gotten out of debt? If so, how has your lifestyle changed or not changed. Do you feel "rich" now?

Yes I have. I don't think my (our) lifestyle has changed that drastically, except that we don't stress over how something is going to get paid. I still watch for sales, I don't buy things if I don't need them. And NO I do not feel rich. I feel VERY rich because of the non-materialistic things in my life but NOT the materialistic ones.

Both my husband and I were married once before and both of us "struggled" with finances in our first marriages. DH has been promoted several times since we have been together and we always make sure that things are paid for at the end of the month, as well as building up our savings. The only "debt" that we have is our house, and that is over 50% paid for. Some people consider that debt and some don't.

I have said before though....part of being "comfortable" is looking for deals, why spend money if you don't have to??

We are VERY fortunate to be where we are at. And we do NOT take anything for granted.

Edit: I should also say that both of us are on the same page, DH gets upset when the power bill is high, and gets on everyone's case about turning lights off, etc... We both try to instill "be smart with your money even if you can't see it" attitude with the kids.

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Stacey

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Yes, I have gotten out of 25000 worth of credit card debt, and it does feel wonderful not to have that hanging over me. I don't feel rich, we still struggle some months, but I know that things would be so much worse if we hadn't paid off our credit cards and gotten rid of them. I guess sometimes I do feel rich when I hear neighbors or moms at the playground talking about how much debt they have and then talk about going shopping! I feel like I'm more experienced now than I was, that is what makes me feel rich I suppose.

We have never been in debt compared to most people. The highest we have ever had in cc debt was $2,500 because we both hate using them. If I can't afford to pay for it by the end of the month I don't need it. But we have recently paid off all other debt. Our life hasn't changed. We make the same monthly payments it just goes into our retirement now.

We have gotten out of debt and let me tell you it feels incredible and freeing. I sleep so much better at night too. We still have mortgage debt which I don't mind as much but it was the bad debt that hung over me for years.

This is what I did to get out of debt (I read the idea in a book although I can't remember the name now).

1) I doubled the minimum payment on the loan so I would pay 1/2 the interest over time and pay it off in half the time.

2) I committed to not going into any further consumer or student loan debt. If I wanted something I would have to save up for it. (Medical debt is a whole other story).

3) Most importantly when the debt was paid off, instead of taking the amount I paid to the loan every month and having it as extra income, I was use to not having it anyway, I just deposited into our retirement savings fund every month (automatically ~ so I didn't have to think about it). That money was once going to pay a loan and interest and now it's funding my future. :happy dance:

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DH and I worked very hard to get out of debt over the past 2 years. It changed our lives some but not drastically. We are still very tight with our money, we stick to the budget as closely as possible. Extra money is divided between retirement, savings and reinvesting in our house flipping business or DH's contractor business. Its so nice not to have to worry about how we are going to pay the mortgage or the car payment....no more annoying bill collector calls. Its a good feeling to pay cash and know everything we own is all ours.:happy dance:

Yup, we got out of about $70 thous. if you count cars, LOC, CC etc. We still have our mortgage but we don't consider that as much as debt. We have also been able to build a 1year emergency fund as well as contribute to our retirement.

We were lucky that some circumstances surrounding DH's job worked in our favour. There were definitely some "silver lining" occasions. Thankfully when this happened we didn't blow the money and did the right thing.

Do I feel rich? You bet I do, but like so many others have said I'm rich due to my family and my current ability to be a stay at home mom. Our spending habits have improved dramatically and we don't waste our money.

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Children Learn What They Live, And Live What They Learn.
What have you taught your child today?
When life throws you a curve ball...it's up to you how you catch it!

I am still struggling and still optimistic. With our remodeling over the past few years we have charged up several thousand totaling about 10K in home renews (50 year old houses need work) But that is all bought and paid for. Currently we have Debt that I am hating and struggling to get rid of. With it being around 3K on CCs and 11K on a car loan we know that the big thing for us is to feed all extra income into getting them paid off. Once gone we can bulk up emergency savings and start puting the extra into retirement or our morgage. Will I ever feel monetarily rich probably not but I am going to settle for established and well off. We continue to refine spending habbits gone are the days of I don't want to cook so lets go out.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006