The Travel Jar

Yesterday morning I paid off the rest of my car. I am now debt free . Over the past 20 months I've paid off about $33K of debt in the form of medical bills, a car loan, and a wee bit of credit card debt. Here are some tips and things I did that were the most helpful during this time: I made a Needs and Wants list. I deviated from this now and then, but I always had it to reference. I used Mint.com to set my monthly budgets, and I logged in 6 days a week, first thing in the morning. I posted a bit about it on Facebook, for accountability. This accomplished two things- It gave a way for people to see me and support me, and it also set expectations and sent a message to friends and family that said "Please don't put me in a position right now to spend money- don't charm me into expensive trips/meals/gifts- I'm trying to take care of myself right now." I went from working five days a week to opening up a sixth day on my calendar. I bartered for free/fresh ...

I've been eager to do a money exercise ever since I listened to the book "Money, A Love Story" by Kate Northrup some time last summer: You print out your bank/credit card statements from the last two months, then you sit down and ponder every single purchase you made, and how you feel about it. And you mark up the paper in hearts for what you are happy you spent money on (ones that make you feel "expansive"), and some kind of negative mark to indicate purchases you don't feel great about (ones that make you feel "contractive"). I printed out my transactions from Mint.com from January 1st (when I started this current spending freeze) through today. I highlighted the "happy/expansive" purchases in pink (ex: Dentist appointment- I love clean teeth!- All payments on my debts, and going to the movies with my friend Jed to see "Call Me By Your Name"... So good). I used yellow to highlight purchases that felt icky or too spend...

I love the first of the month. Yesterday I paid off my entire medical bill, sent $300 to my car loan (down to $1,400!), and paid half the deposit on a summer family reunion trip to the HF Bar Ranch in Wyoming. Then I put my phone on airplane mode for 20 minutes while I sipped my tea and created my February budget on mint.com... A monthly ritual that I have come to love. If I want to completely pay off this car loan and be debt free THIS month, I have to laser focus. I have a few fun/non-needs planned, including a visit to the Picasso exhibit this evening, the Onesie Pub Crawl tomorrow, a few date nights, but that's it. How nice will it be to set my budget on March 1st and have ZERO medical, car and credit card debt to catch up on? I already know my goal for March is to catch up on my Roth IRA contributions. Last fall I went from paying the max to the min every month, and I have until April 15th to write a check to cover that difference. I also want to catch up for this year, ...