by Tricia
I’ve been blogging about my debt for over a year and a half now. This really amazes me because while I can be bull-headed and full of determination, it seems to come in spurts. I’m not always a determined person for the long haul (check out my rant at Blogging Away Fat). For some reason, though, I’ve been able to stick with paying off our debt.
But I get so sick of it sometimes. I go through periods where I’m ready to win the lottery (even though I don’t really play). Or I have some big idea that pops in my head and I see dollar signs (although it’s probably just a crazy idea).
Just something that can take my debt and make it go bye-bye. *POOF* All gone. Then I return to reality and I start asking myself questions:
If I don’t go through this long, difficult journey of paying off our debt, what will I learn?
If my debt magically disappeared shortly after starting this blog, would I have still adapted a frugal lifestyle?
Would I even have a savings account?
So many questions that I will never know the answer to. But something tells me that if my debt magically disappeared back then, I would be back in debt before I knew it. Why? Because by going through the process of paying off our debt I am learning so much and I am really understanding how much being in debt has cost us. Not only in the interest that has been paid, but how much stress that it causes.
Yeah, I still get sick of being in debt but it is for a reason. It’s so I will never…ever…get back into it again!
Hi Tricia,
I agree that paying off debt slowly is definitely a learning experience – and you are not only learning financial principles, but also principles that will benefit you in other areas, such as perseverance and delayed gratification. Right now, I’m tempted to drain my savings as I’ve racked up a little (
Hi Tricia
I’ve not been blogging too long but I’ve been on the debt free journey for over 2 years now. Like you the lesson’s I’ve learnt on the way have been invaluable.
I will also never ever get into debt again!
🙂
hey tricia, keep to it! i know exactly how you feel, and you’re doing a great job. keep it up, your an inspiration!
i hate when i type “your” for “your’e”. it’s totally my bane.
god! i can’t even get the correction right.
This is such an inspirational post. Thanks. I’ve gone through the same thought processes as you and am so glad to be reminded of the good things. Paying back debt has taught me discipline and without it, I would go back to my old ways. Learning to tackle this one day at time has helped me out in planning my future, getting in shape, and just living a better life.
i agree, because this is what happened to me. I got out of debt quickly and easily, and next thing I knew, I was further in debt than what I had been previously. This last go around, my debt seriously jeopardized my career and life. It was a struggle, but one that I desperately needed. I definitely have a different perspective about money now than I use to the first time around.
Being out of debt just amazes me every day. The amount of savings we’ve amassed and the fact we’ve spent a lot on want items and still continue to save over 90% of our income. It’s much better to know you have x amount of money, rather than to think you have x amount of money you can spend on your credit card. I talked about this with a colleague of mine, who stated she was had always and continues to think of credit as money they can still spend. Having been in serious debt and thinking this way, too, compared to now really makes me ask what the hell was I thinking when I thought that.
Tricia, all those questions will become clear by continuing to stick with what you are doing.
When repaying my debt, after having negotiated what I could with rates and repayment, I simply ignored the interest and kept a spreadsheet of the debt decreasing and when each debt would be paid off. Focusing on pay off dates only was much less taxing than thinking about how much interest I was paying, and how much debt I had, etc. It took me 3 years to get out of my roughly $80k debt. But, boy, when I was out of debt, it was much quicker to accumulate savings.
Insightful post, Tricia. I think you’ve forgotten something, though … your son.
This journey out of debt has not only changed the way you and your husband see money and debt, it will probably innoculate your son against a life where debt is the norm. Your present struggles and frustrations may well create the blessing of living without money woes for he, his family, and future generations. What a legacy!
I think that’s exactly why so many people who use HELOCs to get out of debt quickly find themselves in worse shape than they were before. Sticking to your schedule will pay off in so many ways in the end 🙂
I agree, and thank you for making me feel like I am NOT the only one! I feel like this A LOT…..but would not be learning the things I have learned, and would not be diliginet about saving if it “magically” dissappeared.
HI Tricia
I can totally relate to how you feel. It’s been like 2 months that I’ve been practicing frugal living and I’m still not out of debt.
A few tricks I’ve learned along the way. Set up a debt snowball. This allows you to run your budget on auto polite and focus on more important things.
Celebrate milestones. My wife and I ate out today, the first time in months. We wanted to celebrate that we had two CC drop below a “zero” under 7.000€ and the other below 3000€. With a bit of luck the second will be paid off at Christmas.
Fill your mind and life with other things. Get involved in things that don’t cost money. For the wife and I it’s a local English Speaking church, she gets to sing and I get to help organize things in the background. Doesn’t cost much (beyond meat for the odd BBQ) and we both really enjoy it. I will also be teaching again soon which means I’ll be busy, I’m also almost got my residency permit which means I can teach legal and means more money.
Spend time on PF blogs to learn how to develop new habits. I’ve been doing this for wieght loss. Training myself to eat less. Getting used to one not two eggs for breakfast, and a half sized portion for lunch. Snacking is still a struggle. (munch munch just finished off another cookie)
All of this things help keep my mind (usually always) off our debt and focused on thing more important to us.
I don’t have anything to offer you except my admiration. I reckon its pretty hard to get out of debt, but as you’re doing it, you’re learning.
We don’t use credit (except mortgage), but we lived on one income for several years and in order to stay out of debt we had to live very frugally. Every once in a while I would just feel like I was going to explode if we didn’t just splurge and spend money. It’s just tiresome to constantly pinch every penny. But it is worth it when you get through that feeling. We still live within our means, but life is much easier now that we have a bigger means.
I think by virtue of having spent the last year and half being sick of the debt and doing something about it you’d be ok if the debt vanished. You’ve learned your lesson, the hard way and fought back. The biggest problem with the magical solution is that most people aren’t even remotely ready for it; they haven’t learned anything.
As for those ideas of yours, remember they’ll be nothing more than ideas if you don’t do anything with them. Try one or two of them out. You might be surprised those $ signs you see might be the same ones that hurry along your debt repayment.