This question pops into my head almost daily. Sometimes I wonder if we will be more frivolous with our money. Other times I find myself wondering if we will continue to be uptight and protective of our money.
The truth is, I have no clue.
We live on such a strict budget right now that I don’t even know if I’ll be able to follow my own advice when we pay off our loans. It will be so tempting to take those loan payments and go on vacation or buy designer purses. Will I be able to stick with a new goal such as paying off our mortgage or planning for retirement and Robert’s college education? Or will I feel new pressure to buy a bigger house and better clothes?
I honesty hope that I can continue to live the way we live now. I don’t ever want to stop spreading awareness about food waste, and I don’t want to overspend on clothes and other material possessions.
Isn’t it fun to imagine our futures? Tom and I play this game every now and then. We’ll ask each other where we see ourselves in 5 years and it’s always exciting to pretend. I’m the hopeless romantic who envisions us living in another country doing something adventurous, while Tom is the realist who always envisions us living in a nice house in a sensible town with our students loans paid in full. While we may not have the same ideas for where we will be in five years, we do agree that we will be finished with our student loan debt, or close to it. We never picture ourselves getting further into debt, which is why I hope that when we do pay off our loans we will be able to tackle our mortgage and eventually live completely debt free.
Tom and I have already been through a similar situation. In 2010 we made the decision to pay off my car and use my car payments towards his loans. We’ve done the loan snowball effect before and I hope we can stick with it again. Ultimately, I know what we should do, but the temptation to buy all the things we can’t currently afford is still there. Oh, temptation is a dangerous thing!
No fun pictures for this post. So sorry! Sometimes I just need to write out my thoughts and today, this is what you get. I was inspired by a friend to step back from the pressure of putting together Pinterest worthy posts. Callie, at The Wannabe Athlete, did a fabulous piece on the stress of blogging that has really stuck with me. Thanks for the inspiration, Callie! After all, I starting this blog to monitor my own spending, I don’t want it to ever become a source of stress for me. This is one of my happy places.
Are you working your way out of debt? Do you ever wonder if your spending habits will change once you pay off that big last bill? How do you think you will handle having “extra” money around? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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