Money Morale Booster

Today is the 3rd (well, at least it was when I wrote this so pretend). The third day of every month is normally a grumpy day for me because it is when one of my student loan payments is due. But not today and not ever again. Last month, we paid it off! Now, between the two of us, we still have a couple other student loans left, but this one was particularly annoying because I hadn't planned for it and I had already consolidated my loans when a few weeks before my last semester, the school figured out I was going to graduate early and dropped all my scholarships and grants (yes, you read that right), leaving me with another loan with a high interest rate. It was slightly annoying to say the least.

The point is, it's gone forever now. It's our first big milestone on the road to a debt-free life and I really didn't expect it to happen that soon.

About three days before we got married, Craig dropped a big change in my lap, he announced that he wanted to go back to school. No, he wasn't being cruel with his timing, he had told me he was interested in the school anyway so after he got to town and I was off with last minute fittings and table decoration errands, he met with some folks there and that sealed the deal in his mind. It was a big change in "the plans" and honestly, that wasn't a big deal to me. I knew he would be successful in any area, but this school really seemed to be a good fit with his interests and talents. And having grown up a military brat, change was pretty normal. I didn't so much care what the plan was, as long as we had one. But I do remember thinking "We are never going to be done paying off student loans." They might have been on my brain since that month was the first time I was actually asked to start paying them back.

But we didn't just stay in Texas, no, we planned and prayed and scrimped and saved and now we are living out his dream. And mine. I never imagined we would be able to pay off the loans at such a fast rate. We have been so blessed, not just with good jobs and nice paychecks, but with wisdom and guidance from others reinforcing the idea that debt is not good and it shouldn't be normal. It would have been easy for us to convince ourselves that we are in a point in our life when we could take on more debt, that this type of debt is okay, or that we could at least defer our loans and worry about paying them off later - but we didn't. I don't want to imply that it is always wrong to take on student loans but for us, the difference between taking on loans and paying them off was lifestyle and we choose a less fancy lifestyle. And I'm so grateful to God for his word that showed us this was a better bath and to those who supported us, both those we know personally and those we don't.

Because it was so worth it! It doesn't always seems like it but not having that weight on me, knowing that I never have to think about that bill again, is worth every hour I spent looking for new and interesting ways to fix lentils when I really just wanted to buy a steak, it's worth every minute we spend cutting coupons, every movie we don't go see, every sweater we buy at Goodwill. If we had payed off the minimum, it would have taken us about 10 years on that one loan, but we did it just two!

So for those of you out there on the same path we are, if you think you will never reach the end or even reach the next step, you will! And for those that have, remember that feeling. I know I will cling to it to give me strength to resist whatever new "want" springs up, whatever it may be.