MM win: I declare today to be Debt Free Friday!

[RandZB]

I just paid off my credit card in full.  I had been carrying a balance for the past nine months from two large expenses last year, and it was driving me crazy.  But I heard two things on the radio that brought me to my Light Bulb Moment.  The first was on a YNAB podcast from last year entitled "When You Finance Anything, You Finance Everything".  The premise was that until you are debt free, any purchase you make is financed at your highest rate of interest.  The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  Every dollar I spent that wasn't going toward this credit card balance was essentially accruing interest at a rate of 12%.  Every latte, every article of clothing, even necessities.  That made me hate that credit card balance even more knowing that I was financing groceries and gas for my car.

The second thing I heard on the Dave Ramsey Show, and he was talking about letting go of emotional attachment to possessions so that you can sell them to get out of debt.  I have an emotional attachment to cash, and even though I don't keep a lot in cash savings I am always afraid to let it go because something bad might happen and I won't have enough cash.  But money doesn't love me back, and it made me realize that it was silly to keep chipping away at a credit card balance when I had more than enough money to pay it off in savings.  Now instead of putting money on a credit card and accruing interest every month making the hole deeper, I can just put that money back in my savings account until it's back up to my comfort level. 

So now I'm a major car repair or home catastrophe away from being completely broke, but it feels good to finally be debt free again!

[audette]

Yay for being debt-free!

[Deleted]

Congratulations!

[Susie]

Aug 29, 2014 8:36:54 GMT -5 RandZB said:

So now I'm a major car repair or home catastrophe away from being completely broke, but it feels good to finally be debt free again!

Building savings back up goes so much faster than paying down debt because interest is working for you, rather than against you.  

:Y:

[delawarejen]

Another one bites the dust! Way to go!

[Deleted]

congrats!

[Pom]

Great Job!

[explorer2001]

Good job!

[bostonmichelle]

Congrats!

[heygrey]

congratulations!

I really like that "when you finance anything, you ficance everything." great perspective.

[RandZB]

Aug 29, 2014 11:06:39 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

Nice work! Where are these YNAB podcasts?

I found them in the podcasts app on my iPhone.  Some are five minutes long, some are a half hour.  He covers a wide range of topics and interviews people like the beloved Mr. Money Mustache.  I alternate between that and trying to learn German during my commute. 

[iheartbanjos]

Way to go!

[aurora]

Excellent Friday post. Enjoy the weekend in a not-too-expensive manner!

[jene]

Way to go!

[imojoebunny]

Thumbs up. I always think of spending as hours we have to work. It is worth working for somethings, but not others. I don't work, but DH does, and every hour he isn't home is an hour the kids are 100% mine. Is it worth it for him to have to work for 40 minutes or 5 hours for something? And my second test is "can I live without it"? Then there is, the less you have, the less time you have to spend taking care of it, the more you can spend time doing things you enjoy.

[blondemoment123]

Congrats!!! I'll get there someday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[crashgizmo]

Aug 29, 2014 13:25:55 GMT -5 RandZB said:

Aug 29, 2014 11:06:39 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

Nice work! Where are these YNAB podcasts?

I found them in the podcasts app on my iPhone.  Some are five minutes long, some are a half hour.  He covers a wide range of topics and interviews people like the beloved Mr. Money Mustache.  I alternate between that and trying to learn German during my commute. 

You are way more productive on your commute than I am. I listen to Taylor Swift or trashy romance novels.

I'm totally going to check on those podcasts. 

[KaraOrNot]

Congrats!

[liveintheville]

Excellent! Congratulations!

[thejen626]

Aug 29, 2014 12:26:44 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

OMG I can't believe you posted this! This happened right behind us lol! These people sit about 10 rows behind us at the Blazer games. That was a crazy night.