When you become debt free, the journey is just the beginning. You see, for the months we worked so hard, so diligently, so consistently to get rid of all our debt, we “sacrificed” so much. I put “sacrificed” in quotes because we really gave up debt to get freedom. This is important to remember because it’s so easy to focus on what you think you’re losing instead of what you’re actually gaining. After becoming debt free it would seem as though life is easier when in actuality it’s not really easier because you still have to be focused on staying out of debt but also focused on building wealth and creating a legacy for your family. We’ve learned many lessons since becoming debt free. Here are 7 of them.
Lesson 1: Just because you got out of debt doesn’t mean you will just stay out of debt
As stated earlier the journey is just beginning when you get out of debt. You have to be just as intentional when you’re debt free about how you spend your money, recognizing that it’s not really yours but it’s what God has blessed you with. It’s very easy to get back into debt once you’re out, especially when you recognize that you now have all the money in your bank account that you were throwing at debt to do with “as you please.” You also have the financial windfalls that would fall into your laps – i.e. bonuses from work, random gifts from family, tax “refunds,” etc. This extra money is something you can look at and say, “What can I spend this on because I don’t have debt anymore?” However, it’s important to remember consistency and diligence. The same effort that we put into getting out of debt is now the same effort we put into staying out of it. We needed to still create a monthly budget, we still needed to assign every dollar to a bucket so we knew where our money was going and we needed to do this consistently. If you have the mindset that now that we’re out of debt everything is great, you’ll just as easily fall back into debt.
Lesson 2: Accountability is still important
When we were focused on becoming debt free we would share our progress with friends and family. It was important for us to make sure that we were being held to the goal that we set. When folks checked on us to see the progress we were making it reminded us to stay focused on our goal and to keep going. When we finished paying off our debt, the next few goals were in sight. We shared those as well with our accountability partners and it again, kept us focused on our goals. Just because you paid off your debt doesn’t mean the accountability stops. You will always need accountability partners and the people you surround yourself with should be people who encourage you, pray for and with you, and push you to be better and remind you of your goals. When the people around you are focused on the now, on spending because it feels good, on pressuring you to just enjoy life now and spend, it’s easy to lose focus on the goals for your future. It’s not that you can’t enjoy life now, but do it wisely remembering as Dave says, “If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.”
Lesson 3: Being Weird is Not Normal
Being Debt Free is Weird. Society pushes the mantra – You Only Live Once (YOLO). Social Media makes it seem like everyone is traveling everywhere, living their best life, wearing expensive clothes, shoes and watches and life is peachy. The reality is that the majority is in debt, not truly happy about it and feels they’re stuck in it so they might as well do what they want. It’s not the norm to be debt free. It’s not the norm to not have car payments, not have credit card bills every month, not have student loan payments. It’s not normal to not have to worry about these things. When you’re debt free and you hear people complaining about student loans and “the man is holding them down” it feels a little awkward because you’re not in that situation anymore and because they can get out of debt if they want to as well, but many people don’t want to give up to get. You get used to people looking at you a little weird when being debt free comes up in conversation or when they tell you you’ll be back in debt in the future. It’s not normal to be debt free and you will be weird, but weird is ok.
Lesson 4: You are Even More Focused on Getting Others to Become Debt Free
After becoming debt free and experiencing the joy of it, you want everyone to experience that same joy too! You intentionally and unintentionally tell everyone about being debt free because the joy you feel, the freedom you feel, is something that’s truly inexplicable and you know that if others became debt free they’d feel it too and want others to experience it as well. It’s like when you first fall in love with Jesus and that fire fills your bones and you want to shout it from the mountaintop that God is just SO GOOD! You want to shout it from the mountaintops that Debt Freedom is just SO GOOD! And God wants us to be Debt Free. There are so many texts in the bible that talk about not being in debt, about being the head and not the tail, the lender and not the borrower, creating a legacy for your family. You want that for everyone around you and you share what you’ve done and been through because being debt free is more fun when others are debt free with you.
Lesson 5: Marriage is Sweeter
If you are married, you may already know that most fights and divorce are because of money. It can be such a sensitive topic and lead to arguments, distrust, hiding, and yes, divorce. When you get rid of all your debt there is no need to fight over money. During the journey to debt freedom we strengthened our foundation for honest, open communication not just about money but about everything that it’s never hard to talk about anything. There’s no topic that’s off the table because we were a team working on becoming debt free and that teamwork made the dream work. Marriage is so much sweeter when there’s no fights about money, about credit cards, about student loans, about unnecessary or frivolous spending. We both know where our money is going, what it’s being spent on, how it’s growing, what we’re giving to. We are on the same page and spend more time dreaming of our future than dreading it.
Lesson 6: You don’t have to stay in a thankless job
When you’re debt free, have a 6+ month Emergency Fund, are saving and investing, seeing your money grow, and not living paycheck to paycheck, you don’t worry as much. Honestly, you forget sometimes that it’s payday. There’s a sense of relief knowing that if one or both of you lost your jobs you’d be ok or if you wanted to change jobs you’re not worried about paying your bills. This came into play a few months after we became debt free. I knew I wasn’t happy at work, had recently found out I was pregnant and knew that I couldn’t stay in a toxic environment. I told my husband how I felt and didn’t want to be in that type of environment. The opportunity presented itself for me to stay home and we agreed it would be best. We weren’t worried about being on one income. We had lived on one income most of our marriage and we were more than ok. Going back to one income when debt free was an easy decision to make because we’d taken the steps to be able to do so – we got out of debt, we had a 6+ month Emergency Fund and were saving and investing. We still had insurance through my husband’s job, we have separate life insurance policies and we had a budget. We were ok. When you’re debt free you don’t have to stay in a job that doesn’t make you happy and you have the freedom to pursue what does make you happy.
Lesson 7: You Know You Can, But You Just Don’t Want To
While we were on our debt free journey one of our accountability partners was my uncle. We would talk the first Sunday of every month and share with him our progress, talk about our dreams of life after debt freedom and how we would celebrate. During one particular conversation he said that when we became debt free there would be things we could do/could get if we wanted to but we won’t want to. We didn’t get what he meant at the time and he shared an experience with us. He was driving around and saw a car he liked very much. He realized that if he wanted to he could buy the car cash and it wouldn’t have a big impact on his finances. It felt good knowing that he could do that, but he realized he didn’t want to and that felt even better. Since becoming debt free we’ve had that experience where we see something and we say we could get that but we don’t want to. That has been and still is quite jarring because we can have it but we’re at a place mentally where it’s not about acquiring stuff because we can but about the freedom to be able to and leave it be. It’s such a sweet feeling!
Though the journey to debt free may seem boring, may make you tired, may seem long it is so very worth it and life on the other side will be sweet. These are only a few of the lessons we’ve learned on this journey and now as we work toward Financial Independence there will be many more to learn. We hope you’ll not only join us on our journey but start your own journey to debt freedom and financial independence.
If you’re already on your debt free journey what are some lessons you’ve already learned?
