It has now been a month since we paid off our last debt. I’m not quite sure why, but right now I feel like I’m in a strange spot with a mixed bag of emotions. While I’m still thrilled to be debt-free (minus the mortgage), I feel like I’ve lost my mojo. I have spent the last week or so trying to figure out why. My hunch is it isn’t just one attributing thing.
I think that recently losing our puppy (even at almost 16 years old, he was still a pup to us!) may be part of it. Please, no suggestions to get another fur baby. While we enjoyed the past 22 years of having dogs (we still have a cat), the “dog-chapter” of our life is now over. Getting over the loss of a pet just takes time.
Winter is now upon us. The lack of sun always gets to me. Today I again started taking vitamin D. It helped me last winter, so it is worth a try. I’ve also checked into open walking at a high school I pass by on my way to and from work. The exercise would do me good, plus it is free!
The let down of not having progress to track. Strange, huh? I feel that this can easily be remedied by tracking savings, but we are just not quite there yet. Income-wise, November wasn’t a stellar month. Add the upcoming holidays into the mix plus a couple of unexpected expenses, and poof, there went any savings. On the bright side, we did not take on any new debt.
For some other good news, we did manage to add an extra $347.92 to our last two mortgage payments. Our loan includes $137.55 of PMI, which I loathe. By adding the extra to the payment, we are on track to (come January) be below the 80% LTV ratio required to drop the PMI. Per our loan, we can’t drop it until we hit both 80% AND the two-year mark, which is January 31, 2020. I called our lender regarding some of the “gray areas,” such as they “may” require a new appraisal, and am still waiting on that info. Should a full-blown appraisal be required, we likely wouldn’t benefit much if anything, as our scheduled PMI removal date is September 1, 2020.
Another likely cause is that I have been working on closing down my e-commerce business. This past year it became harder and harder to find profitable inventory. Also, increasing Amazon and bookkeeping fees kept eating away at my profits, so at this point, closing it down made sense. I’m not sad about the decision. Mostly it just feels strange not to be on the lookout for business-related bargains!
So now my question for those of you who have paid off debt. Did you go through a mixed bag of emotions after you reached your goal? If so, what did you do to overcome it?
From how awesome and amazing you did getting all that debt paid off, I’d say you are a very goal oriented type of person, so you need to find a new goal! Ramp up the retirement savings goal? maybe a goal to save for something “big” you’ve been wanting? Maybe you could dog sit for other people? get your puppy fix and earn money, haha.
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I do like goals, so having some would likely help. We did increase Hub’s retirement contribution by an additional 2% so at least we are saving more there. Not sure how I’d go about dog sitting with living so far out in the middle of no where. I may need to borrow the dog from down the road for a few hours from time to time. We’ve always referred to him as “The party dog” since his owners always seem to have some type of function going on.
When I paid off my car and house and got out of bankruptcy in the same month, I was so relieved and lost. It was strange. I am sure you will adjust. Free walking sounds like a good thing.
It is a complete mindset adjustment. I just need to figure it all out!
Treat savings towards something special as much a priority as it was to knock off debt. Is there a vacation you’ve always wanted? Save for it like you were trying to pay off a card-do a budget and spend on paper. It is highly motivating to work towards something that you can visibly see progress. I agree with One Family-you seem goal oriented.
I’m for sure very goal oriented. So much so that I think Hubs fears for what I might want to track next. Lol Right now I’m starting to make a list of what I’d like to see us accomplish that (hopefully) we can both agree on.
Yes! All my time that had been occupied by worrying about how to pay the bills, how to track, how to pay off debt, spreadsheets…etc. I had no idea what to do with that space that had been freed in my brain. I was so bored with all that free time that we moved 3 times just so I would have something to do 🙂
You’ve seen my budget binder, haven’t you?! Haha! While I have no desire to move (oh the work!) I do feel like I need something to occupy my mind. I’m thinking setting some goals will be the way to go.
I remember I had that feeling a few years ago when we finished paying off $102,000 of debt. when we started we were really struggling to make ends meet. It was so stressful at the beginning. I used to listen to Dave Ramsay every morning to keep me motivated. Once we paid it off I felt so relieved, excited and quite emotional. It took a while to adjust after being so focused for a couple of years, we did loosen up our spending a little and then focused on retirement savings & mortgage payoff. Allow yourself time to enjoy what you’ve achieved!
