It happened! It came! It’s real! I am debt free!
I’ve known it was going to happen this week for a little while now. I was just waiting on a payment to come through my account. Yesterday morning it did and so I made my final student loan payment!
So the day has come! I kind of don’t know what to say. Knowing that it was going to happen this week means that I’ve been living in a half reality of debt freedom. Now it’s an actuality- I have no more student loans.
I’m so glad to be done. I’m so glad to be DONE! I’ve been working on paying these for three and a half YEARS. While I’ve only been hyper-motivated for about 10 months, paying off loans has been a constant in my adult life. That’s no longer true. Everything about how I structure my financial life is about to change.
It’s exciting. It’s scary! It’s strange. I’ve wanted this for so long. I finally feel like I’m about to take the next step in my life. I feel like I’ve just been initiated into a club of super-cool, very adult, debt free people. The next paycheck I get won’t have to immediately be shipped off to pay down debt. It can just hang out in my checking account. (Or, probably, go to fund my Roth IRA.)
I will have a more in depth and coherent plan for my future. But for now, I’M DEBT FREE! Tonight I celebrate and tomorrow I’m going to see the Rolling Stones! And of course, I got those tickets for free. What a way to celebrate debt freedom huh? =)
I do want to say thank you. For all those who have stumbled into my little blog here, for those who have encouraged me, supported me, and read me: thank you. Writing this blog as I have been on this journey has been a wonderful experience. I so look forward to writing a post and I genuinely appreciate the feedback and support I’ve gotten. Y’all have been wonderful to walk this road with me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Kara Perez is the original founder of From Frugal To Free. She is a money expert, speaker and founder of Bravely Go, a feminist financial education company. Her work has been featured on NPR, Business Insider, Forbes, and Elite Daily.