September Financial Update – I’m Debt Free!!
Sep 10th, 2009 by Jennifer Lynn
I wake early and head over to the desktop to flip the power switch. Yawning, I hear the computer hum to life as I shuffle over to the next room to perform the usual foraging ritual for breakfast. Thump around a bit through the cupboards, grab a handful of cereal from the box (there’s no milk) and splash water from the faucet into a glass (coffee container is empty).
I settle back in front of the computer with my morning feast, popping Fruit Loops in my mouth, patiently waiting for everything to finish loading. After typing in the appropriate information, my bank account opens.
The balance: $265.
As of yesterday, $1,062.88 had been posted from my bank to my credit card bill, my hard-earned wages busting/tearing through cyberspace to perforate the final outstanding payment owed (with interest, of course); digits whisked away on a lethal, one-way debt termination expedition. And now I’m left with …
The doubts start piling up – I peer suspiciously at the monitor. Surely there’s some mysterious purpose for this chunk of change still sitting on its ass in my account. An overlooked bill, perhaps, stuck on a dusty shelf somewhere, forgotten. In fact, I’m certain there must be a setback somewhere, something to muck everything up because this damned debt is so ingrained in me now and, Jesus, after all these years, how can it really just be … dissolved?
Holding my breath, I tap the keys again to prudently recheck the account balance — my fingers slip, I get the url wrong and pause to wipe dusty grains of cereal from my palms, to start over — suspecting that couple hundred bucks has suddenly, cruelly been gobbled up by some hellacious bank fee or other.
Nope. Still there. Two hundred and sixty-five dollars.
Exhaling slowly, I lean back and stare stupidly at the screen. I pick bits of stuffing from the arm of the chair as I evaluate this completely foreign transition of having an extra pile of dough at my disposal; so staggered, I haven’t even considered how to commemorate my new debt-free world.
With a cup of coffee, seems like a good place to start.
=^..^=
Congratulations you did it. Now what?
The problem I been having once I know I am debt Free I go and spend the extra cash I have and next thing you know I’m back to square one and it sucks. keep us updated
Congratulations!
Congratulations! That is awesome! All that hard work has paid off — literally.
Wishing you all the best. The world is yours …
Congratulations! I’m so proud of you!
Congrats! I just started following because I’m a recent grad who is having some trouble with debt… I haven’t even really gotten a grasp on how much I owe and how hard it will be to pay it off because I don’t know how much my utilities will be yet.
I have been looking through your blog and it gives me hope that I will someday have money in my bank and be debt free.
Thanks for writing!
Congrats pal! I’m sure you’ll sleep better knowing you are financially independent!
From one broke-ass-student to another: Congratulations on your big accomplishment! I hope you will keep posting.
Congrats! Now it is time to continue saving and investing!
congrats! I been following your blog for awhile and I am so happy you finally did it! It’s really motivating. That last 1,000 is the hardest to keep down. I hope you won’t go back into that vicious cycle. Keep us posted!
Wow, that’s a lot of debt you paid off. Congrats! Don’t get into it again!!
Congratulations!!!
That is amazing.
Now, my turn. $118,000 in the hole in student loan debt. I’m inspired by your story and will turn it around and document the process – not so much to be a frickin’ rip-off artist, but because I need to do that to be accountable.
Congratulations! Way to hang in there. Check out http://www.bkrecessionist.com sometime if you ever need some broke-ass solidarity!
Awesome job! What have you got planned next?
Inspiring story with hopes for all.
I really like your flavor of writing. You should continue to use that to your advantage and nurture that natural talent. Maybe you would like to write something for my Blog?
Peace and blessings…
Well done on becoming debt free Jennifer
Aww, I have only just now heard about your blog. Well, I’m happy to hear that you’re debt-free.
I’m going to read through some older posts and see what exactly led to that (I’m a student in debt as well).
Awesome job, a bit belated!! I hope everything is still going well with the new freedom. I found that it is sometimes even harder to be free from debt. There are so many temptations that are now “affordable”. But even though I am free, it doesn’t mean there isn’t financial goals to be attained, so I must stay focused.
And so we keep on running our financial marathon.
Keep up the good work,
Eric
Happy to know that you have beat the debt monster, but I am commenting because I love your writing. I don’t know if you are an author, but if not you should definitely consider writing more than blog post. \
Anyway, thank you for the entertaining read and wish you a life time of debt freedom.
Great job! I just read through a bunch of your posts, and your progress towards getting rid of that credit card debt was inspiring (and fun) to read. Congratulations.
Congratulations. I was looking at the column ‘My Broke Ass Budget’ and noticed you have come a long way to get where you are. May I ask, did you use the snowballing or debt stacking technique to get out of debt?
Thanks for the post!