I can’t believe it’s once again Friday. I am very excited to quickly bring you up to speed on our debt snowball progress. Next week, Lady K. shares a bit of her story with us all!
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.
You might remember that in mid February, we paid off our last consumer debt (recall the Target Visa Dragon?). Now all we have left is Ugly ‘Ole Aunt Sallie Mae who rolls around the house in her rollers, slippers, and fuzzy robe. She sits wherever she wants. She eats up all of the extra cash we have. Because of her, we can’t take vacations like we’d like to do. Because of her, we aren’t as generous as we’d like to be. Because of her, we’ll have less saved for college when the Eldest Princess leaves our doors in a little over 10 years (*gasp*! How can she be that old already?!). Because of her, we have less in retirement savings than we’d like. But I have news for you Sallie Mae. You are no longer welcome here. And did you notice? You’ve lost close to $10K since February?
That’s right, since we zeroed in on Sallie Mae at the end of February, we have put $9670.27 toward paying her off. BOOYAH. It has been so much fun to see the number drop and drop and drop. Now that being said, God has blessed us with some unanticipated income and we’ve been able to cut back in ways we wouldn’t have dreamed of even a year ago. And incorporating all of those smaller debts we once paid into one last payment is really working!
And did I mention that in this same 2.5 month period we also paid $2350 for braces? And over $1000 for a root canal and crown for me? And put new tires on the truck to the tune of $400? All in up front cash, no payment plans necessary. And we have about $450 saved for our Great Wolf Lodge celebrating paying off the Target Visa Card trip. Plus we still have our emergency fund. And we didn’t even have a tax refund this year because we followed Dave Ramsey’s suggestions about deductions. We had to pay taxes but had saved more than enough to do so. Unreal.
Now before you become overjoyed and lose sight of just how far we have to go, it’s still going to take a couple of years to overcome Sallie Mae. She is a very big broad. I tell ya. But it feels so good to know that she’s already 20K less than she was way back when we started paying on her. A little bit over a long period of time can yield big results.
And know that you CAN do this too. When we first started paying off debt in April of 2008, I NEVER thought we would be this close to our dream in such a short period of time. And when I felt called to quit a part time gig in September of 2008, I thought it would never happen period. But bit by bit, things have fallen into place. We’ve learned money saving tips and tricks, money making opportunities have come our way, and we’ve been blessed beyond belief. Life is good.
Do you have a tale to tell? Have you paid off debt? Are you in the middle of a long debt slaying battle? Are you just beginning? Your story is welcome here. E-mail the Queen at thequeenoffree@gmail.com and I’ll get your story slated for a Freedom Friday in the future. Together we can encourage each other to slay debt dragons left and right.
www.queenoffree.net
