We’re about 5 months into our journey toward being debt free and I’m starting to feel it. The excitement is wearing off, the numbers don’t seem to be moving nearly as fast as I’d like them to and I’m tired! So what can you (I) do to stay motivated? Here are my top 5.
- I listen to Dave Ramsey when I’m folding laundry or doing other mindless tasks. Hearing the stories of other people who are “stuck” like us, and hearing people do their “debt free screams” is sometimes enough to remind me why we’re doing this. As Dave says, ” You have to live like no one else today, so that you can live like no on else tomorrow.”
- I read other blogs about saving money and living well, some of my favorites are The Prudent Home Maker, The MakeDoHomemaker and The Bluebirds Are Nesting.
- I revisit our numbers. I’ll plug in our balances and see based on the numbers, when our debt snowball will be paid off. I’ll look at it with our extra payments figured in and without- the last time I looked at it without the extra payments, the calculator figured it would take us 87 years to pay everything off! That’s a pretty good kick in the pants if you ask me!
- We treat ourselves but we do it reasonably. Instead of spending $60 on takeout, maybe we make a favorite meal and get a redbox, or I buy the special iced tea or Frugal Husband gets an iced coffee. This isn’t necessarily frugal, but it’s a small enough splurge that it won’t break the bank, and it does allow me to feel like I’ve cheated a bit.
- We double down! This one is HARD- but sometimes if you just swallow hard and do the thing that you don’t want to do. Frugal Husband and I each work a 16 hour shift on most weekends. I do Saturday and he does Sunday. Sometimes there is no way to get excited about that. You just do it and then when the extra paycheck comes in you remind yourself that this is the reason why you do it!
When all else fails, be kind to yourself. You might slip up and have an off day, week, month, but that doesn’t mean it has to be an off year or that you have to give up completely. You recognize what you could have done differently and start the next moment with intention.
What do you all do to stay motivated?
Hi Sarah! I found you through The Prudent Homemaker. We are just starting out debt-free journey and it’ll take us awhile (5 years is our big goal… vet school student loans… over $200,000 😳😩) Anyway, we’re pretty motivated right now, but I’m afraid how we’ll be doing in a year. I love Dave Ramsey though. We’re taking FPU right now, so I’ll just have to keep listening to him! Thanks for starting this blog!
Thanks Lisa! Keep me posted on how you’re doing, I hear four is awesome.
I bought a book years ago. called “Frugal Living For Dummies”and when I feel I’ve lost motivation, I whip out that book and read a few pages to remind me of what I need to do.
I love the “for dummies” series! I’ll have to check that out. It’s weird how checking back in with the thing that motivated you to start gets you going again.