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StitcherSo many books, podcasts, and online discussions out there talking about debt freedom but they don’t tell you something. They tell you to do things relentlessly making it easy to feel burnt out– we’re not about the extremes, we’re about the radical middle. This episode opens a conversation about debt freedom with realistic and honest stories on how to see this journey before and after paying them all off.
What we do in our debt payoff journey is similar to what we will do in our post payoff journey.
Sponsors:
- Sweet tea. We’re into the hot hot heat of summer, and there’s nothing more fitting than to be sponsored by some cold, refreshing sweet tea. Especially when the frugal friends are coming at you with all the tea about the reality of post-debt-free life. The dirty laundry, the hot goss, the low down…that’s right, the ‘sweet tea’ of life beyond paying off debt. But before we get into that we also have some thirst-satisfying sweet tea for you in the form of a free ebook! Check it out at frugalfriendspodcast.com/ebook to get your free copy rich with over 200 money saving tips. Sweet tea: satisfying all the thirsts.
Check out some relevant episodes
After paying off $100,000 in 3 years, I changed my debt strategy and slowed down: Here’s why
A lot of the debt freedom journeys are written by people who have successfully freed themselves from any debt, however, the founder of ‘Broke on Purpose’, Melody Wright shares in this article her real-life story wherein they already paid a huge percentage of her debt but still has more to pay off by the time this was written. Melody also gave examples of how they shifted this to a strategy of living a life with freedom in the midst of having debt.
What Jen + Jill have to say:
Jill loved how Melody Wright, in the midst of paying their debt, had “traded in that burnout for sustainable money objectives”. Our plans and goals may motivate us right now but recognize the possibility of it changing in the future–life is not static, it’s dynamic.
Jen shares the significance of giving ourselves room to re-evaluate ourselves and everything that will come along in this debt payoff journey. You can follow somebody’s advice but you have to get to a point to re-evaluate whether it’s right for you.
Life After Debt: When You Stop Paying Down Balances and Start Building Wealth
Debt freedom can be exciting and may push you to make newer goals right away. This article by Beyond Your Hammock says we can go beyond and start building wealth in a sustainable and empowering way.
What Jen + Jill have to say:
In the article, it asked a question, ‘What is the best use of my available cash flow?’ which Jill believes answering this question can be intimidating and overwhelming. Jen admits she thought that paying off debt is building wealth but life after debt doesn’t come without its challenges.
There are 3 options on what you should do after you pay off debt: Lifestyle creep (live the life you wanted to), allocate your money to other saving goals, and relax and spring clean financially. However, Jen & Jill believes it’s not going all the way on whether the first or two options is the right one but choosing the radical middle. What’s right for you does not necessarily mean the objectively right financial answer. At least not every single time you make a financial decision.
Lastly, Jen values taking a financial break to review your financial life and celebrate rest and relaxation. Jill takes her own spin off on ‘Rest, refresh, reset; then go back to action’ to “Rest, refresh, re-entry”–Creating that pause to be sure of the next phase and what you want.
Something we experienced (or didn’t experience) after paying off debt that no one told us about
For Jen, it’s that level of hustle is great for a short period of time like a year or two but it is ultimately unhealthy and unsustainable. For Jill, she realized that the real work is about to begin; it’s not the epitome of accomplishment; and debt is neutral.
Bill of The Week
Thank you Christine for sharing your bill about paying off your care loan! Over $11K is A LOT to pay off! Also, CONGRATULATIONS on your marriage!
Thanks so Much for Listening!
Thanks so much for listening! Many of you know we have a private community where we do monthly money challenges and offer accountability groups. We want to congratulate one of our members for a big win:
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Attending the spending symposium taught me so much and gave me so much motivation.
My husband has never felt strongly about budgeting or our financial future but seeing just how excited I was after listening to the symposium sessions he has gotten a little more on board with my goals and plan (baby steps 😂). In the past 3 weeks I have been able to get an emergency fund started and up to $700, pay cash for our pup's spay surgery, join this membership and make some awesome negotiations on my consumer debt payoff plans. I'm so excited and finally feel that getting out of debt may be possible.
Thanks so much Jen and Jill for creating such a wonderful podcast and doing all you do. I don't know that I would have ever moved in this positive direction if I hadn't stumbled upon your podcast. So excited for this journey and glad to be a member of the club!
Congrats! Thanks for listening and if you want to check out our monthly challenge community head to frugalfriendspodcast.com/club to see what challenge we have coming up next.
Keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher, and sending the screenshot to reviews@frugalfriendspodcast.com. And don’t forget to share your favorite quote from the episode by using the hashtag #FrugalFriendsNote. 😉