Monday, February 21, 2011

Free Free Free!

Happy Monday!  I hope you have today off too!


I wanted to pop in to quickly share something I'm really proud of:
As of today, with the exception of our mortgage, we are 100% debt free!! 


We paid my car off yesterday (the $5k left on it).  You may recall my endless blabbering about how we are saving money.  It's still going strong - and we have specific plans for all of the dollars we are stocking up.  Most is for savings - either long-term or emergency, some is for specific projects (fixing our irrigation issue, building a deck), and some was an effort to reduce our bills.  We can now check the car off the list (now, pray I don't get into a wreck any time soon!).  We don't owe anyone anything (well, except those mortgage people) - and it feels great.  I am also proud to say - we are now completely saving one of our incomes and living only off of the other.  


I've said this before - I don't post this to brag or gloat, but instead, to be a possible inspiration to anyone else who is trying to do the same.  We aren't rich but we're doing well, and we aren't living on rice and beans and having a miserable time to be able to save as much as we are.  We are just average 20 somethings (um... late 20 somethings now, I suppose!) with normal lives.  The only exception is that we aren't carrying the debt load that has become so unfortunately normal for those our age.


It's (surprisingly!) not really all that hard to save - we use the cash system, we budget and plan and bargain shop, and (this is the biggest/hardest one!) we don't buy what we don't need.  I don't have a closet full of new clothes - but I haven't had a credit card balance since college.  We don't have a DVR but we have time to talk.


True, there have been some fortuitous circumstances that are allowing us to save what we do (for instance, Tony drives a company car and we luckily never had to have student loans from undergrad).  We (thankfully!) haven't encountered any problems in life that required us to lean on our credit cards or borrow what we didn't have.  We are blessed every day by those around us, friends and family alike.  There have been rough patches and moments of jealousy and tiny little tantrums by yours truly.  But I can assure you - it feels incredible to only have about a handful of bills coming in each month. We're on a mission to live simply and with as little complication and drama as possible.  


One step closer.

14 comments:

  1. Way to go! Hubs and I are on a cash budget system too. Sometimes it's hard, but I LOVE reading about others doing the same and being encouraged :)

    Quick question: How do you handle savings? Does it all go into one account and you track it or do you have separate accounts for certain things?

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  2. thanks!! so glad to hear others are doing the same!

    we have a separate savings acct - and we have the money go there automatically when we get paid so we don't have to worry about it. tony is really the mastermind in all of this - he is a numbers person and has all of the figures in his head at all times! but we have a pretty extensive excel sheet that tracks it all. tony's worked it down to a science!

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  3. Congrats!! DEBT FREE! That is wonderful news!

    We are on a cash budget too and love how easy it makes it - if we don't have the money in the envelope, we don't spend it! We still have lots of things we can cut back on, and we're slowly working through it as we prepare for our newest addition this summer.

    Give yourself a HUGE pat on the back from us!! You deserve it!!!

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  4. now THAT has got to feel good! Congrats to you two!!

    In 7 years I will have my school loans paid off. Oh to have that extra $600 a month. I am counting the days ;)

    LB

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  5. Congrats guys, that is huge! You're going to be able to do so many awesome things because of being responsible. You know what sucks? Quitting your job to stay home with your rugrat and still having to pay those student loans every month. Something doesn't seem right with that :)

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  6. Congratulations! I can imagine that its hard to make those "responsible" decisions but oh so amazing to have it pay off!

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  7. Congratulations! You are awesome!! That is a huge accomplishment.

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  8. This is incredibly exciting Claire... and very inspiring. In full disclosure- we're not there- not even close. Going to one income was the very best decision for our family, BUT, wow- what a difference financially.

    On the upside, we're working on it! We'll get there- eventually!

    Thank you so much for sharing. I don't take it as gloating in the slightest. =)

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  9. Seriously, this has me tearing up! So happy for you!

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  10. Yay! Congratulations! What a wonderful accomplishment. And an inspirationg.

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  11. That really is wonderful! Congratulations!

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  12. i really appreciate all of your kind comments!!! thanks so much !

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  13. You are so inspiring! Wait to go Claire and Tony!

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Your comments make me happy!

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