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Feb

25

My Debt Story (Part Three): A Life of Frugal Abundance

This is part three of a three-part series on how I got out of, and into, debt. If you haven’t already read it, go to part one here or visit part two.

Mt. St. Helens 2007

After finding hope, the only thing left to do was to actually get out of debt. Easier said than done, right? You bet.

By the end of 2006, I was $12,000 in debt, taking home about $27k a year. What to do, what to do? As I said, I quit spending. This isn’t entirely true - it didn’t happen all at once and I didn’t live as frugally as I could have - but I stopped making huge unnecessary purchases and instead channeled all my available money into the credit cards. I found that this became easier to do with time.

At first, it’s hard to see life out of debt. It’s hard to think that you will actually be free someday. Getting yourself to see this can help you toward your goal.

The spiritual and personal progress I made in 2007 as a result of working hard at getting out of debt was impressive. My life improved in every way imaginable, and I strongly believe this was a direct result of my having chosen to better my financial life. For a complete walk-through on the money stuff, I will write a separate post on exactly how to get out of debt. I followed a plan that’s worked immensely so far.

By the spring of 2007 I had changed my mindset and my actions to the point where I was seeing progress. It was liberating and totally exciting The best part about actually paying off the debt was overwhelming feeling of joy that it brought me. Making progress in debt reduction makes you only want to make more progress! I wrote in my livejournal in early 2007:

I’ve paid off a LOT of debt and keep working at it - this not only makes me feel wonderfully responsible, but also lighter and full of hope and joy and other good things.

Once I set my mind to pay off the debt, and set a plan in place that I could follow, I was freed to think about other things. I was also forced to enjoy other things in life, since I had cut myself off completely from all the things that I used to enjoy so much, like going out bar-hopping all the time or shopping for shoes.

In my 2007 resolutions in review, I shared with you my goals for that year. Some of them were (in summary):

Pay off the remainder of my debt and move into prosperity.
Come to a place of prosperity and complete oneness with a job that I adore and at which I am fantastic.
Start a relationship with someone who I can share a life with.
Live a life of simplicity, pattern, peace, and harmony, through: Meditation, Healthy Eating, Exercise, Study, Love, Exploration of Self and Mind, and Simplification of Possession and Social Life (through intuition)

Turning the Focus and Forgiving

While this list of goals was a hefty one, I had no choice but to aim for them because I had stopped living mindlessly. By attacking debt, I had inadvertently started to focus on bettering all aspects of my life. And you know what? I did
In the spring of 2007, I met Sean. Sean is… Sean is the love of my life. I hope we’re together forever, and I think that this will be. I guess you could say that this was all chance, and obviously going after debt won’t guarantee you find a soulmate, but I think that work on the self always leads to amazing surprises. Sean was a surprise.

Early on in 2007 I decided that I no longer wanted to invest so much time in finding a boyfriend. I was tired of the dating scene, I really didn’t want to spend any money going out, and I was sick of trying to find self-fulfillment in a relationship. There was too much to lose, and I would have rather concentrated on myself and let my own life blossom and grow. After months of doing my own thing and giving up the search for a significant other, one came to me out of the blue.

Don’t they say that once you stop searching for something, you usually find it? So it was with Sean. And so it was with a lot of other things too. It wasn’t that I gave up on life, only that I let myself revel in the joy of ME and MY LIFE. Before, with debt pressing into me from all angles, I wasn’t able to enjoy anything, and I had a very hard time liking myself.

By making a plan of action to get out of debt, and honestly sticking to the plan, I allowed myself to be okay. I forgave myself for getting into debt. Every morning in the mirror I would say to myself, “It’s okay that we’re in debt. Now we’re getting out of it, and everything is going to be fabulous.” Honest to God, I said these words every morning. By letting myself off the hook for being so stupid before, I was allowed to embrace change and the possibility that things were getting better. And I stopped beating myself up over a past filled with bad decisions that I could not change.

It Isn’t the Stuff

In addition, by focusing my energies on the things that I truly loved, I found an abundance of joy in just being. For years I had filled my life and my space with things, thinking that they would make me happy. But when I got to the root of it, it wasn’t the stuff that brought me happiness, it was the concept behind them. And so I went after the concept.

I found that it wasn’t the clothes or the shoes or accessories that I loved, but the art of clothing itself and the activity of creating outfits. It wasn’t the furniture and home decorations that I loved, but the skill of putting them together well. It was in the shape and design, in the color and beauty. And so I cut up all my fashion magazines and drew patterns for clothing ideas. I made collages of beautiful shapes found in clothing ads. I cut up all my architecture and interior design magazines and made “dream house” collages. I reveled in pretty colors and combinations. I studied fashion and design online and did all these things without spending a dime.

I also found that the further I moved away from the things I once “needed” - such as movies and cable, nights out at bars or concerts, and afternoons at the nail or hair salon - the more I didn’t need these things. I got crafty, and I chose to place value in people. I started to love people rather than things, and to love doing rather than buying.

I could go on and on… I spent time with friends at my place talking or playing board games instead of going out. We drank cheap wine and cooked meals together for entertainment. If we watched a movie, we rented it and shared the cost between the lot of us. I went on walks with Sean around Greenlake instead of taking vacations, and read his collection of books instead of buying more. I picked flowers instead of buying them. I learned how to do manicures myself and became skilled at it. I learned how to cut my own hair and look fabulous with inexpensive beauty products.

