Finally, Financial Fitness
October 29th, 2010. Filed under: Finance & Fitness Fridays.
Well folks, it finally happened. Not only did it happen, it happened before the deadline I had set for myself. My goal was to be completely out of debt by the end of 2010. I beat that deadline by two months. It feels good tremendous!
You can do it, too. I had managed to pile on so much irresponsible debt that I thought I would be paying forever. About four years ago I started reading financial blogs. It wasn’t too long after that I decided to try to get out from under.
I worked at it sort of haphazardly until I decided to do a version of Dave Ramsey’s snowball effect. That affected my progress more positively. Then I kept reading about snowflakes. I think the snowflake theory is what really got me on my way to financial freedom.
Becoming debt free is not easy, but there are many out there to testify that it can be done. Of course, you have to change habits for the long term. I do still have a credit card, but I only use it if I’m buying something online. I wait a couple days to be sure the transaction has gone through and then pay it off.
I learned that I can only use that credit card if I already have the cash to buy the item. I use it only as a security measure. At the same time I was paying off mountains of debt, I still managed to build an emergency fund that will take me through five months if necessary.
I won’t be changing the frugal habits I’ve established. I’m still finding more ways to be frugal, and I’m enjoying it. I’ve always liked to challenge myself, and so, it’s an exciting journey for me. Have you made this journey yet? Are you in the middle of your journey? Or it this journey not one you’ve yet decided to travel?