We may have overextended ourselves just a bit to pay off the last of Tom’s loans.
Okay, let me restate that. We did overextend ourselves to pay off the last of Tom’s loans.
We aren’t so broke that we are bouncing checks, but we did get to the point where we had to watch what we spent this week. One wrong purchase and we could have been in a bad place. It’s been a few years since we’ve felt this overextended.
I’m so glad I finished my Christmas shopping before this week! Otherwise I would have felt stressed out trying to afford Christmas presents.
Want to know something crazy about being this broke? I’m incredibly happy! Broke and happy! I’m mostly happy because I know we spent our money on something worthwhile.
Here are 3 more reasons why having less money means less problems for me:
- I’m not tempted to buy things. If I have no money, then I know I can’t spend it. The temptation is gone!
- I make more of an effort to do fun free things instead of spending money out with the kids. This week we walked to the library for free instead of going to a paid outing.
- Having less money forces me to be thankful for the free things in life that make me happy such as time with my husband or soaking in a hot bath.
Here are some of the free/ cheap things we did this week:
We walked to the library with my mom:
We skipped Starbucks and made mochas at home (recipe here). I did work at Bad Ass Coffee yesterday, but that was way cheaper than Starbucks! It was also necessary since the boys were at a free mom’s morning out near the coffee shop.
All this being said, I realize that being poor does come with a huge set of problems. I don’t wish to be poor! I desperately want financial freedom, however, I do sometimes think that more money means more problems.
It will be interesting next month when the money we would have spent on loans stays in our account. I have a feeling I’m going to feel so rich! In order to avoid spending it, we are going to save it and do other smart things with our money (full list here).
Do you feel like you are happier when you have less temptation to spend money?
We are pushing to meet our loan payment goals by year’s end too. I had this exact conversation last night: Hubs: “where’s all our money?” Me: “we talked about this. I used all my check to pay the loan so we can have it paid off by the end of the year! We’re not broke- we owe less money!”
Yes!!! I love this. We are NOT broke at all, we just owe less. Thanks for the reminder!
I echo the sentiment in your last paragraph, it is also my worry. We will be paying off a large chunk of our stupid credit card debt with my Christmas bonus from work. Our plan is to snowball it into one of my student loans, but I’m afraid that when I see that several hundred dollar surplus in our budget and spend it! Of course, there will be regret afterwards. So, here’s to hoping we both stay on track ;)
Smart decision to pay off your debt with your Christmas bonus!
I really do hope we can both stay on track.