Freedooooom

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 vegetables and venison, professional haircuts, moving help, the remodeling of my new room, and discounted health coaching.
• I cancelled Pandora Premium and Audible, and I only rented movies on Amazon Prime with credits from my Kit store earnings. When I stopped buying new, I was amazed and a little embarrassed by all the entertainment that I already had for free at my disposal, so why was I spending on new things? I looked around and found that I had:
• 5 unread audio books
• 6 jigsaw puzzles (when I finally completed these, I donated them to Savers thrift shop where I bought more for $.99 to $2.99 each, but only if I had none at home to do)
• 6 books to read or reread (I reread my tattered old copy of Watership Down... My favorite book of all time)
• SEVERAL ebooks on my Kindle app that I could read or reread.
• 80 movies on my hard drive.
• 20K songs on my hard drive.
• 15K photos I've taken or that I've had scanned, that I can purge and peruse and enjoy... Why would I take photos and then never look at them again?
• I didn't own a TV before I moved in with friends who have 2 TVs but no cable, so we watch movies that they already own sometimes.
• I kept myself busy with free projects:
• Purging and organizing all of my digital photos
• Purging my music and movies on my hard drive
• Scanning old memorabilia of my mother's and sharing the gems on Facebook
• Scanning all of the greeting cards that I have kept since birth
• I borrowed a fun party dress for a bar night, and borrowed a onesie for a Onesie Pub Crawl. Why buy new for a one time thing? My housemate and I are the same size! Oh speaking of housemates...
• My dog and I moved from a one bedroom apartment ($750/month not including utilities, plus doggie day care expenses on long work days) to a nice basement room in a house with dear friends who also have dogs ($350/month includes utilities and the fenced in back yard means no doggie day care costs any more).
• I sold things- futon & frame ($80) and my desk ($75) on Facebook marketplace before the move (I bring my laptop upstairs to the dining table in my new home, when I want to work). I also sold a vase on eBay for $188 (daaaayumn) and consigned a few clothes for a little extra cash.
• When friends wanted to hang I occasionally indulged in a meal out, but most of the time we met at the dog park for a long walk, or did a puzzle night, or they came over for a hot tub/pool night when I lived in the apartment complex.
• My parents do this every year, but their Christmas present to me was to fly me home for the holidays, which cut travel expenses.
• I skipped my winter dive trip this year- I booked it for the Cayman Islands, and then cancelled it at no penalty fee when I gave it more thought and realized that getting out of debt was so important to me. This was the hardest thing of all.
• I occasionally waxed my own legs!
• I shared a room with a stranger when I went to Jamaica for my buddy's wedding last fall- I was a friend of the groom's, she was a friend of the bride's- and we ended up being pals! I call her my Florida Wife now.
• I picked up extra cash by dog sitting and babysitting, and I added a few services for my organizing clients such as taking shredding to the UPS Store, hauling hazardous materials for proper disposal, and taking clothing to the consignment shop.
• I put myself out there, and people wanted to help. My friend/client went through her wine fridge and pulled out all of the wines that people had gifted to her that she wasn't excited about, and I gladly accepted them. Another friend/client gave me most of her gift cards when we found them after cleaning out her desk, and I used them to buy random meals and supplies. A close friend of mine insisted on buying me brunch. I have never expected these gestures, accepted with gusto and appreciation.
• Putting myself out there also meant that at Christmastime, my family gave me flights/checks/Amazon credit/AirBnB credit instead of physical gifts. My aunt and uncle paid for a small chunk of a deposit I owed on a family reunion this summer, and that was so incredible and helpful.
• If I needed work supplies, I bought them secondhand/dirt cheap at Scraps KC, a creative reuse center in Kansas City.
• When I needed simple long sleeve shirts to work in this winter, I bought 8 of them plus 2 warm scarves at Savers thrift shop for $48, with a coupon.
• My housemates have a communal food cabinet in the kitchen, where they put things that anybody can feel free to have. I made a dent in that section, particularly with the teas! No need to buy fancy coffee shop drinks.
• Living in a house with other people whom I enjoy means I can cowork in the common areas and not seek out a coffee shop for the afternoon- money saved! They don't even have to cowork with me- I just enjoy having people around. (As I write this I am in my room in the basement and I can hear people walking above me, and I want to go upstairs in a moment and enjoy their company).
• I said no a lot.
• I'm a minimalist, so I just didn't buy much- I didn't need to. I have my small capsule wardrobe, 8 physical books, a few puzzles and pens and stuff and that's... Kind of it!

I really loved the structure of having a debt pay-off challenge, and I will keep that system for my next financial goals:

1. Filling my emergency savings fund.
2. Affording this year's adventures- 2 trips for the same wedding (shower weekend and wedding weekend are both in Virginia), 2 family reunions in Wyoming and on Fishers Island, a high school reunion in Millbrook NY, and Interfuse (a Midwest burn, for those of you who know what a "burn" is)... Then home to NJ at the end of the year for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
3. Planning a serious trip to Australia in 2019.

I'm debt free. It doesn't feel real yet. Maybe it will on March first at 7 am when I log into Mint.com and set my budgets for the month- it will be so nice to not have to factor in auto payments, my surgery bill or any credit card "leftovers".