Except for our mortgage, for now.Yes, Carmen--the Jensen family CFO--has helped us achieve this goal. Over the past 4 years we have eliminated our $140,000+ in student loan debt (my grad school, some of Carmen's undergrad & grad). We made our last payment on Friday.
We own our cars and have no credit card, no home equity, or any other consumer debt. It feels great.
Yeah, I know people say "why pay of student loans?...it's cheap debt & you can go into forbearance in the case of emergency." For us, we decided wanted to be fully debt free. We wanted the flexibility, we wanted the peace of mind.
So, after contributing to:
1. my 401(k) (enough to get the employer match)
2. fully funding both of our Roth IRAs (in the years we qualify), and
3. funding the girl's 529 college savings plans...
...we payed as much as we could into our student loans.
We're on a pretty strict budget. We rarely spend for frivolous wants, only needs. We have found that the best things in life are free. Sounds cliche, but I believe it's true. Walks, hikes, free days at the museum, swimming in the lake, playing low-tech games with the kids.
I'm having fun entertaining crazy ideas like giving up the rat race and moving the family to Ecuador and working as a river guide. Although Carmen would actually support it, it's not very likely. At least we can dream now.
8 comments:
Go to Equador! Would you ever regret giving your kids that experience? Plus, we need a free place to stay in South America!
Congrats, Jensens. Debt free's the place to be. You should celebrate with a little frivolous spending. Go buy yourself some Ho-Hos.
What a feeling! Congratulations you blissful frugalites!
Now that you have that debt paid off, it's time to buy a boat and a Vespa. I could totally see you as a Vespa guy.
If you WERE to be a river guide in Ecuador, you'd need a cool spanish name for the people to call you.
I'm thinking El Flaco Leon!
Congrats, quite an accomplishment! Are you going to call in this Friday?
P.S. Your girls are getting so big...we miss Seattle!
YEAH FOR YOU!! I bet that feels great! We didn't incur any debt until we'd been married 4 years and bought a house and now it just seems like it's piling on...someday I'll post a debt free entry :)
Sooo cool! Congrats! That is HUUUGE! What an inspiration to us all. Hey, let me know about the Ecuador thing, maybe I'll tag along.
You guys are my heroes...seriously, I admire that so much. Sounds like I could learn a lot from Carmen. While we avoid credit cards like the plague and have our cars paid off, we've got a long way to go. I dream of living in a home that is totally debt free...someday! Congrats...and I agree with Greg, you deserve to celebrate! :)
It is good to know that when the time comes this can be done!
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