That’s right! After 2 years of marriage and aggressively paying off debt, we officially have a debt free date!
When we got married and were living in our apartment, I had calculated a debt payoff date based on how much we were putting extra toward our loans each month. We were setting our goal to be summer 2019 of when we would be debt free. But thanks to an increase in our income and decrease in living expenses, our official payoff date is October of this year!! As in 2 months away!!! #debtfree2017
I am so shocked and thankful that we are ahead of our initial goal and that the day is so close we can almost taste it!
How are we going to celebrate?
Last summer (when we still thought our debt payoff date would be in 2018 at least), we started planning a cruise for October 2017. We figured that we wouldn’t be debt free yet, but we also saw the value in treating ourselves and enjoying a vacation.
As the date got closer and projections got more realistic, I realized that our cruise and loan payoff would be during the same week! Ironically, Jacob and I get paid during the week of our vacation and our final debt payment will automatically pull when we’re on vacation! How awesome was that timing?
So we are looking forward to our vacation where we can enjoy time together and celebrate the end of this exhausting marathon. We will be going on a 7 day cruise in the Caribbean. I have never been to the Caribbean or on a cruise so it will be a fun and new adventure!
What are we doing after we’re debt free?
An awesome thing happens when you’re debt free: you get to keep all the money you’ve been giving away to loan providers! What an awesome change that we are looking forward to.
Our plan starting in November is to loosen up a little bit to enjoy life a little more. This means increasing our fun categories such as our eating out budget, personal spending, and vacation fund. I’m excited to be able to add a little more to this and have a little more fun. 🙂
While we are loosening up a little bit, we are still staying focused on our next financial goal: saving. We currently have an emergency fund of $3,000 but we would like to have a fuller fund of about $10,000. We also will be working on saving for a house! We are hoping that next year we will have our full emergency fund done and have a place to call our own.
We are so thankful for the opportunities that we have had and how we were able to pay off debt. And our financial freedom dreams are becoming a reality all by keeping and sticking to a budget. We’re also excited to celebrate well after a season of intense diligence and see what the next year holds for our little family of 2.
Thank you for supporting and encouraging us so much in the last 2 years of our marriage and journey, and the last year of this blog. Grateful for all my readers!!
Blessings,
Marissa
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