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Wowza, you had quite a mountain of debt yourself! Kudos for getting it paid off. I think I need to get back to listening to Dave, as it really did help me stay motivated. I don’t think it matters what step a person is on, encouragement is always a good thing. Likely we will let things ride until January but then hit the ground running with a new budget and goals.
I can’t WAIT to have that “problem”, lol!!!! I think that is a very normal reaction – you have focused for so long on saving every penny to get out of debt, now that you are, you have kind of lost your focus. Maybe focus on the mortgage now and putting some money aside to visit family more? I know you have put that off to pay off debt, now you can take trips to see family without feeling guilty about spending the money!!! SO incredibly proud of you and how well you did – we are following in your footsteps!!!!
I never thought of it that way. Yes, it is a good problem to have! We do have things we want to do but need to figure out the dollar amounts to go with them. Hang in there, Sue. It won’t be long before you have the very same problem!
Yes! After we got out of debt (-mortgage]…the challenge wasn’t there for some reason. we’ve never been natural savers, hence the debt, and we got really creative with things while being frugal and focused in the baby steps. We are several years past debt and tend to still spend too much…but we’ve automated all the savings so “too much” is relative. We pay cash for cars, have sinking funds for most things, max our tax deferments and auto invest, have cash savings, etc etc etc. We aren’t motivated to pay off our mortgage and our saving rate is comfortable. It’s hard to go back to the creativity. I have listed out savings goals that look like the debt list used to, but it’s just harder for me to save them up….. No solutions here, just commiseration!
I appreciate your understanding! Good thing our retirement savings is automatic, otherwise we would be in far worse shape. I’m pretty sure that at this point, having some concrete goals would help me.
I think dumping the debt (& the passing of your beloved pet) are big losses. Loss = grief, adjustment to life w/o something that was a major part of your day to day existence. Your daily focus, your “care taking” no longer necessary, which makes you feels like you are no longer necessary, in a way. It’s a feeling of numbness. It’s disorienting. I hope you can orient your self upright again. Enjoy a break from the constant pressure to be debt-free. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Very insightful! Both our pet and the debt have been constants, so the change in the way I’m feeling would make sense. I’ll likely take a “break” from overthinking things too much (or at least I’ll try to!) and enjoy the upcoming holidays. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!
I think what you are going through is very typical from what I read of others who have paid off debt. There is such an intense focus for so long. It takes a lot of mental energy and determination. There is almost of bit of emptiness when it concludes, even though it is a very good thing!
Also, losing a pet is so hard. My husband and I cried ourselves to sleep the first night. They love us unconditionally and the loss is greatly felt. You will hit your stride again soon.
Intense is right, but I think that is also a big part of what helped us keep on track and see it through. I think I’ll need to refocus my effort to the excitement of reaching savings milestones. Sorry about the loss of your pet. Never easy when it comes time to say goodbye.
Good Morning! First of all, congratulations! I am not sure where you are at in the baby steps, but perhaps time to focus on those goals. I am marching those steps. If you don’t have your fully-funded emergency fund, start there. You’ve got this. I am so proud of you. I’ve heard Dave tell listeners to breathe a little and focus on going through the baby steps. So breathe, and if tracking something gives you purpose, start by tackling a new goal, which I am glad to hear you are dreaming, for this is the time to dream.
Thanks, Rhitter. In the world of Dave Ramsey, we are on baby step 3. We’ve deviated a bit in that we still contributed to our retirement (although we did decrease how much) and still have credit cards. Our main one is mostly used for fixed expenses (like car insurance, etc) but we ALWAYS pay if off the same day a charge is made. Things like groceries are paid for with cash. My other cc is for Kohls, and is seldom used. Again, I pay it off before I even leave the store. I’m forming some ideas about baby step 3. It will likely be combined with paying more towards our mortgage and increasing our retirement savings even more. I just need to work on the numbers.
Since you are both several years away from retirement, my advice would be to 1)build up the emergency savings for 6-12 months coverage, due to erratic monthly income; 2) put as much into retirement savings as possible to take advantage of the magic of compounding over the years & 3} then concentrate on paying off the mortgage by age 62, in case life forces you into early retirement according to current SS rules.