Jan 7

Jan 7 How We Celebrated Becoming Debt Free

The day we became debt free was almost three long years in the making. And it was the BEST day of my life. Freeing myself from debt was the BEST thing that ever happened to me, and I’ll never forget the day my dreams of becoming debt free finally came true.

In the last few weeks leading up to the day we paid it all off, I gave a lot of thought as to how I wanted to spend the day. I wanted to do something EPIC, like sky dive or something. I wanted it to be epic, because a regular celebration just didn’t seem to fit for this huge occasion.

But, as I found out the day I became debt free, that day didn’t need ANYTHING to feel completely epic. The day alone, by itself, without more, was perfect in every way.

A huge part of the reason the day was so good and perfect was because I shared it with so many of YOU. So many of you wrote in to celebrate with me and cried along with me, as I hit “submit” on my last debt payment ever. YOU guys were my biggest cheerleaders and encouragers all throughout my journey, and knowing I had you to keep updated really helped me stay the course.

Many of you have asked how we celebrated the end of our debt free journey, and what we did that day after we hit submit on our last payment ever. Here’s what went down after the IG Live ended that day.

The Day We Paid it All Off

We paid off $105K of debt in 35 months. We made our final debt payment on November 15, 2019, a day I’ll never forget. We went on Instagram Live and made our final debt payment in front of thousands who got to share the moment with us. You can watch us make our final debt payment here. We topped off the final debt payment with a champagne toast to our future. (But the champagne was in wine glasses, as you can see if you watch the Live, because, you know, minimalism).

Then, my husband and I both took the day off from work, and let our son stay home from school to celebrate the day.

We took some family selfies capturing our happiness and then went to a cute brunch place in town I had been wanting to visit forever. We had delicious crepes for breakfast, and topped it all off with a morning mimosa.

Saying Goodbye to The Chains of Debt

Once we came home, we cut the final links off our “chains of debt.”

The “chains of debt” was a paper chain I made that was no less than 17 miles long, and hung in my bedroom FOREVER. It was hideous. And it was the first thing I’d see every morning when I woke up, and the last thing I saw every night before I went to sleep. And I couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

Each link in the chain represented $250 of debt. And every time I made a payment, I cut off a link and watched the chains get smaller and smaller.

The chains of debt was just one of the ways I stayed motivated on my debt free journey.

It was such a glorious feeling to cut the final links from that chain and get rid of it forever!

After the chains were gone, I updated my Instagram profile to show that my total outstanding debt was $0!

Crossing off a Bucket List Item - NYC at Christmas Time

As a final celebration, we went to New York City over Christmas time, during the first week of December.

You guys, NYC at Christmastime has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. And I LOVE that within only a couple of weeks of paying off all of our debt, we were able to cross off a bucket list item!!

We were already planning to go to NYC for a work conference. It was a voluntary conference and work paid for our hotel for the days the conference ran. But flights were on us, and we decided to extend the stay through the weekend and celebrate in style! So, those hotel nights after the conference ended were on us, also. We made it work by using points & miles to book our flights (we only had to pay $11.20 in taxes per person per roundtrip flight) and hotel stay (with our Chase Ultimate Reward points it was absolutely free!)

We did so much! We saw the Lion King on Broadway, visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, saw the Rockettes do their Christmas special, saw the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, Central Park, window shopped along 5th Avenue, and saw the Rockefeller tree. It was a PERFECT way to celebrate the end of our debt free journey!

We loved celebrating the end of our debt free journey. But, as I quickly learned, getting rid of debt is really the beginning of our financial story—not the end. There is still so much more we want to accomplish. You can see what we’re dreaming about now that we’ve reached debt freedom here.

How Did We Do It?

To find out all the steps we took to become debt free, check out my Free Guide: Nine Proven Strategies to Paying Off Debt Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible!

Your Turn!

Are you debt free? If so, how did you celebrate? If you’re still working on debt freedom, have you given any thought about how you’d like to celebrate? Let me hear your plans in the comment below!!