I'm on lunch now at work, so I figured i'd take a moment or two to reflect on what it now feels like to be (non-mortgage) debt free.
It might sound silly but this is one of the greatest accomplishments in my life so far. And yet I still can't really grasp what we've done so I'll break it down.
In 2006 we were engaged. Months later we had a home. Months later we financed two cars. Months after that we bought half my parents rental property from them and mortgaged that. Within 2 years of our engagement we were in debt up to our eyeballs.
In 2008 I realized something had to give. We made too much money to have this problem. And yet there we sat with almost 6k in credit card debt, 2 car loans, student loans totalling almost 30k, etc, etc, etc.
I was fed up and I created the spreadsheet of life. And so this crazy ocd guppy was born. 
On top of paying all the many debts back we also took time out to save for maternity leave (I was able to spend 6 months pretending I was a SAHM - priceless). Luckily we have free gramma daycare and reasonable real daycare which helps A LOT. When not factoring in daycare I don't really see how people say kids are so expensive. So far we've been able to absorb all costs between our dining out/weekend spending and grocery budget. This will become more difficult to do as G gets older. In the area we live she would need to go to private school but I think we can manage that just fine. And then there's the decision on if or when we want more children. But I'm getting way off topic now.
Anyway, we did it. Almost 4 years in the making but we're finally here. So much effort but nothing except big 0'ed out balances to show for it. I wish someone would send me a certificate or something haha. Oh well, now onto the next goal.
A new chapter
March 2nd, 2012 at 05:42 pm
March 2nd, 2012 at 09:07 pm 1330722435
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This hereby certifies that on
March 2, 2012,
the guppy family became
DEBT-FREE EXCEPT FOR MORTGAGE!
Thus attaining the rank of
FINANCIAL GURUS
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March 2nd, 2012 at 09:16 pm 1330722995
March 2nd, 2012 at 10:40 pm 1330728034
March 2nd, 2012 at 11:05 pm 1330729545
March 3rd, 2012 at 06:19 am 1330755558
For example, you hear this all the time: "you can't get out of debt, you have to learn to live with it". Other people nod seriously (they are in debt and that status quo makes 'em feel good). YOU can nod seriously and if you feel like you want to engage, you can, or you just smile to yourself because you know its a lie. Other people might be smiling to themselves also: the debt free form a secret society.
Enjoy the deep sleep now that that fiscal problem is gone.
September 17th, 2012 at 02:14 pm 1347891293