Sallie & Perkins: A Challenge

Hi friends, it's us again! We've been busy little debt-slashers this summer and so our posts have been a bit more spaced out. But we've missing talking to you all and hope to have more fun and frugality packed into this blog going forward. Throughout the past year of posting all about our journey to be debt-free, I've talked to SO many of you about your own situations. Everyone's financial situation is different of course, but there seems to be an underlying theme I hear from so many of you.
"We've got too much debt… we don't even know where to start!"
or
"There is zero room in our budget to make extra payments!"
or even
"Isn't there going to be a government loan forgiveness thing?!" (For the record- very few people will even qualify for this, read your facts friends!)
And to those things? I call Bullcrap. Now don't get me wrong… when we sat down to create a plan for our debt, and that huge number of almost $50k was staring back at us? We felt helpless and weren't sure that where we were starting even made sense. But we did it. We sucked it up, made the budget and worked to stick to it each and every month. And look where we are now! Well on our way to being debt free and our debt feels like NOTHING compared to what it was 12 months ago. So we're here to encourage you today because we KNOW you can do this!

Like I've said in the past, just because we've made it a goal to pay off thousands every month, doesn't mean everyone wants to, or has the ability to that. And that's okay! We live in a small house with an affordable mortgage, we don't have kids or medical bills, both of our old cars are paid off and we both have full-time jobs. Our plan fits us and our stage of life. Don't let what we do (or anyone else does!) affect your attitude towards your own debt. Comparison is a nasty thing and can happen with finances and debt, too. Maybe your plan this month can be just to pay an extra $100 on your smallest loan. You can find $100, I know it! Just look at those past 2 Target receipts.

So Sallie and Perkins are challenging you. Start thinking about your spending and try to pick one thing to cut back on, or completely eliminate this month. Make it your goal to put that money toward your smallest debt and get that snowball rolling. Cut back on the expensive coffee and make yours from home. Stop shopping online just because it's "on sale" or you have a coupon and keep that money in your bank account. If you've got kids, don't buy them any non-necessities this month no matter how "cute" it might be. They've got enough stuff, I promise.

Sallie and Perkins would LOVE to talk with some other budget-minded people and hear about what you're doing to give you or your family a sense of financial peace. If you ever post about debt-elimination, setting a budget- anything S&P would be giddy about, send it our way! We'd love to feature you in our series or just have someone to keep us motivated, as well. The more the merrier, we say!

Paying off debt makes us HAPPY!
Remember.. you're the only one stopping yourself!!