Weird, but good!

Something was different today, and it took me most of the day to figure out what.

It was usually around the 22nd of the month that payment on my line of credit was due. And this month - for the first time in years! - I had no payment to make! Woohoo! It was strange and wonderful, and weird but good - oh, so good!

In case you haven't heard yet...

  I ' M   D E B T   F R E E ! ! !

 

#86 - Get out of debt

The last few years of paying off my debt has been a L-O-N-G journey and a hard journey. I am slightly ashamed to say that although I dug this hole of debt all by myself, I really wanted (and was half hoping, half expecting) someone else would get me out of it. Now that's mature thinking, isn't it?

Once I finally decided this was my mess to clean up and really leaned into it, I began to see my situation change. I am incredibly pleased to say I finished paying off my debt in 19 months!

Was it easy? Certainly not. Was it fun? Definitely not. Was it worth it? Oh yes!

I'M DEBT FREE!

T-2 Weeks 'til I'm Debt Free!

I almost can't believe it! In two weeks - when I get paid at the end of this month - I will be debt free! It feels so good and so freeing to know my remaining debt total is under $1,000. There truly is light at the end of the tunnel! I can do this!

This last year and a half since I decided to push through and get rid of my debt has been challenging to say the least. I have fought, cried and wanted to give up so many times. My debt battle has taught me patience, perseverance, strength and endurance - all of which I thought I had (and maybe did), but I have grown stronger in each of these areas.

I encourage everyone to take charge of their future by dealing with their past, whether this means financially, emotionally, physically, etc. Having debt is living life in the past - you are paying for what you've already consumed or experienced - and saving is planning for the future. Using a car analogy, do you want to live your life looking through the rear-view mirror (debt) or looking through the windshield (saving and planning)? I choose the windshield. I hope you do too.

Hope springs eternal...

Have you always known what you wanted to be when you grew up? Perhaps you've had a long-range life or career goal to work towards? If so, good for you!

I've always been intrigued by different career options, but I've never had a clear direction. As a young child, I want to be a clown (to make people laugh) and a firefighter (to help people). As a teen, I was all over the map with my interests. I wanted to be a pilot. Who didn't when you watched Danger Bay every day? I wanted to be an interior decorator - until I found out you needed strong math skills. Archeology would be fun too, but how do you train for that? I wanted to make crafts and sell them, but there was no way to make enough of a living doing that. I thought about cleaning houses, but that was shot down for financial reasons as well. Oh, and I wanted to be a florist too.

Throughout my 20s and 30s, I tried my hand at various things. While it was helpful to rule out what I didn't want to pursue, the dots still weren't coming together for me.

Fast forward to my 40s where I've gotten closer to figuring out what to pursue. I've looked into a number of things including studying history, becoming a library technician, and even training to be an editor. However, none of these were still quite right.

You've heard the saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees"? When you are too close to a situation, you need to step back and get a little perspective. If you look at things one at a time, you might not realize that branches of separate "trees" go together to make a "forest."

Well, in hindsight, I see that's exactly what I had been doing. Here are my "trees":

• Words
• Proofreading
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Editing
• Fact-checking
• Paraphrasing
• Reading
• Word puzzles/games
• Blogging
• Research
• Transcription
• My job at Hansard
• And probably much more!

Enter God. All it took was a few words: "I created you to be a writer."

I was shocked and amazed, happy and relieved! After 25 years of being an adult, I finally knew what it was God had created me to be! Writing was my forest, and I honestly could not see it for all those trees - the bits and pieces I enjoyed.

Talk about hope! I have so many options now! I can write about whatever and whoever I want wherever and whenever. This brings so much freedom! Wow.

A Big Fat Glimmer of Hope!

BIG NEWS!

I got paid this morning and for the first time in far too long, I had more in my bank account than what I owed! It was only a $30 difference, but wow, what an encouragement to see that!

My debt-free journey is finally almost complete. Three more months should do it! Very soon I will be able to say, "I'm debt free!!!"

2019 Goals!

I was introduced to Dave Ramsey's principles to get out of debt in January 2018. To keep motivated while paying down my debt, I often watch his clips on YouTube. Lately, I've seen several videos about setting goals - it's that time of year, you know.

Ramsey recommends creating goals for each of the following seven areas: physical (health, exercise, weight, achievements), intellectual (read, study, learn something new), career, social, financial, family/relationship (one example I heard was about putting the phone away when the family is all together), and spiritual goals.

The next step is to make them SMART goals. When goals aren't specific or measurable, they are only wishes. Do you want goals or are you happy to wish your days and year away?

While not exactly as shown in the image below, I've heard SMART goals described this way:

S - specific
M - measurable
A - attainable
R - relevant
T - timely

The written component is very important too. When goals are not written down (or shared), how do you keep yourself accountable?

So, with all that said, here are my 2019 SMART goals in each of the seven categories:

1. Physical - lose 20 pounds this year; run a 5K
2. Intellectual - read at least one non-fiction book each month
3. Career - research one career or field of study that interests me per month
4. Social - meet with one friend per month that I haven't caught up with in far too long
5. Financial - be completely out of debt by the end of June (six more months!)
6. Family/relationship - TBD
7. Spiritual - TBD

I haven't come up with any specific or measurable goals for two of my categories, but I'm not going to let that hold up my post. I'll plan to do an update at some point this year - maybe then I'll have something to add to these outstanding categories.

2019: The Year of Hope!

Happy New Year!

I'll keep this post short and sweet. My 2019 word of the year is...

Last night (New Year's Eve 2018), these verses from Lamentations 3:21-26 kept coming to mind. May they encourage you and bring you hope too!

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

May God bless you richly and fill you with hope this year!