On Friday afternoon, I was too distracted to work. Instead, I sat on my bed, staring at my laptop, mesmerized by my debt repayment spreadsheet. The numbers glared back at me defiantly. I only owed $479 on my car. Only $479! I couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted to take the money out of savings to just pay it off altogether. I’d be able to replenish that cash in two weeks when my next paycheque came in, and I’d be able to be debt free now.
Part of me was screaming just do it! and another part of me was a little scared. I mean, I’ve been paying off my debt for the past two years. For the past 24 months, getting rid of this debt has been the number one most important financial goal in my life. Heck, it’s been the number one most important goal of my whole existence. And now, with a few simple clicks of a button, I could make it disappear forever? Honestly I felt like there must be some sort of hidden catch I hadn’t considered yet. I couldn’t really become debt free today, could I?
I talked with my friend Cait about it, who was in an almost identical position back in May of this year. She understood, and she gave me the encouragement I needed to make that payment. My hands were totally sweating and my heart was pounding a little bit when I typed in the amount for the transaction in my ING bill payments, but when I hit submit, the only thing I felt was elation.
I’m debt free, yo!
Sure, I have to pay back my savings in two weeks, but that’s hard earned cash going back into my pocket, not hard earned cash going to pay off debt. From now on, all of my money is mine. Every single dollar I earn is either going towards things that make me happy, or towards savings (to make future-Jordann happy).
What’s different?
I don’t really feel that different, just free. Like there’s a load off my shoulders. No matter what, I don’t have debt. No matter what happens in the future, at least I have that. It’s like a giant green check mark on my list of things to accomplish in this life. Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet, I’m sure that when I get a letter from VW Finance declaring my loan officially paid, I’ll do something like this:
What’s next?
Well, besides paying back my savings, lots. I’m going to start saving for retirement next month, and building up my emergency fund. I want a nice solid cushion of cash in my life. I think that’ll help me sleep better. I might also be participating in some (gasp!) lifestyle inflation in the next few months, but I’ll give you more details on that when I know more.
I’m going to enjoy the fact that 0% of my income is claimed by minimum payments on my debt (it was 25% when I started this blog) and that I get to keep 100% of my income, instead of just 48%.
So that’s it, that’s the big news. I’m going to be in Toronto this week and I’m really excited to get to celebrate my debt freedom with a few of my favourite bloggers and PF friends. It’s been a long two years, and it hurt to part with every dollar of that $38,000 that I paid off. I think it’s time for a little bit of celebration