Paying off debt celebration!

[AmongMadPeople]

I don't know why, but today I suddenly feel excited for the debt we've paid off in less than a year! Last September I decided I'd had enough of having no idea where our money was going. I set up a simple spreadsheet, and everyday I enter any charges to our account under bills, grocery, eating out, and miscellaneous. I code every "misc" charge for dogs, car, movies, etc. and add those categories up every month. Now, I know exactly where our money goes, and where we have room for improvement.

Just by being aware and making a few small changes, we've paid off all credit card debt and last week sent in the final payment on my car! We did that in ten months, ten months ahead of the schedule I had planned! Now for the first time in a long time, the end of the month is coming, and I know we'll be making a huge deposit into our savings instead of stressing over the fact that we spent more than we earned.

This feels amazing! I never really knew what it was to celebrate paying off debt, but now I do! Thanks to all you budget boarders for keeping me motivated with your success stories!

 

[mumom95]

I don't know why, but today I suddenly feel excited for the debt we've paid off in less than a year! Last September I decided I'd had enough of having no idea where our money was going. I set up a simple spreadsheet, and everyday I enter any charges to our account under bills, grocery, eating out, and miscellaneous. I code every "misc" charge for dogs, car, movies, etc. and add those categories up every month. Now, I know exactly where our money goes, and where we have room for improvement.

Just by being aware and making a few small changes, we've paid off all credit card debt and last week sent in the final payment on my car! We did that in ten months, ten months ahead of the schedule I had planned! Now for the first time in a long time, the end of the month is coming, and I know we'll be making a huge deposit into our savings instead of stressing over the fact that we spent more than we earned.

This feels amazing! I never really knew what it was to celebrate paying off debt, but now I do! Thanks to all you budget boarders for keeping me motivated with your success stories!

Congratulations!!

 

[Mickey1Fan]

Congratulations. Keep doing what you are doing and watch the savings grow.

 

[Kay1]

Way to go, AmongMadPeople! You should feel great.

 

[bored]

Great job, now just keep it up and watch the savings balance rise!

 

[aprilvaca04]

Yay!!! for you...hope to get there someday. It's certainly worth a celebration!

 

[dpmfloyd]

AWESOME! I love stories like this!

 

[StephMK]

Congrats!! That is an awesome accomplishment & you should feel excited about celebrating! Your post is motivating to me & I dream of the day we can share similar news.

Would you share the tips that changed your budget to allow you to reach these goals? It's always good to hear what really worked for others.

 

[Irin997]

That's great!! I just started using You Need a Budget about a month and a half ago. Right now I'm in the "where exactly is my money going" stage. But so far so good. I can easily see how this program will work for me and I'm pretty excited to see how things go (especially now that I think I have the hang of it).

 

[crisi]

Congrats. It will change your life and you'll wonder why everyone doesn't see the light.

 

[AmongMadPeople]

Thanks everyone

Would you share the tips that changed your budget to allow you to reach these goals? It's always good to hear what really worked for others.

We didn't follow a program, like Ramsey or anything. However, I do a lot to keep money on my mind. Updating my spreadsheet every day or two made me more accountable for the purchases I make. For example, last year I redid our bathroom - not a remodel, just paint, new shower curtain, etc. I thought it was going to be like a 40 dollar job, but I was able to see I spent over 100.

I regularly read stuff on the internet about managing money, like the Budget Board, MSN Money, Couponing to Disney. Even if I don't take direct action based on anything I read, it's the mind frame that's important for me. Actively thinking about saving money is enough to stop lots of purchases.

I buy generic when I can't tell the difference. I also stopped shopping for groceries at Walmart because I would always spend double my grocery budget buying stuff I didn't need

I replaced all our outdoor lights with CFL and have started doing so inside. We stay at 67 in the winter, and 70 in the summer, which was an improvement. Our budget billing dropped 25 dollars, saving us $250 since we started.

The biggest change we made was that any extra money we made from side jobs went directly to debt payments. We used to let bonus money languish in our checking account, where it would eventually be eaten away by mindless purchases.

I have to count our blessings. We were just so bad with money that little changes really did make a big difference. We didn't have to sell everything we own, eat beans and rice, rice and beans, get rid of cable, or take in a boarder.

