by Tricia
It’s always nice to see the numbers change. After all, our goal is to get our pesky credit card debt paid off. I think what I am finding the most interesting right now is how much we have changed. Don’t get me wrong, I love that our debt is going down. I really smile inside when I think about what we used to be like and what we are like now because I believe the change is for the better.
Stuff used to rule our life. A holiday coming up – well, gotta go buy some decorations. Fisher Price came out with a new Little People set today – well, that is a must have addition to our son’s toys that already fill his room. We didn’t have money in our checking account for it so on the credit cards it went.
We don’t put things like that on our card anymore. It’s not just because we are trying to reduce debt. It’s because we know that we don’t need all of that stuff for happiness. The book Debt is Slavery actually was a big eye-opener when it came to stuff (if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it – see if your library has a copy to borrow). I felt sad selling most of our stuff. It wasn’t because I was going to miss it – it was because we spent so much money on it.
An interesting change is one that I’ve tried writing about before, but couldn’t find the words. I still can’t quite seem to get it out. So I’ll give an example of what changed. We knew that reusable shopping bags were out there but never gave them a second thought. We’d get plastic bags and toss them in the trash (less a few we kept around the house for various uses – but we didn’t use many). It was really starting to bug the both of us so we paid the money to have some reusable bags.
It’s almost like since we were cutting the wasteful spending we were doing – we started cutting other waste from our lives as well. I wish I could convey this better – I’m not sure I fully understand it yet LOL.
Even though our goal was to pay off credit card debt, we have received so much more in return. We are a much happier family overall. That is a wonderful benefit 🙂
