?  $15,548.70 paid off since February on the evil sorceress Sallie Mae.  She is our LAST yet LARGEST debt.  Oh she is SO big Lords and Ladies.  We were able to chink close to $2K off of her figure during the last month.  We have a goal to pay off at least $5K more this year (I’m praying it’s much more).  Any takers on an exact figure between now and December 31st?  Leave it in the comments.  😉

Thanks for all of your encouragement.  You are indeed worth more than your weight in gold, too.  We couldn’t be where we are without you!

NOW, I need some of your stories!  If you’ve been reading Freedom Friday for awhile, been encouraged by the voices of others on the same journey, it’s your turn to SPEAK UP!  We want to know what life has been like for you since you’ve started paying off debt.  What have your learned?  What can you share?  You don’t have to be debt free, just on a path to freedom.  Please e-mail me your story so I can share it with the other Money Saving Lords and Ladies in the Court of the Queen of Free.  There is strength in numbers and we’re better together.