The road has been mighty long

But today's the day! Today's the most wonderful day of the year for us. Financially, that is. You see, we got our wonderful paycheck back from the government. Now we are resisting the urge to go on a shopping spree and spend our hearts out. And trust me, we are both spenders. It is a BIG urge that we have to resist!

HOWEVER, we've been on a long, difficult road the past 4 years. Money has been tight. Debt has been huge. Small by comparison to what some people have, but huge for us in ratio to our income. Throw in a few periods of unemployment in those 4 years, and you have an uncomfortably tight situation. We've gotten used to the stress of it all, but we can't wait for the day when at least the stress caused by the debt is gone.

Well today, I am so happy to say, a little...no wait, a lot of stress is going away! We started paying off our largest credit card balance almost 3 years ago. We've cancelled our credit cards and gotten lower interest rates while paying off the balances. When we started paying off this card, I honestly didn't think we'd ever be finished. The number was so big, and the monthly payment was too. We're talking what most people spend on a VERY nice car payment each month. But after today, that payment will be no more! We were due to have this payed off in May, but we are able to finish it 3 months early, freeing up some much needed income for our monthly expenses. And it won't all go back into our budget. We plan to actually start a savings account. Imagine that! An emergency fund will come in handy and will help us avoid getting ourselves back in an undesirable situation. The rest will be "snowballed" into our other debts. Because we aren't totally in the clear. Nope, that will happen with next year's refund. (And yes, we know that this is not free money. We know that it was ours to begin with, and the IRS is just giving it back to us. We know this, we claim pretty high deductions from hubby's paycheck, and we still end up with a nice return. It's the beauty of having children.)

So today is a happy day. We get to pay off some bills, and by the way, we are going to have a little fun with some money too. I'm thinking a date night is in the works! We deserve it!