Debt freedom is a way of life, not a fad diet.
That means there’s no magic pill, and no get-out-of-debt free card. There’s no massive restriction followed by bingeing. There’s no “one easy payment”, no frantically moving debt around, no rolling one debt into another. You can’t borrow your way out of debt.
Instead, getting out of debt is about changing your behavior for good. It means only spending money you already have. Paying down what you already owe. Preparing for your future, both short & long term. Tackling the past. Living the life you want to live.
Debt is not a solution. It’s a problem.
I know, you’re probably so used to having to borrow money when an emergency happens that it seems like debt solves your problem. It’s marketed that way for sure. But what borrowing really does is exchange the immediate problem at hand for another, longer-term one: DEBT. It may not even occur to you that there’s another way, but there is.
Debt is a choice, and you can choose differently.
That’s right, you didn’t “have to” borrow money for those emergencies. Bear with me for a minute, even though you probably didn’t like reading that. You might be thinking some variation of “But you have no idea what my life was like; there was no choice! I had to borrow money because ________.”
This means that debt is a CHOICE. Sometimes it’s a terrible or desperate choice — but it’s still a choice. Sometimes it’s a thoughtless choice. Many times it’s a choice you rationalize to yourself as something you “have” to do, for lots of reasons — many of which are completely fixable and avoidable.
You DO have to make changes to pay off debt.
While you don’t need to eat strictly rice & beans for years to pay off debt or use one specific method, you absolutely will need to change the way you interact with money. (And often the way you feel about it too.)
In addition to only spending money you already have, those changes include saving up money for emergencies, planning for regular and irregular expenses (including fun things), saying no or getting creative until you’ve got the money for stuff you want, and asking for help.
When you’re paying off debt, obsession is a good thing.
You don’t have to be lucky, rich, or some kind of financial whiz to get completely out of debt, house and everything. What you have to be is committed. Obsession makes the process go faster. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll finish. Decide on the pace that’s right for you and then get going.
Cut back, brainstorm ways to make more money (which could include getting a better job and/or working on the side, among other things), and remember to have fun along the way. Track your progress and talk about what life will be like once you’re debt free. Keep your focus on where you want to be.
People who get out of debt take action, and they don’t give up.
It makes me so sad when I hear people longingly say “I wish I could do that” because chances are THEY CAN. Maybe not the same way as me, or at the same speed (heck maybe they could even go faster!), or under the same circumstances, or using the same exact methods (except for the only spending money they already have part…) but they can certainly do more than just wish or feel bad about themselves.
If you want to get out of debt, you almost certainly can, by hook or by crook.
It IS nice to be out of debt.
And I never, ever want to be in debt again.
It really upsets me when I hear people say “It must be nice” when talking about some of the things I do — like quitting my job to work for myself, or traveling on a regular basis — as if it were something that just magically happened that they could never do and so all they have left is sarcasm.
If you’re the kind of person who says “it must be nice” out of jealousy, think about the message you’re really sending yourself instead. You’re taking the path of fake helplessness instead of being true to yourself. If it matters, change your life instead — a tiny bit at a time.
Because you don’t have to be jealous. You can take action.
If you don’t want to do what it may take, own that and enjoy the life you do have. Don’t blame your spouse, your circumstances, or anything else. Your choices are a huge part of the problem, and they can be a huge part of the solution. Either way, some choices are very hard, but you get to choose.