Staying Motivated…

I struggle a lot with motivation. Sometimes, I actually convince myself that $19,000 in debt isn’t that bad and start to wonder why I’m working to pay it off so quickly.

Working to become debt free would be an easy journey if it were only a few months, but when it stretches to years, that’s when you discover who you really are in terms of dedication.

It’s been just shy of 18 months since we began our journey and to be honest, I find myself growing weary – especially when my personal life gets slammed (more on that tomorrow). I find that when my personal life gets messy…so do my finances.

I was browsing iTunes for free podcasts and stumbled over the Dave Ramsey radio show. His podcasts are free (shorter versions of his radio program – there are some commercials) and you don’t need an iPod to listen to them. You can listen directly from your home computer. I was feeling down this morning and for some reason, listened to his podcast on my way to work. A family had paid off nearly $100K in debt and drove all the way to Dave’s studio just to shout, ‘We’re Debt Free!!!’

It made me smile. Today, it was what I needed.

Check out the show. It’s free and a good source of encouragement.

You are going to get tired. You are going to get weary. You are going to flounder in your decision to live below your means. But we can stick through it because one day, it’s going to be you and me screaming…

WE’RE DEBT FREE!!!

Posted by Beks on March 11, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Keeping Motivated | 18 Comments »
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brooklynchick responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Thanks for the tip! We all go through those times. One foot in front of the other is what I tell myself…..
Christine responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 9:02 am
I feel your pain. We have been working on paying off debt our entire married lives (6 years). We have about 12-15 months left before its all gone. Sometimes, I am ready to throw in the towel and go spend some money. But then I remind myself of how far we’ve come, how short a time we have left, and our BIG reward wehave planned for at the end of the process.
Steady Plodder responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 9:14 am
I’m a huge fan of Dave Ramsey. Didn’t you mention a long while back that you were taking FPU?
debtfree2b responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 9:21 am
Thank you for posting that today. I’ve been following your blog for a couple weeks now when I found it by researching debt reduction success stories. My DH and I started with $81K in consumer debt; we are down to $72K. It’s a long road ahead for us and I’m trying to keep my head up, so I crave these stories of people who have been there and were able to do it. Keep up the great work! I know we will get there.
Jen responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Do you reward yourself at certain milestones? Obviously, you wouldn’t want to spend more But maybe a small treat here and there. In your post you say you owe $19,000, but I checked you overall numbers and, well, you’re almost at the halfway point!!! That’s pretty huge!! Maybe one way to stay motivated is to look at where you’ve been, and not just where you are…
Kevin responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 9:32 am
The exact amount of time it will take me to get rid of my remaining debt is hard to calculate. I have some debt that is going to get forgiven after another year at my job. But it is always possible that something could go wrong at that won’t happen. If it does, I could pay things off quicker than currently predicted. If my “disposable” income decreases (which I expect actually), it would take even longer.

According to my numbers, I still have around 6 years to go. If I maintain the payments and get the forgiveness (plus put extra payments in when I can)… it will be about 4 years. So it’s a long haul for me.

I could always try quitting my job and getting one that is able to pay me a proper wage but I do love what I do.
emmi responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Keep in mind the burden of the debt is always higher than the burden of curtailing your personal life.

Think about all the nice stuff you can do and get with money you are making on your savings. It’s like FREE stuff, since you didn’t work for those dollars.

And if all else fails, remember that every dollar you spend is going to cost you 2 or 3 down the road in fees and charges. That $100 whatever is really a $200 whatever, because of the reality of borrowing money for such a long period of time.

Btw, after your comments about payments not going to principal, we were trying to figure out what was happening to our extra mortgage payments. We aren’t stupid people, really math is not a problem (calculus is not a problem…) but MAN that is not easy to suss out. I’m still not 100% certain we figured it out.

