When I decided to get serious about paying off my debt, I didn’t fully anticipate how much it would change my social life. In my head, it was just about budgeting, making extra payments, and saying no to impulse shopping. What I didn’t realize was that saying “no” would eventually mean turning down birthday dinners,…
The Month I Nearly Gave Up on Paying Off My Debt
There’s this myth that once you commit to paying off your debt, it’s all momentum and progress from there. That once you have a plan in place and start seeing those balances drop, everything just clicks into place. I wish that were true. But real life doesn’t work like that, especially when you’re juggling bills,…
Taking the First Step: Creating My Debt Repayment Plan
Once I had that eye-opening moment of realizing just how deep I was in debt, it was time to do something about it. The hardest part was accepting that I couldn’t keep ignoring it. The next step, though, felt almost as daunting: creating a debt repayment plan. I knew I couldn’t keep floating by, hoping…
The Moment I Realized I Was Deep in Debt
It’s funny how you can live your life for years without truly understanding the weight of something. For me, that something was debt. I always thought I was managing it—just paying the minimum, staying afloat, making sure the bills were covered. But the reality of how deep I was in debt didn’t hit me until…
Life After Reaching My Emergency Fund Goal: What’s Next?
Reaching my emergency fund goal felt like a massive accomplishment. It was a goal that had consumed my thoughts for months, and finally, I was able to take a deep breath and think about life beyond just saving. But once I hit that goal, I found myself facing a new challenge: What comes next? I…