But this post isn't about having kids-- it's about why I keep working towards our goal. Checking the balance on our various creditors' websites used to be something I dreaded. Now, I check them all the time to see if a payment has gone through so I can *officially* update my super-duper Excel spreadsheet and see exactly how much progress has been made. Every hundred dollars or so that is paid off I color in on a goal sheet posted on the fridge. I'm a visual person and this kind of progress makes me very happy!
Since July, we've paid off about $6,500. Not a lot compared to how much we still owe, but our main triumph has been not getting into MORE debt. There's some serious habit-changing going on here, people! For example, I now email Mr. Awesome from work when I'm ready to be picked up, since I'm saving by not texting (I dropped to the lowest cell phone plan of $20 Virgin Mobile USA so I pay for texts). I still coupon-clip, and now I've gotten better about meal planning around the weekly sales. Mr. Awesome does his part by strategically selling back the video games he's done with so he can put the money towards new titles. We also are talking about "cutting the cord" this summer and eliminating cable for a few months... but we'll see. Unfortunately, we had a few surprise expenses come up since July, so the initial process is slower than I'd hoped.
Another triumph has been increasing the amount of savings! This has been awesome, and has really helped with not getting into more debt! We figured out which bills come around every year but not every month, and created a specific savings account on Capital One 360 Savings for it. These are called "sinking funds" because they're saved for an anticipated future expense. We barely notice the money going out of the accounts, but the savings have been tremendous! We now have accounts for:
- Taxes (Boo! We did update our W-2 forms for next year, though)
- Our dogs (heartworm medicine, flea/tick prevention, and vet bills)
- Car maintenance
- Home maintenance
- Our anniversary trip (because it's important to us to go away that weekend)
- Appliances (our fridge will need replacing soon)
- Sporting Events/Tickets (Mr. Awesome LOVES his Pittsburgh teams, and we always go to the Florida games)
There were two main benefits from setting up the accounts this way through Capital One 360. The first was that the savings were all in one place and we could actually see the grand total increasing every few weeks (which is really exciting when you've barely saved anything in the past two years!) So, we are way less likely to touch the money in those funds.
The second benefit is that once the money goes into those accounts, it is easy to transfer to an account to spend--but the transaction does take a few days. Why is this a benefit? Because now those expenses are deliberate, planned events. We used to spend money impulsively, especially from a saving account that was unlabeled and "instant." Even if we initially had a purpose for those savings, it maybe took a week before it disappeared for one thing or another. Capital One 360 sets everything up so beautifully, so even impulsive, emotional spenders can be successful with saving!
So, why do I keep working towards paying off debt?
Because it feels good. It feels really, really good. I no longer dread the bills-- instead, it's a challenge to see how much I can put towards our debt or savings. It's almost a game to see if I can beat the amount I paid the month before!
Because there is always room to improve. I mentioned that we're considering cutting out cable after hockey season is over. We are also looking into reducing our cell phone bill again, even though we're paying less than half of what we paid with Sprint a year ago. Food costs are a big challenge for me, but I've become more strategic about finding coupons beyond just the weekly Sunday paper. I'm better at stockpiling and not wasting food. I'm even tracking how much I save every time I go to the store to motivate me to keep doing better (My current record at Publix is $116 in savings!)
Because I always keep my end goals in mind. We dream about being able to move to the coast, traveling and yes, even having kids. I think the best part is knowing that we're establishing healthy habits with our money and those will be invaluable even as our life changes over time. Someday, I believe we'll be able to pay off our crummy credit card debt, cranky car debt, our irksome student loan debt, and maybe even the big whammy of our mortgage debt. But now I'm talking like a crazy person.
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Our culture and society has made us believe the lie that debt is a part of normal life and that it's even necessary. It's not true. Honestly, my life without debt will not appear to be that different from my life with debt. But this journey has already taught me so much perspective on money (use wisely), owning belongings (not that important) and valuing the most important things in life!