This wasn’t all overnight, but all the little changes I made brought me happiness. Because of my positive attitude and my willingness to discuss my debt progress with friends, they actively encouraged me to avoid spending and live simply. Living with Samantha was great because we encouraged each other to stay home and make fun happen, rather than going out to find fun. You can see a shift in my attitude in a post I wrote in October:

… I have really attacked [my debt] with gusto! I’ve paid off half my debt this year, giving almost every last penny of my spare income to debt. I have cut out every regular bill/luxury I used to afford and sent that money to credit card debt. [...] All in all, I feel like I’m making excellent progress.

All of this personal progress culminated with landing the job I currently have. In June of 2007, I said goodbye to the best and worst job ever and changed pace. My mom had been trying to hire me for a long time, and I had been counseling her in her business operation long before she hired me (she is my mom, after all). But in the summer she finally could afford to bring me on board, and she essentially handed the entire business to me to run. I was thrilled to work for her, and especially excited to run a business by myself. I knew I would be able to do it because I’ve always known that I would be running a business when I was older. (When I was little I didn’t play house, I played CEO. No, seriously.)

Changing jobs was about the best thing that ever happened to me. I got a raise to nearly $40k a year - so I’m doing pretty well for my 22 years - and I expect to be making over $100k by the time I’m 30. The job itself has only brought more happiness and freedom into my life, and I hope I can work running my mom’s business well after she retires. In eight months I’ve taken her business to great new places that it would have never otherwise gone. Because of my intense focus on getting out of debt, I also decided to take her business into a cash-only operation and help it move into prosperity too. I made a six-month, one-year, two-year, and five-year plan for the operation and we’ve been sticking to it and have had some amazing things happen as a result.

Where I Stand Now

I work from home now, doing everything that I absolutely love (accounting, design, marketing, sales, product development, purchasing and shipping). I still do web design in my spare time (apart from writing this blog). I spend my weekends with Sean and various weeknights with my sister or Samantha. I write. I sew. I design my future home in my head. I read. I hike and play outdoors. And I watch my debt go down all the while
I guess I’ll end my story here, because I don’t know what comes next! I closed and cut up a few credit cards over the summer. I had more than $1000 in my savings account by the fall, when I moved out of my apartment to live rent-free with my mom for a couple of months. In January I closed my remaining few credit cards and moved into a new apartment that I can afford and where I live alone. And now? I just keep on keeping on… moving up and up and up.

I hope that this (incredibly lengthy) post has helped you see how choosing to get out of debt genuinely changed my life - financially, spiritually, emotionally, and inter-personally. The journey is not easy, but it’s totally worth it. It was agony being in debt, very difficult to see a way out, and sometimes interminable following the plan once I had one. But I’m almost there!

I’m making much more money than I was the first half of 2007, and that in combination with living rent-free for three months has made the debt shrink rapidly in the last few months. As of today I have $3,500 left in debt, and I plan to pay another $600 to it next week, which will bring me below the $3k mark! WAHOOOOO!!! I CAN’T EVEN TELL YOU! It is so exciting.

And that concludes my life-with-debt story thus far. What will happen next? We’ll all have to wait and see If you haven’t yet read them, I encourage you to check out part one and part two of this story. Thank you for reading!

What’s your debt story? I read some amazing ones before. Share your tale with me and we can celebrate together!

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Filed Under Just My Life - Stories, Etc., Self-Help and Personal Progress, money and finance

Comments

7 Responses to “My Debt Story (Part Three): A Life of Frugal Abundance”

no more spending on February 26th, 2008 12:25 am

Lovely post! I know how you feel. Paying off debt means you get your life back. Its an amazing feeling.
shanti on February 26th, 2008 12:01 pm

It is
James on September 5th, 2008 12:15 pm

A very nice read. Congratulations on your progress; I believe that you will in fact eliminate all of your debt; however, be ever mindful to the possibility of its re-surfacing. How easy it can be to slip into old habits…if you’re not careful. I have a debt tale myself, one that I’m also in the final chapter of dealing with. Unfortunately for me, mine was more severe than yours; it is also completely of my own doing. I too, enjoyed the good life…before I had earned it. Pleasingly, my own personal resurrection from my cycle of debt was also of my own doing. On this point (and some others :)), we’re in total agreement on…it feels victorious. Good luck and post on!
shanti on September 5th, 2008 12:34 pm

Hi James - thanks! I am debt free now, as of May, and there is no way I’m getting back in.

I have changed some ways - I’m not so stingy with my money now (though I’m still very frugal). I have “fun money” budgeted, but I now save 4x that much And I use my credit card occasionally when I have to make a purchase from my savings account - I buy with the card and then when I get home transfer the amount on the receipt from savings to the card. It works really well if you are as diligent as I am
Thanks!! I am happy to be where I am and I’m saving like crazy and having some fun with my money too - and that’s what it’s all about.
James on September 5th, 2008 1:09 pm

LOL. You beat me back here. I just realized that I was dreadfully late in my post. Nonetheless, I offer a belated congratulations, once again!
shanti on September 5th, 2008 2:07 pm

Haha, oh well Thank you, and thanks for reading!
rina on August 1st, 2009 3:32 am

I first trap in debt is because of using credit card. I was so eager to redeem points to get free stuffs. I kept in my mind if I using credit card I can also have free items from the redeem points. It’s all went out wrong when I start delay in paying the bill and the interest keep rocking up.

Now, I take bank loan to settle my credit card debt ( request for full settlement )and the interest is much lower. The monthly payment is also getting lower compare to the credit cards bill. Anyway, don’t use credit card. I have a happy life before I started using that plastic.