Hey everyone! We have another great dear debt letter today from Laura. She just moved to Austin, TX from Chicago with her husband. She works in Human Resources and her passion is finding fun and creative ways to make and save money. Some of her faves include mystery shopping, teaching writing and being a contestant on Wheel of Fortune! Also a goal of hers for 2016 is to share her passion by running couponing workshops for the local community and writing more articles for money saving sites with the hope of starting her own blog in the near future! (YES!)
Dear Debt,
Our relationship used to be between just the two of us but then an innocent third party was brought into our doomed relationship, my husband. My amazing, non-judgmental, debt-free husband has been dragged into this mess we have created and it pisses me off. We have been dealing with you for the past few years but January 1, 2016 was my breaking point and I vow to be rid of you going into 2017.
How you have impacted our lives:
2009 – I met my future husband and while getting to know each other we learned about each other’s lives, hopes and dreams for the future. While he talked about saving for a down payment on his first house at 25, I talked about paying off my credit card debt. That was my first glimpse into how much you were truly holding me back.
2012 – My fiancé and I are trying to plan our wedding (without taking on any debt of course!) but you loomed in the background directly impacting our plans. You made me so embarrassed that I just wanted to run off and elope so I would not have to face the fact that you were always in the back of my mind during every wedding decision.
2013 – My husband and I are married! And you and I take our first step towards our divorce – all credit card debt is paid off and we paid for our honeymoon without going into any debt. That feeling was amazing – to be able to truly enjoy myself without you nagging me. But alas there is still a ways to go with the final break in our relationship – student loans.
2015 – My husband and I move across country and you come along for the ride. While I am steadily, albeit slowly, getting out of our relationship, you did something that is going to speed along our relationships ending, you took something, not from me, but from my husband that pissed me off. My husband works his tail off at his job – putting in long hours, working on most of his days off and being constantly available over holidays – for which he received a much deserved bonus. Although his dream was to invest the money and for us to take a fun getaway, we instead heard your greedy voice over our dreams and gave you all of it….ALL $10,000 OF IT AND YOU STILL WEREN’T SATISFIED!!! We made that payment on January 1st and all I could think about was how that money could have been better used during this year and vowed not to feel this way in 2017.
You have made it my mission to end our relationship for good in 2016. How am I going to do this? Put every extra penny towards you through every conceivable way – writing articles, completing surveys, couponing – I’m going to get imaginative because next year I don’t want to be ringing in 2017 with you. Instead I will be sipping champagne with my husband dreaming of all the exciting things to do with a well-deserved bonus.
Peace out debt!
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4 comments
Congratulations on your commitment to become debt free in 2016!! 🙂
Good for you Laura! I wish you the best of luck on your journey!
Thanks for letting me put my thoughts and feelings in writing – I felt empowered just seeing my words out there!
Love this! Especially because I am your husband in my relationship. My long-time boyfriend has significant student loan debt and I’m debt free. It’s a constant conversation, but luckily not a source of strain because we’ve developed a team mentality about it in the long run. Good luck to you knocking out your debt this year!