What are you going to do the first day you are debt-free?

[Grumpy's Gal]

if you currently have debt, what’s the first thing you are going to do when you’re debt free?

( if you are debt- free, what’s the first thing you did?)

Do you plan on celebrating somehow?

 

[a1tinkfans]

Not a debt type person. A planner, long and short term...( thx to both my dad and fil) and certainly Blessed along the way.

No specific celebrations come to mind ( ie when mtg paid off early) but
Life is certainly Simpler without any debt hanging over ones head.

 

[TwoMisfits]

When I'm mortgage-free (my only debt), I'm going to spend the savings the 1st year on an amazing family vacation to a place we've never been - current candidates are Hawaii (or Hawaiian cruise), Alaskan cruise, Australia, Panama Canal cruise, or Japan. The 2nd year, I'm going to spend the savings gutting my kitchen to the studs and putting in something I actually want. The 3rd year on, I'll focus on 1/2 savings and 1/2 house updates (since they won't cost as much as the kitchen). And probably every 5th year, I'll do another blow out vacation to somewhere we haven't been before.

PS - Since we chose a 15 year refi only 3 years into our 30 year mortgage, we will have quite a large savings coming when we're done (9 years now)...so, I have plans so I don't just spend it without realizing it...

 

[QueenIsabella]

We've been debt-free (with a mortgage) for so long, I couldn't tell you. We probably toasted ourselves with our dinner waters--that's what we did when we realized we had a 7-figure net worth. Before you get too jealous on that, though, I should mention that ~90% of our assets are in retirement accounts, and home equity is most of the rest. So while it's nice, we can't touch that yet.

I guess my point is, hitting these milestones is nice, but really, the milestone is the celebration. I'm sure you know not to go into debt planning a huge vacation to celebrate paying off your debt!

 

[Dancind]

Wasn't the first day, but we went to Europe for the first time. Italy and a Med cruise. So memorable. We have now bought a second house and have another mortgage, and have a bit on credit cards from doing some remodeling. Hope to be debt free again within a year! Maybe we'll go back to Europe.

 

[AlohaNow]

Probably nothing, knowing that we would soon be plunged back into debt again. The vast majority of our debt is medical. It just never ends.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

I like this question!

DH and I only have some student loan debt, set to be paid off in about 7 years. We don't have as much as a lot of our friends because we had help from family, but it's still quite the burden. We purposely put ourselves on a shorter payment plan to pay it off quicker, though, so our payments are quite high right now.

The first thing I want to do is take my mom on a Disney cruise. After everything she has done for us to help us get started and all she does for DS, it's the absolute least we can do.

I imagine after that the first thing we will do is buy a house if we haven't already. We came of age during the recession, so we're both a little hesitant to jump into anything unless we are absolutely sure we can afford it. I imagine we'll buy a house worth much less than what the bank tells us we can "afford" for the same reason.

 

[dosekies]

Currently have student loan debt only (renting, no mortgage, car paid off) so as soon as that is done it will probably be one of 3 things:
1. go to Disney
2. get another dog
3. look into buying a house and go into debt again haha

 

[Southernmiss]

Our goal for the year has been to pay off our mtg by November. It's our only debt-we pay off credit cards every month.

Murphy has thrown curve balls at us. But we are still holding our breath to pay the mortgage, tuition, and credit card off in October.

So once we are debt freeeeeee!!!!!! We will exhale.

The next day we begin to save for a new refrigerator-have been using the garage fridge since June as our main fridge. It's just like our indoor fridge was, just located in the garage.

Then we'll save for expensive 5,6 and 7th year of college for 2 sons. And get ready for dd fo start college in 2 years.

After college, retirement savings intensifies. Never ends!

 

[ShayBells]

I’ll probably give a big sigh of relief. And then I’m sure prices will inflate and I’ll be back to where I was before. Broke.

 

[kymom99]

I'll probably be dead, so....

 

[tvguy]

Retire.
House has been paid off for 18 years.
Just bought a car for retirement. Debated driving the cars we had until they died and then buying a new one, or buying a car when we retired, or buying a car now and having it paid off when we retire.
Hope to retire in 2 years, and hope to have the new car paid off a year from now to give us a year to bank the car payment money before we retire.

 

[georgina]

We’ve been debt free since 1993. We did not do anything special to celebrate. We still live in the same house, bought in 1987 for $60,000. We have made some improvements to it since. Once the youngest graduated from college in 2017, DH retired. We took the family to Ireland. DHs car is over 10 years old, mine is 8.

 

[runwad]

It was just another day...and then came paying car insurance for 3 kids and college tuition for 2, so it's just like i have a house payment and then some.

One will graduate college this May and another starts next fall so we have another 5 years before we are done with college. Then we will celebrate!!

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

I think this question really depends on your circumstances and where you are in life and what your plans are. Are you currently renting or paying a mortgage? Are you married or single? Kids now or in the future? Why does this all matter? Well, once you dive into these things, it changes your life for a long time. Right out of college, the only debt I had was some student loan debt. Then, got married, then bought a house, then had kids and almost 20 years later, we are wading through all of these items. The only debt we have is in our house and we have 8 years left on a 15 year mortgage (2.75% interest). We save close to 35% of our take home pay and have nested away $75K for our 2 kids to go to college (11th and 8th grade). Now, we have 3 cars/drivers in the house ($$) and home remodeling projects. To me, being "debt free" is not really that big of a deal, as we pretty much live debt free now, outside of our mortgage. With the interest rate of the loan, I am in no hurry to pay it off early as I can put that money to work for me. I was incredibly proud when we hit 7-figures in savings 2 years ago and hopefully, in the next couple of years, we are earning more in the market each year than our wages each year, now that will be an accomplishment !

 

[hsmamato2]

Idk.... we're debt free except Mortgage.... so just carry on as normal? prob up my savings with mortgage payment saved.....kids are paying their own way now for cars/phones/insurance etc so none of that left (well except groceries) and of course travel more as time allows..... otherwise it's just another day.Maybe go into some temp. debt for a new truck for DH...

 

[Scifidiner]

Probably drop dead......that's my luck.

 

[marthachick]

We have a mortgage and that is all the debt we have. DS lives in his own house and we will never have any more kids. I hope to take a nice trip once we pay the house off.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Retire! When the mortgage is done so am I. If I havent secured my Disney fix when the mortgage is retired i will hold off until it is also done. DVC contract with cash, of course...

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

When we paid off our mortgage, we took a picture of ourselves with our paperwork standing in front of our house. We got a special “ home” Christmas ornament and we went out to eat. We didn’t tell anyone - it was just us. We’re not really “ debt” kind of people and I hope to never have any again.

I used to work with a lady, single mom, five minutes from filing bankruptcy on any given day. BAD financial decisions at every turn. Get a tax refund and go to Vegas for the weekend “ because she deserved it” yet collection agency was tracking her down at work all the time. She was very open and honest about all her bills. She had financed an entire house full of furniture from Crate and Barrel years prior. I think she was up to 19% on that loan. She was counting down the days to her last car payment. She’d tell us every month. On a Friday, she made her last car payment and invited everyone out for drinks after work. We were happy for her. Knew without the car payment, maybe she could get a handle on some of her bills. GUESS WHAT?!?! Monday morning...... she drove up in a NEW CAR. Her parents co- signed a loan for her. I do wonder what ever happened to her.