First, a little happy announcement – at the end of this week, I’ll be paying the credit card bill for the odds and ends I put on it for the Bat Mitzvah. I’m thrilled to report that I will be paying the balance in full! I did it – I actually scrimped, saved, and made wise enough choices that the whole event was paid for, unlike how I did it with my older daughter (put it on a credit card and paid for it for years afterward). It feels AMAZING to have that behind me – I’ve been worrying about paying for this for a good 18 months.
Now, that said, with that off my plate, I can turn my FULL attention to finishing off this debt. I have put aggressive debt pay down on a back burner since September, as I worked to stash cash for the Bat Mitzvah. That’s about to change.
As I wrote earlier, the last of this credit card is getting erased this year. I will not end 2019 with a penny of it still weighing me down.
Milestones are key. They are what have kept me motivated and on track for the past three years, and when I relaxed them in the latter half of last year, my momentum dramatically slowed. With that in mind, here is my new list:
March – balance below $3000
May – balance below $2500
July – balance below $1500
September – balance below $1000
November – DONE
So, a few words about this.
I am loving the fact that I basically hit a new milestone every other month. Over the past three years, I often went 4, 5, or even 6 months before hitting a milestone. While that was necessary, given the scope of the debt I was tackling, I am someone who loves checking boxes, so having meaningful and achievable milestones come so rapid fire makes this girl happy.
Most importantly, I am hugely motivated by the fact that this debt is gone in 9 months. Not two years, not a year…9 months! After worrying and fretting about debt for…basically the last 13 years, and obsessing over paying it off for the past three, it is crazy (in a phenomenally good way) to realize that very soon I can obsess over all sorts of fun and lucrative financial goals.
When I look back at my financial life, I know that 2016 was, without a doubt, the year I got a grip and turned the tide. But, even better, 2019 will be the year I started gaining speed in a forward direction.