Inspiring Reasons to Live a Debt Free Life
This is a guest post by Carrie Smith, the blogger behind the Careful Cents personal finance site. She’s a Certified Bookkeeper who blogs about all things money, career, debt and travel. She regularly writes for Yahoo!Finance and PerkStreet Financial. Follow her on Twitter @appleCSmith.
Hello Young, Cheap Living readers! My name is Carrie Smith and I’m the financial blogger at Careful Cents. I’ve been in debt since I graduated from high school and got my first credit card. Thankfully I paid cash for my first car, but as I got older I became inundated by the “normalcy” of having and being in debt.
After being in a major car accident 2 years ago, I realized my financial life was a mess. I didn’t have any money saved for emergency use and I couldn’t afford not to work. I promised myself once and for all, to become debt free. I’m on track within the next 2 months to complete that promise. Here’s the reasons that inspired me to pay off debt and live a debt free life:
Better Relationships
The main reason my last relationship failed was because of money fights and money problems. Neither of us knew how to handle money as a couple and instead of becoming a financial team, we became enemies. So after that relationship ended I made the decision to never let money or debt get in the way of love again. While not having debt won’t solve all issues couples face with money, it does increase the chances of peace within the relationship.
Freedom to Travel Anywhere
I grew up in a family where my dad was a missionary and traveled all over the world. Most of the time, I traveled with him to places like Mexico and South Africa. But after finishing high school and finding a fulltime job, I couldn’t travel nearly as much as I wanted. I had too many obligations and too many bills to pay. By choosing to become debt free, I will have much more freedom to travel and see the world. I won’t have to worry about debt payments or bills haunting me when I return home.
Job Location Independence
Along with my newfound debt freedom to travel more, I’m working towards becoming location independent with my job. I’m an accountant and financial writer, which means I don’t always have to work from a specific location. In my quest to live a debt free life, I have taken on more side gigs and projects. This has opened up new doors in my career where I can work from any location in the world.
Opportunities to Give and Volunteer
My mom died from breast cancer when I was 15 so I have a personal tie towards cancer charities and nonprofit organizations. I’ve donated some money in the past and participated in fundraisers, but I’ve never had the freedom to fully volunteer and help others. By choosing to live a debt free life, I can give both my time and money to my community and those that it need it most. I want to help others with my story because it always feels better to give than to receive.
Why Inspiration is Important
This isn’t the first time I tried to pay off debt and get control of my finances. So what made this time stick? I found reasons and goals that inspired me to do so. Getting out of debt is difficult and takes a lot of discipline, but having an end goal in mind has kept me on track, even when I wanted to quit. Inspiration is important because it’s a constant reminder of why the sacrifices will be worth it in the end.
What inspires you to live a debt free life?
Category: Getting Ahead
Your story is inspiring Carrie! Like anything in life you have to want it bad enough to make it a priority for yourself. Interesting how money can impact so many aspects of your life if you allow it to.
Thank you, and yes it’s true. I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to section off my career and relationships, like they were separate entities. But the truth is (at least for me) they are all intertwined. Hence my journey to “make cents of life”. It’s hard to strike the right balance but living a debt free life with definitely help that.
I think debt freedom will be wonderful when I get there, because I’ll be able to reroute my payments to my debt onto payments to my future self – into my retirement accounts or onto a down payment account.
That’s a great point. Living debt free means we can pay ourselves instead of the bank and other loan companies. We can hopefully retire with security and money in the bank!
One reason I love the world of blogging is people share their personal stories of success. These stories help me to be a better person because I focus on my personal growth and how to make myself a better person. I would love to have a job where I could pick up my computer, settle somewhere, and use my computer to make a living.