Paid off $30K in credit card debt... never going back.

[ADV_CJ]

Well, my DW and I finally made the commitment and completed our task.  We had raked up around $30K in credit card debt over the last couple of years and couldn't look around and see anything we had spent the money on.  With the baby coming in June, we decided a good new years resolution would be to get the credit cards paid off.

As of last week we are officially credit card free.  It took us 3 months and giving up a lot, but we demolished all the debt.  The feel goods are hitting us in the right places.  I realize that credit cards can be good, but we decided to just pay cash for everything.  The rewards just aren't worth the temptation of being irresponsible for us.

Now, to apply the same principles to both cars, her student loans, and the house.  If all goes well we should be debt free in the next 5-8 years.

[FrugalFan]

This is awesome! And amazing that you managed it in such a short amount of time! Having a baby can be a great motivator to focus on the important things in life (as long as you don't get swayed by all the unnecessary baby things consumerist society says you need).

[nereo]

Holy cow - $30k of debt eliminated in just three months ?!  that's incredible.
Now imagine if you could keep that kind of focus on building your stache and eliminating other debt. 
You're 29 now with a baby on the way - you could be FI when your child is in elementary school.

[Rollin]

FANTASTIC!

I did that in June of 2002 and never felt so free! Now you can take that extra cash and put it to work for you!!

[Fishindude]

Congrats !
Good work.

[forummm]

Sweet!

[ADV_CJ]

Thanks everyone!  I'm still in deep water with the DW student loans (12 years of schooling), fortunately she is now what I consider a high earner.  I've quite my job to be a stay at home dad, so that'll be different but a huge improvement.  We plan to keep on the same path and i've already done a written budget for the next year. 

It's been an entire week now and we still mention it each other daily, "Hey, we don't have any credit card debt" which is immediately followed by a massive smile :)

There's been some benefits...we've learned from past mistakes.  I wish I had discovered MMM years ago, but that's neither here nor there.  We've made every financial mistake possible, now we are doing everything to correct those mistakes so our kid wont have to.

Keep up the good work everyone!

[johnny847]

Congrats!

$30k of debt eliminated in just 3 months? You'll be FIRE in no time!