Inside: We can’t all be an extreme debt-payoff story. That doesn’t mean you suck at money though. Here’s what we’re focusing on now instead of paying off debt.
Guys! Big news.
I was just nominated for a Plutus Award for this year’s Best Debt Freedom Blog. I am so honored! I can’t believe it for about 500 different reasons.
Here’s one: I am a total failure at paying off my debt fast.
Despite all my ire-laden cries of kill your debt, hoser!, I myself am not the shining example of this.
In fact, I’m still paying just the minimums on all my debts.
And I’ll do ya one more: we just took out more student loans for Zach’s last year in college.
*gasp*
I’ll wait here while you go get your torches and pitchforks.
Paying off debt isn’t a linear road
Got them torches and pitchforks? Great. Settle down, light up a campfire, crack a beer, and let’s roast some marshmallows off the pitchfork tines.
I envy the people who are uber-debt-slayers. You know—the software engineers who live in a box behind their parent’s house and don’t ever need to go anywhere their bike can’t take them. (Is it me, or does it seem like most extreme debt-payoff stories include one of those elements?).
Some people live uncomplicated lives and can pay off their debt fast. We’re not those people (and we don’t even have kids!). I suspect you aren’t such a person either.
Related: Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry
Things have gotten…bumpy for us. I was working at a low-paying job as a lab animal caretaker just two years ago. Then I had a job as a biological science technician with the USGS. Then I lost my job because its time limit ran out faster than they were expecting. ****** ***** was then elected into office and effectively killed the new position they were hiring me for. Now I’m trying to build a freelance writing career in an area where I’ve had no formal training.
Our cat almost died from a mystery infection earlier this year. Zach’s GI Bill didn’t cover all of his college expenses like we thought it would. I was stuck in Peru for four days after the hurricanes wiped out the airports and lost a potential major writing contract.
We’re placing a bigger emphasis on saving right now
Don’t mistake these excuses (and they are legit excuses) for laziness. Sure, I’d like to take a flame gun to my debt. I’m sure you do, too. But right now we’ve got other priorities.
We’re focusing on saving up an $8,000 emergency fund right now on top of our other savings. Why? Because if we’ve already gone through a bumpy road in paying off (and accumulating) our debt, then doing it without the savings we’ve had would be like driving a Honda down a mogul hill at full speed.
Don’t believe me? We tried going the low-to-no savings route before. Check out how well that worked with our supreme shit-show of a house that nearly drove us bankrupt.
Related post: Savings V. Debt: Our Four-Step Guide To A Balanced Plan
Maybe it’s because of that that I’m overly conservative with savings. (It’s the only time I’ve ever been called conservative. Excuse me while I count my monopoly money through my monocle and twirl my fake mustache).
We’ve been working on saving up our emergency fund for what seems like years. In truth, it’s actually only been like a year, and we’re up to almost $3,000. I don’t know how long it’ll take us to save up the rest of it.
Focus on other metrics than debt
I like focusing on metrics to keep me motivated in my financial journey. But when you’re focusing on a metric that’s moving at a pace that someone’s 90-year-old grandma with a walker could beat, I’ve learned you need to change tactics.
Instead, I’ve been focusing more lately on our net worth (fun fact: we just moved into a positive net worth two months ago. Hooray for zero!). It’s a more holistic view of your personal finance journey anyway. Never mind that most of our net worth comes from Zach’s union retirement accounts that we had no idea he was contributing to before he went back to college. But I digress.
If you’re paying off debt at a glacial pace like us, then try focusing on something else. Keep track of your net worth, savings rate, savings accounts, beer bottles, etc… Whatever it is that you’re focusing on before you get to your debt. (You are focusing on something, right?).
Get ready to rain hellfire upon thee debt
Just because you’re not one of the uber-debt-slayers yet doesn’t mean you won’t ever be. You’re just focusing on the personal side of personal finance right now, and that’s OK (unless you run a blog about telling people to get outta debt quick). You do you.
