
We’re officially 6 months in. This month we are
This month was hard.
We hit a $1000 speedbump; a ceiling leak.
Jake’s phone broke. (Ahem $600 later…)
And it was tax time. So there were many extra costs that had to go out this month with that. (Accountant fees, taxes, assessments, etc). Being
Oh! And we got hit with a $750 addition to our home loan debt that we missed in the fine print. (Boo.)
Howeverrrr…This month was also good.
We hit a higher income goal than expected! Close to 10K! That’s after deductions. WOO! How did this happen? If you guessed ‘A lot of extra work’ you’d be right.
The ceiling fiasco happened right at the beginning of the month and in a way, that was a good thing. It made us take action. We knew there were going to be extra costs this month and we debated: “Do we use our emergency fund? This is an emergency, right? Or do we try to cash flow it? Do we have room in the budget? What about all the other costs we know are coming?”
This emergency put us into high gear.
We decided to cash flow everything (except taxes we owe, cause we had that set aside) which meant we had to pick up extra work to make this happen because we didn’t want to knock our debt
Just straight hard work. There wasn’t a gifting fairy or a tax break (not even close), it
And yes, the ceiling is fine now. And the taxes are handled. And Jake’s phone situation is settled. And we just added the extra $750 of debt to the finish line. Boom.
So what else happened this month?
We
For some reason, March just feels SO long, we were really cutting it close. Because we were working so hard, we also didn’t have as much time to plan meals. This meant that we tried not to order in or eat out or pick up “
Okay.
Here’s the breakdown:
Our Debt Starting Balance: $65,125.64 (add in $750)
Our Debt Starting Balance From Feb: $39,990.50 (add in $750)
Our Debt Payment For March: $4,016.24
Drumroll…
Our Debt Ending Balance From March: $36,682.67
That means, to date, we’ve paid off… $29,182.97
WOOP!
We almost can’t believe it.
We’re gonna be honest here. When that ceiling leak happened, one of us broke. (Her name rhymes with sailor…) It shook her pretty hard at first. Listen, she’s all about achievements and progress. She’s been busting her cute booty to make this #debtfreejourney happen and to hit a snag like that, around her ‘time of the month’ (Yes, her period. We’re adults.) — she took it hard. She might have panicked…just a little. She might have had an anxiety attack…And cried…A little. But you know what else happened when the dust settled on the issue? She felt secure.
Wait. What? Why?
Because we know our finances intimately. Because most of this panic was around “What are we going to do??”, and guess what? We know the answer to that. We know where our money is coming from and where we tell it to go. We are literate, knowledgeable, and confident in our money now. This was a huge test, and success, in that regard. Once the nerves simmered down, it really wasn’t a big deal. Then when allllll the other snags happened this month, they weren’t really a big deal either.
We can’t describe to you the security you feel when you know your money.
When you know exactly where you stand, where you are going, and how to get there. It’s like this feeling of standing confidently in front of the classroom and some dink asks you a hard question to trip you up and you know the right answer–and then some. Yeah, it’s like that!
We are starting to really feel the emotional rewards of this work. The real change that is happening for us around how we think and use money. Simply put, it’s awesome. And we’ll need that as we attack our last 3 remaining debts. Like we said before, these guys are the big ones. We have a personal loan (which we knocked almost in half!), a home loan, and Jake’s monster student loans as our largest debt. Oooooooh we’re comin’ for ya big guys.
Y’know, talking about money was scary. But now? It’s getting easier and easier. That alone is priceless. And we have YOU to thank for that. Yes, you. Reading this right now. YOU make this easier because you’ve been so supportive. You have been encouraging us every step of the way. We notice and we really appreciate it.
And if this journey has inspired your own, if you’ve joined us in a webinar or two, if you’ve started your own financial journey too — KEEP GOING.
You’ve totally got this. It will get easier, smoother, and better. You are d
Alrighty, there you have it. Our
And as always, if you have any questions, just give us a holler! We’re more than happy to share what we’re doing so you can achieve this goal, too.
C
We can’t thank you enough! (We’re so glad you’re here!) See you next month!
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