Strive to be debt free.

A prison is something that holds you captive.
It can be made of cement and iron bars, or it can be a vice like drugs, pornography, or debt.

I don't want to be a hypocrite, I am currently in debt. We are still paying for our car and we have 2 credit cards that we still owe on.  But compared to where we were a few years ago our position has vastly improved! We are slowly, and steadily digging ourselves our of our debt prison.

Society today convinces us that debt is a necessity to get where we want to be in life. If you want a nice car you have to have a car payment for the next 3-6 years. If you want a nice house you get a 30 year mortgage. Almost every department store has it's own buy now pay later plan. It's an instant gratification world out there.
And we fall for it.

The credit card companies are making billions of dollars off of interest and fees just so we can have that pair of shoes a month earlier than we would have if we paid cash.

 I was thinking today about happiness and what would make me a happier person. Paying off my debts was at the top of the list. In the last 2 years I have paid off 3 credit cards! (happy dance) There is NOTHING that compares to the feeling of sending in that last payment! I can't wait until we can send in the last payment on our car and our last 2 cards.

When I had my oldest son we went from a 2 income household down to 1 income. Our biggest mistake was not preparing ourselves for the change. We talked about it all the time but we never sat down and prepared a budget for just one salary. Old habits die hard and it took all of our savings and some credit card debt before we finally adjusted to our new life.

I read a popular book that has helped more than anything else. It is Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover". The concepts are simple and straightforward. Don't buy what you can't afford. But sometimes it takes hearing the stuff you already know out of the mouth of an expert to make it really sink in.

If you have debt you want to get rid of, you have to read this book!

I'm planning on paying off the rest of our debts withing the next 2 years (hopefully sooner) and knock down our debt prison walls for good! We no longer use our credit cards and we haven't missed them even a little bit. We can do this!

Being debt free = happiness!