In the meantime, we’re dreaming of the days after our emergency fund is topped off. Then we’re gonna rain hellfire upon our debt and torch that sonofabitch until it’s gone.
Are you paying off debt slower than you’d like? Leave a comment below!
I definitely hear you, Lindsay! Recently I have been more focused on changing the way I feel about debt. If you read enough about debt, you can easily come under the impression that debt is keeping you from living the good life and often so, its depressing to think about. So, now Im working on my feelinga because once I stop looking at my debt as a chain and ball on my very existence, I will start noticing the abundance of opportunities being presented to help me pay them off.
That’s a great way to think about it! I’ve sort of noticed that too – when I obsessed over my debt, it just was like a heavy cloud following me around all the time. It’s good to have something to motivate you to keep going, but it was really depressing. When I focused on other areas instead – like growing my net worth (even if it meant focusing on the saving side vs. debt-payoff side), things really started moving.
Good luck with your new opportunities! You got this. 🙂
Congrats on the nomination, and I hear you! I get so frustrated with the posts that are something like, See How We Paid $200K in Debt Last Year…and then I read to find out they sold their house.
Slow and steady, slow and steady.
Yep, everyone has their own priorities, life events, and shit to handle. Different paths. As long as we are truly satisfied with the path we’re on, then it’s right for us. When it isn’t, you change what sucks and move on from there. I would say that having a solid emergency fund sounds like a noble and important pursuit, and is actually a huge step towards debt freedom in general. Congrats on your nomination!!!
Thanks Crystal! I appreciate it! 🙂
I definitely wish I was able to pay off my debt quicker. 2017 has been a very interesting year. I lost a huge freelance client. My side hustle income went down by $1000. I spent some time focusing on other side hustles that I liked more than freelancing. I had gotten to the point where I was starting to get tired of freelancing. I like the other side hustles better, but they are not as lucrative, yet.
I agree that the standard Dave Ramsey baby steps of financial freedom will not work for everyone all the time. In certain situations on his show he even says to stop the steps and go big on the savings of your life is in crisis mode.
I also need to focus more on the personal side of personal finance and not so much the debt. Everyones path to FIRE is different and it takes time.
So true. I think that’s my biggest problem with Dave Ramsey; he has good advice, but I don’t think I’d recommend the exact steps he uses to most people. It works great for selling lots of books to the masses, but not so much when you look at individual variation. Still, at least he’s giving them good (if not optimal) advice.
Go look through the Facbeook groups for his methodology. They tout that you /should/ follow his steps exactly because they are perfect and the end all be all.
DR is why I am where I am today, but I don’t just follow his steps because he said them. I follow what was logical and then combined/adapted from other sources that I thought were logical as well.
Blindly following a methodology bothers me. But seriously, if you have some free time join some of the DR groups and read through the posts. It is, at the very least, a great sociological experience.
I am 100% in the crowd that believes looking at a metric like net worth is much more important than simply looking at debt. Looking at just debt is like looking at just operating costs without factoring in revenue or net income into the equation. If my debt is low or lower interest, I’ll happily focus on savings and investing than having a sole focus on killing my debt.
I’m starting to switch more to that mindset as well. I really hate my debt and want to be rid of it, but if that’s all I focus on, I’m not giving myself proper credit for the awesome strides I’m making in other areas of my finances.
Great article. I appreciate your thinking. As well as you I hate keeping debts. clearing out them is the best feeling.
I can’t wait till I’m able to clear out all my debts. It’ll feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders!
I agree. If you’ve ever lost a job or just starting a new job…which usually means uncertainty…then you realize a small $1000 is not enough! We’re in the process of building our emergency fund too. This has been a slow crawl. We have chose to do this over paying off $10,000 we owe on a car. More savings equals a better nights sleep ?
Yuuuus! Better nights of sleep are always good. We should be able to finally top off our emergency fund at the end of this month, and it only took us THREE YEARS to get here. But, now that we’re safe, we definitely feel like we’re in a better position to pay off our debt faster and not worry about emergencies cropping up.