Getting out of Debt

by David George

I love paying off loans. I don’t like making payments, but I absolutely love the feeling I get when I write out the last check necessary to pay off a loan. It is exhilarating. The rush of freedom is almost overwhelming. So far in my life, I’ve gotten to experience that feeling 5 times. Unfortunately the fifth time, when upon moving out we paid off the mortgage on our first house, was very short-lived because just hours later we had to take out a new mortgage on the new house we were moving into. Oh well, for six hours I enjoyed not having a mortgage hanging over my head and at least our new mortgage was for less and had a lower payment.

I’ve learned a lot from the debt that we’ve had to pay off. First, don’t go into debt to begin with. Second, get out of debt as fast as possible: it makes household finances so much more flexible. Third, never counsel anyone to take out a loan if there is any possible way around it that doesn’t risk life and limb. Fourth, never let my children know that loans exist to be utilized.

Thanks to Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball method, I’m scheduled to feel the exhilaration of paying off a loan twice more in the coming year, once in the fall and once next spring. At that time we shall be debt free except for our mortgage. Praise God!! Then we get to try and build a real emergency fund.