The banking industry just squashed any notion of mortgage disclosure standardization in congress which pisses me off big time. What scum they all are. Yeah, the banks say, standard forms would keep us from screwing people over with fine print, cuz otherwise our CEO couldn’t get his superyacht upgraded to a 500 footer this year.
Colleen responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 10:45 am
I started reading this post shortly after Tricia was highlighted in the NYT. Back then, my total debt was around $40,000. Since then, I had a wedding to pay for and two more kids are in college. Today, my debt is $52000. $19000 looks pretty good to me and as Jen said, look where you have been! If your debti is halfway paid off, that is a huge accomplishment! I start my new budget/envelope system today and hopefully this time will stick to it. My renewed effort comes from a reduction in hours at work for me…and I am ashamed that our debt has gone in the wrong direction! But better late than never I guess….
Rick responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Paying off debt is a marathon in most cases.
Me and my wife are living vicariously through you.
We have over $40,000 in debt. I can’t wait until the day we owe less than $20,000.
What helps us is looking at where we were. In our case we had over $50,000 at one point.
Hang in there !
laughing808 responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 11:58 am
I agree that weariness does rear it’s ugly head more times than I’d like…….but as you said the end result and with each payment I grow closer and closer to seeing the light of debt freedom.

I’ve tried so many differnt things to get pass the weariness and found that using the same method each and every time doesn’t work, so I had to switch it up some……some months I’ll allow myself to splurge for lunch for a week other months I’ll allow a new purse or shoes….and I find that helps to keep me motivated to continue to pay off my debt. Now I’m working on purchasing a Wii…..it’ll take me a few months of continous payments to jump out there for it, but it’ll be worth it.

Lastly, I’ve created numerous worksheets detailing a payment schedule for paying off the debt and while I often get discouraged I also feel a gentle tug to attempt to decrease the amount of time it would take to pay it off……

Good Luck……
Megan responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
YES! I just talked about Dave in my blog today (which, incidentally, just started today too!). He is fantastic, MOTIVATIONAL (because you are right, it’s so easy to lose the motivation and drive), and he’s gone through it! Great blog, glad I stumbled onto it!

Keep going, soon we will be DEBT FREE!!
Helen C. responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I also love tuning into his “Debt-Free Friday” podcasts to listen to all the success stories. In fact, they’re such great motivation that I listen to them on my iPod when running and they provide me energy for my workout!

They’re ESPECIALLY helpful, I would say almost mandatory listening, when you don’t have a great support system around you, i.e. friends or family who don’t understand why you have such an obsessive need to eliminate debt from your life.
John @ The Financial Ladder responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
“The journey of 1000 miles begins with one footstep”
You’re at 500 mile mark, almost there.
Bucksome responded:
Posted: March 11th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
I’m glad you found something motivating. I like to listen to Dave’s podcasts. Plus you can listen to great PF blog podcasts on blogtalk radio.
A.B. responded:
Posted: March 12th, 2010 at 10:31 am
I’m having a huge motivation problem right now. We owe over $40,000, which has been very difficult to tackle as we are “working poor.” We have been trying to pay off debt since we got married (5 years now) and it’s gone the wrong direction due to going back to school. I’d like to go back to school now, but I refuse to go until I can pay cash.

FYI, last time I checked hulu regularly posted full episodes of the Dave Ramsey show.
Abigail responded:
Posted: March 13th, 2010 at 12:43 am
I have almost regular burnout sessions. I think part of it is struggling with a lesser form of bipolar disorder. It means I go in cycles of REALLY determined and then REALLY hit by inertia. It’s very frustrating because, logically, I know I need to get up and something. But I just can’t.

At any rate, I think one thing that keeps me motivated is paying so often on our debt. Because my husband is on unemployment, we get weekly checks, so we make weekly payments. It’s nice to see the number move once a week. And it’s a more immediate kick in the pants if I see that numbers are barely moving.

Still, we’re getting into the final stretch here in the next three months. Our goal is to be free of credit card debt by the end of June. There are a few unknowns right now, but we’re more or less on track. It’s pretty exciting!
Divine and Debt Free responded:
Posted: March 14th, 2010 at 7:53 am
I had a burn out session for almost a year! though I didn’t go into further debt I didn’t pay off much either.

I started out with 40k two years ago and I will be Debt Free in 8 months God willing (my birthday!)

hang in there it gets easier!
Amy Turner responded:
Posted: March 14th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
I LOVE this post. You are right, it takes a LOT to stay motivated. We are at the beginning of our long journey of paying off our debt. I wish I was further along like you…but I have faith that we can get there…just like you did. I definitely think listening to Dave Ramsey is a big motivator. I would LOVE to drive to his studio to shout “we are debt free”. Maybe I will set that as my final goal. Thanks for your example and paving the way.