Debt Free! How We Paid Off Over $240,000 in Debt!
Finances are something that our society has made very private and personal. But as I have been reading and educating myself about personal finance and setting up our life for success financially, I have realized that talking about money is essential to success with it. I believe that breaking the social taboo surrounding conversations about money is essential for personal financial growth. We all have different goals and different “whys”, but we learn more when we listen to the successes and failures of others. As I have opened up the dialogue about money and personal finances with my friends and family, I have enjoyed and been inspired by our conversations. I decided it was about time to share about a financial goal that we reached in 2021. I hope our story of becoming debt free helps inspire you to reach your own goals financially.
In July 2021, we officially became DEBT FREE! What a journey it has been. Here is the story of how we reached our goal.
I graduated from nursing school in 2015, and soon after starting my first job, I began working to pay off my student loans. The progress was slow but we stayed consistent — we lived off my income while Matt was full-time in graduate school and threw whatever extra cash we could at my loan. In May of 2018, Matt graduated with his Doctorate in Physical Therapy and we moved from Miami, Florida to San Francisco, California. Matt and I got new jobs and began settling into life out of school as young professionals and continued to keep expenses low and live off one income. Our journey to becoming debt free really accelerated after realizing success paying off my $30,000 student loan debt in the summer of 2018. After paying off my loans, we made more momentum by paying off our $14,000 car note. It was around this time we started to get serious about what we wanted for our financial future.
In September of 2018, we sat down together to evaluate our financial goals and made a plan to pay off our remaining $193,000 of student loan debt. Looking at the time it would take to pay off that loan with minimum payments felt long and daunting, and further enforced that we wanted to be debt free sooner. We had seen the success over time with our smaller loans and knew that paying the loan off early was possible with a little planning and a lot of discipline. We refinanced our loan and set a lofty goal to be completely debt free in 3 years — September of 2021. We knew it was going to be challenging, but we planned out exactly how we would do it and how we would motivate each other to keep the course. We reminded each other how holding onto this debt was holding us back from our other goals — saving, starting a family, buying a home, traveling and investing in retirement. Those goals being on the back-burner were our motivation to be consistent in our journey to being debt free.
The most fulfilling part of this journey is that despite unforeseen circumstances — hours being cut due to the pandemic, having a baby, moving to a new apartment — we reached our goal ahead of schedule. Instead of these circumstances breaking us, we became even more motivated thinking about the freedom we would gain when that payment was officially gone, and we learned a lot of self discipline along the way. In July of 2021, we made our final payment 2 months ahead of schedule.
I am sharing this publicly because I want to encourage others that getting out of debt is possible. Although I do believe sometimes student loans are a necessary evil, it is so difficult and discouraging to enter the workforce feeling like you will never get ahead financially. Thinking about how we could accomplish this goal while living in one of the most expensive cities in the country felt overwhelming. It definitely was difficult at times, but we had to commit overselves to the process. We have learned that everything in life has to be balanced. That means its ok to give yourself grace when you don’t meet a deadline or things don’t go as expected or you have to readjust plans. Some months went really well, other months we needed give ourselves more breathing room in our spending. It is a constant conversation, evaluation, and goal setting game! The most important thing is to keep moving forward.
Looking back, I think our biggest help through this journey was having a shared vision for our future. We have truly been each others support and encouragement. We were also supported in our goal by our families and close friends that we’ve kept involved in our progress over the years. We found encouragement and accountability in vocalizing our intentions with others as we worked toward freedom. Becoming debt free has been such an amazing experience. We developed habits that we’ll continue to use as we set new financial goals. We have learned to mindfully consume, recycle, mend and reuse things we already own. Since paying off our loans, Matt and I have both been able to go part-time at work and stay home with our daughter, Harper. Time together has been the greatest perk of of this process.
There are so many great resources out there to support those that want to find financial freedom. Although I don’t agree with everything Dave Ramsey suggests, I found it encouraging listening to other peoples stories of success in their debt free journey on the Dave Ramsey Podcast. I also loved setting goals on the Intuit Mint app to keep us accountable and see a visual timeline to our goal. Just a quick internet search can open troves of useful information. It is about finding the best path for you - a plan that you feel like you can stick to! We have learned so much during this journey, but the biggest is that you cannot find happiness or fulfillment through financial success. Instead, our fulfillment comes through our relationships with those we love and the experiences we get to share. The little steps you take today can make a lifetime of difference in the future. Be patient with yourself and stay motivated! As always, if you want to talk more about how we got there or have questions/need encouragement - reach out!