Motivation.

One regret I have is that when we started our official debt fee journey I did not keep perfect calculations of what we were paying off - I just had a word document going and I deleted accounts as they got paid off. I know we are in the ball park of $32,000+

Two cars

Two non-sallie mae school loans

Various medical bills

2 and a half credit cards

Plus along the way - unemployment, a new air conditioner, car repairs, ER visit for severe morning sickness, HUGE deductible for one hospital birth and cash flowing a homebirth.

We are so very, very close to being done with all debt except for our ginormous student loan and our house, both of which combined is less than half of the average home price in our school district.

Our sallie mae is the remainder balance of two bachelor degrees and one MBA -- NOT sold on the benefits of that MBA - five years later!

Two mental tricks I have always played in my mind to help with the debt snowball is - If I splurge on ANYTHING while I still have debt its the same as borrowing money for that - even if I am not technically borrowing anymore money. Not saying we don't splurge. We do, we just keep this mentality. Extra money spent is money that could pay debt.

If we have a car payment and pay cash for a nice restaurant - I consider that restaurant outing financed because its extra money that could have gone to the car debt.

If we added smart phones to our lives (which I would LOVE) that is a another thing financed because it subtracts from the debt snowball.

I take it even down to name brand... buying Pampers instead of store brand when you have debt - yep those poop catchers are on borrowed money.

In Dave Ramsey circles this mentality is called snowflaking - the micro version of snowballing debt.

You do your budget - delegating every dollar to its spending category. When you end the pay period or month and you made it with less money spent in any given category - you stop RIGHT THEN and pay the surplus to debt.

Some people are making 10 plus extra payments a month to their credit cards.

Spent 20 less on groceries than expected? - $20 payment to capital one.

No co-pay for the well visit like you expected - $25 extra on the car payment

etc, etc, etc...

We have exactly $2555 left on Capital One as of this morning. Last month I made three payments to them. Snowflaking ROCKS!

I just want it to go even faster!!

After this last bit of consumer debt - We are having a family "We're almost debt free party"

We'll celebrate the freedom of:

NO CAR PAYMENTS!

NO CREDIT CARDS!

NO STRESS!

And then.... after this occasion, we may be diverging from the Dave Ramsey baby steps. I don't know - its something we are praying about, but our student loan is so big we may be putting it back with Baby step #6 - lumping it with home mortgage.

Even with a snowball of $1000+ dollars a month it could take us over 5 years to pay it off. I don't want to neglect our retirement that long. And even though I love living on a tight budget - I want to relax in a few areas. Vacations, outings, and experiences. My kids are growing so fast.

Oh the bondage that debt causes.

I watched this show the other night and it just made me sick to my stomach:

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