Officially Debt Free

[MapleGirl]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! ​

That is wonderful news! DH and I are working on this. We're finally done with the credit cards, car loan and his student loans. Now we are working on my student loans and a family loan. Then we're going to tackle the mortgage! It feels good to be working towards a better tomorrow.

 

[2Tiggers]

AWESOME! Sooooo Very Happy for You!

 

[travelbug]

Way to go!! That is a super accomplishment!

 

[MinnieVanMom]

You need to do the Dave scream....."I'm debt free!" Congrats, feels so good to be debt free.

I still use my credit cards but make sure I have the $$ in the bank and pay it in full the minute it hits the credit card. Within days!

I use the credit points then for free airlines and Disney gift cards.

Stayin debt free!

 

[Robinrs]

I had a few GREAT years like that back in my 30s... sigh...

But life goes on. What great is you KNOW now how to achieve it. Remember, it's all one major emergency away. BTDT.

 

[mbf]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also finished paying off my credit card debt this year and we also paid off our mortgage (which was a 30 year, refinanced to a 15 and paid that off after 9 years ).

To pay off my credit cards it took a lot of diligence, cutting the cards and cancelling the accounts for any additional charges, having the money taken directly out of my account every month. I learned to pay only with cash/debit and while it is still tempting to charge at times or open a new account I refuse to go back to that place. Fortunately, DH is really good with money (the CC debt was all mine and I refused to use our savings to pay it off no matter how smart that would have been as far as interest went) and we have a nice cushion in case of emergency. Even our upcoming Disney trip is all paid for ahead.

I wish more of my friends would be like you. So many of them complain to me almost daily that they cannot afford every day life expenses because they have so many payments (mortgages, CC's, car payments, etc). They even ask me how we do it (live without charging anything). Simply, you do without some little luxuries like eating out every week and keep your eyes on the bigger prizes.

 

[GAGirlInVA]

Congrats! We are close. It's been a long road because of a sudden job loss and a relocation.

BUT, we did cash flow our adoption.

Now to finish just a few little things and we can call Dave too!

 

[charming23]

Congrats!!! It must feel so freeing.

I am working on my debt currently and I have paid off two smaller credit cards this month. I will put that money towards some of the bigger ones to pay them off faster. I have 1 year left on my plan to pay them off and so far so good.

 

[njmomtoone]

Congrats.

So what are you going to do with "all that money?" Work on the mortgage? Start college funds? Put it all on Red in Vegas?

(One of these might not be a great idea. Its an exercise for the reader to figure out which)

Save for a roof and start saving it!!!

 

[njmomtoone]

Obviously-it's work on the mortgage. With interest rates being as low as they are and factoring in my tax break...I'm for betting it all on Black, baby.

We need a roof, so we have to save for that. We also want to start a substnatial emergency fund and college savings. A want a cushion for any "what ifs" come up. We are not looking into paying extra on the mortgage at this point.

 

[njmomtoone]

Thank you everyone. It is really a great feeling.

We could probably have done it quicker if we buckled down. We still did take vacations and ate out occasionally, but it was all cash. We saved the money and always paid cash for trips. We never incurred extra debt for vacations. We felt that the the family time was important.

 

[AnjieNet]

Congratulations! It's quite a great feeling isn't it? We still use a credit card for the cash back but pay the thing off weekly. Do not want to get that debt back up again!

 

[Andrea from PA]

SOOOO Jealous! And inspired.

 

[punkin]

We need a roof, so we have to save for that. We also want to start a substnatial emergency fund and college savings. A want a cushion for any "what ifs" come up. We are not looking into paying extra on the mortgage at this point.

That sounds like a good plan!

 

[ArmandXG]

Congrats!
We are working on the same thing. The truck gets paid off in Jan. and I am paying off credit cards slowly but surely. My question is, what do you pay off first? Lowest amount or highest interest? I've heard different people say different things. It seems easier to pay off the smallest amounts first, then you free up more cards quicker. If you pay off higher interest first, you may be paying off more money but it just seems like forever before you even get one card off the list.
I would like to be debt free in time for our next vacation, which is scheduled for Oct. 2012. I am planning a cash only vacation and if we work hard enough, we can make it.

 

[njmomtoone]

Congrats!
We are working on the same thing. The truck gets paid off in Jan. and I am paying off credit cards slowly but surely. My question is, what do you pay off first? Lowest amount or highest interest? I've heard different people say different things. It seems easier to pay off the smallest amounts first, then you free up more cards quicker. If you pay off higher interest first, you may be paying off more money but it just seems like forever before you even get one card off the list.
I would like to be debt free in time for our next vacation, which is scheduled for Oct. 2012. I am planning a cash only vacation and if we work hard enough, we can make it.

We paid off the lowest amounts first and then used the extra money to work on the next one. Good luck!

 

[cluelyss18]

Congrats!!!!!

I'm also working towards this. I entered a program to assist me, and next year I will be debt free. I haven't used a credit card in years and it feels great to pay cash for everything!