Not to make this post even longer, but we had our fair share of setbacks last month and we able to survive. One of our dogs was sick for three weeks, had to take a trip to the emergency vet, be hospitalized for a night. A one point I'd calculated that I'd taken her to the vet ten days in a row for various treatments. Then our lawn mower broke beyond repair. Then, our A/C broke (found out lightning fried the system) and was down for 4 days. Then, our 16 yr old washer broke.

We couldn't do anything to save money on our dog's treatment, but I enlisted my dad's help with the mower, and borrowed his while we tried to find a solution. We took apart our washer, found fix-it videos on the internet, and ordered a $13 part. A little elbow grease saved us hundreds of dollars on a new appliance or a service call. Luckily we "know" people and were able to get some free advice and buy parts at a supply house to fix our A/C. What would have been hundreds of dollars worth of service from a conventional residential HVAC company cost us only a few dozen dollars, sweat, and more elbow grease.

I guess my point in telling you these stories is that things won't always go well, you might eat out more than you should (guilty as charged!), and emergencies happen. But eventually they'll be light at the end of the tunnel

 

[bumbershoot]

Congratulations!

We were just so bad with money that little changes really did make a big difference.

I know the feeling!

 

[wdwfan16]

Congratulations!

 

[vicki_c]

That's great!! I just started using You Need a Budget about a month and a half ago. Right now I'm in the "where exactly is my money going" stage. But so far so good. I can easily see how this program will work for me and I'm pretty excited to see how things go (especially now that I think I have the hang of it).

I love YNAB! I love that they have the companion iPhone app too - our budget is always right there in our pockets.

PS - sorry I forgot to say "great job" to the OP!

 

[dvcgirl]

Congratulations! You're on your way!

 

[StephMK]

Thanks everyone



We didn't follow a program, like Ramsey or anything. However, I do a lot to keep money on my mind. Updating my spreadsheet every day or two made me more accountable for the purchases I make. For example, last year I redid our bathroom - not a remodel, just paint, new shower curtain, etc. I thought it was going to be like a 40 dollar job, but I was able to see I spent over 100.

I regularly read stuff on the internet about managing money, like the Budget Board, MSN Money, Couponing to Disney. Even if I don't take direct action based on anything I read, it's the mind frame that's important for me. Actively thinking about saving money is enough to stop lots of purchases.

I buy generic when I can't tell the difference. I also stopped shopping for groceries at Walmart because I would always spend double my grocery budget buying stuff I didn't need

I replaced all our outdoor lights with CFL and have started doing so inside. We stay at 67 in the winter, and 70 in the summer, which was an improvement. Our budget billing dropped 25 dollars, saving us $250 since we started.

The biggest change we made was that any extra money we made from side jobs went directly to debt payments. We used to let bonus money languish in our checking account, where it would eventually be eaten away by mindless purchases.

I have to count our blessings. We were just so bad with money that little changes really did make a big difference. We didn't have to sell everything we own, eat beans and rice, rice and beans, get rid of cable, or take in a boarder.

Not to make this post even longer, but we had our fair share of setbacks last month and we able to survive. One of our dogs was sick for three weeks, had to take a trip to the emergency vet, be hospitalized for a night. A one point I'd calculated that I'd taken her to the vet ten days in a row for various treatments. Then our lawn mower broke beyond repair. Then, our A/C broke (found out lightning fried the system) and was down for 4 days. Then, our 16 yr old washer broke.

We couldn't do anything to save money on our dog's treatment, but I enlisted my dad's help with the mower, and borrowed his while we tried to find a solution. We took apart our washer, found fix-it videos on the internet, and ordered a $13 part. A little elbow grease saved us hundreds of dollars on a new appliance or a service call. Luckily we "know" people and were able to get some free advice and buy parts at a supply house to fix our A/C. What would have been hundreds of dollars worth of service from a conventional residential HVAC company cost us only a few dozen dollars, sweat, and more elbow grease.

I guess my point in telling you these stories is that things won't always go well, you might eat out more than you should (guilty as charged!), and emergencies happen. But eventually they'll be light at the end of the tunnel

Thanks for posting that! It's always helpful to read other's success stories & what worked. We too have gotten better about looking at DIY repairs before we automatically call in the pros. Great idea to immediately apply extra money to debts. I have some side mystery shopping that usually gets eaten up literally - I will have to start automatically transferring it to the balances to chip away when it accumulates a little. It goes to paypal so that helps keep it separate.