Happy Independence Day
I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July celebration. Make sure you celebrate the way John Adams recommends.
I was thinking that I would like to do, as part of our countdown to being debt free, a “100 things to do once debt free” series. For that I need your help. I want to post a new idea each day of the count-down. Ideas can be simple or elaborate, noble or slightly selfish, silly or serious. I just want something to help readers that are still in the thick of it to get a taste of what it will be like.
I need all of you to participate on this. Debt free, working to be debt free, or just dreaming. All of you closet readers, come out of the dark! Email your ideas to me, or leave them in a comment and we’ll make this a blast! Send as many ideas as you can come up with. Countdown starts this Sunday.
Have you ever had that nagging feeling that there was something more to do with your life? I don’t remember exactly when it started for me...
idea 1: jump up and down while smiling like an idiot!!!
idea 2: after all your jumping, when you’re all out of breath, sit down for a while, close your eyes, and… feel… that feeling is freedom.
idea 3: praise God for all his goodness to us!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had a party, invited all our friends and melted our credit cards and made them into magnets.
Take 3 months to serve the Lord internationally.
Volunteer somewhere during the day on a weekday, every week.
Don’t know what number idea this is, but -
Pay it Forward. One of many reasons that God has brought you through this is to be a beacon for others. Invest yourselves personally in the lives of one or two other couples that are just starting the journey.
It would be great if you could give us those scriptures that really helped you keep going.
Also, let us know what plans you have after the debt is paid off? Are you going to keep working at Wegman’s? Saving for a house?
What things have you given up that you WON’T go back to?
What things will you ABSOLUTELY go back to?
We’re still working on our debt (all we have left is our truck), but it gets better each month.
I am so excited for your family. I can’t imagine what that’s going to feel like?
Idea#? Make a new vow to remain debt free and write out a new budget! Now that you have everything paid off, you are going to need to maintain that freedom. Make a vow to yourself and your family that you are going to be able to stick to. Remember not to make unrealistic goals for yourself. That is just setting yourself up for failure. :D
idea # ?
I would place a security freeze on my credit accounts with the three credit reporting agencies to help prevent identity thieves from opening new credit. I figure once I’m debt free I will want to stay that way and won’t need to have my credit accounts unfrozen, vulnerable to the possibility of new accounts being opened fraudulently in my name. As an additional bonus, to unfreeze an account it would cost $10 so that might dissuade me from opening new lines of credit once I’m debt free. You can learn more about freezing your credit here:
http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/SecurityFreeze-Consider.pdf
It’s cheaper than credit reporting and often more effective.
I love to just randomly and anonymously buy people’s food at restaurants. The mom with the bratty kids that are screaming and ruining your meal? Instead of getting mad and wondering why she brings them in public, why not buy her meal? It’ll put a new perspective on things.
So when you’re debt fee, keep $10-20 a week set aside just for buying people’s meals.
Here’s my ideas:
1. Make a loan on Kiva.org. Kiva has the mission of connecting people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
2. Subscribe to some good magazines (might I suggest Relevant and Collide) – you can get a 1 yr. subscription for around $12.
if I think of any more, I’ll post
I got a new one, buy me a new pair of glasses :D
Nate,
Interested in doing a link exchange? I’m a military officer who blogs about finance topics… Similar interests.
All the best,
Steve
Congratulations, the finish line is in sight!
If any part of your debt is credit card debt, watch out for something called “residual interest.”
Some people get that final credit card bill, pay the full amount shown, and rejoice — yay! The debt is gone!
And when an envelope from the credit card company comes the next month, they toss it aside, thinking “Hah! I’ve already paid that bill.”
Unfortunately, if you carry a balance, interest continues to accrue on the debt between the time the bill is sent and your payment is received. Toss aside that bill, thinking it’s paid, and WHAM! you get hit with late fees and maybe penalty interest rates.
So if part of your debt is in credit cards, call the credit card company. Ask them to compute the residual interest for a day, say, 10 days in the future. Pay that additional amount, and you’ll truly be free of that debt.
@ Dan Ray thanks for the good advice–we will watch out for that