I’ve written a few posts now providing updates on my student debt situation. If you haven’t been reading, the gist is this: I racked up over $40,000 in debt while paying for my MBA, wedding, and necessary home renovations.

Just writing that sent a shiver down my spine; $40,000 is a crapload of money to owe. It was something that constantly tugged at the back of my mind, nagging me like an ever-present dark cloud. What if I lose my job and can’t make my payments? What if I run into unexpected expenses that make it tough for me to make my regular payments? These were the types of questions that constantly ran through my head.

I started documenting my journey to pay off debt both as a way to hold myself accountable for making progress, and also to share the details of the steps I took and sacrifices I made in order to make progress. And as of yesterday, I can proudly say that I did it: I took that $40,000 line of credit and paid it all the way down to zero.

HELL YEAH!!!

It actually hasn’t even fully sunk in yet; the fact that a debt load that I’ve been paying over $1,500 into each and every month for over a year no longer exists. But I can tell you this: I’ve already started sleeping better, knowing I’d be crossing the finish line this week.

See here’s the thing: my wife and I both sacrificed a ton so that I could pay off my debt. For the past five years, we’ve more-or-less lived like students, so that I could put all leftover cash toward my debt. We even made a game out of budgeting, challenging ourselves to save as much money as possible. It’s surreal to know that those games have gotten us this far.

So what comes next?

Now that the line of credit is paid off, I plan to spend a little more each month. Not a ton more, but we’re definitely going to start living a little. It’s time. No more KD for dinner (kidding, but barely). No, I’ll be upping my spending budget each month by a little bit to celebrate being debt-free.

What won’t be changing is the fact that I’ll continue to maintain a monthly budget. I credit my monthly expense tracking for my ability to pay this debt load off in the timeframe I intended – if I didn’t track every dollar spent, it would have been way too easy to just spend, spend and keep spending… leaving nothing left over for debt at the end of the month.

While I’m going to spend a little more each month, I won’t be spending everything; nope, I’m going to put a ton of extra money into our retirement savings each month, so that we can retire that much sooner. I’m also going to keep copywriting and taking on the occasional freelance job; turns out, I really like freelancing, and it’s a way for me to make a few extra bucks each month doing something I love: writing.

I’m also going to book a really nice dinner for my wife and I, to celebrate hitting this milestone. She’s been supporting me since day one through all of this – it’s the least I can do to take her out for a really nice dinner. The reality is that there’s nothing I can do to truly make up for the fact that she sacrificed her time and lifestyle for five years – since I started by MBA – to help get us to this point.

Wrapping it Up

If you’ve got debt beyond your mortgage, you’re probably in the same boat I’ve been in for the past five years – it probably sits in the back of your mind, some days dormant and others eating away at your conscience and peace of mind like a parasite.

If that’s you, then take it from me: the feeling of getting your debt paid off is so incredibly worth doing whatever it takes to get there. Take on side gigs. Cut down on alcohol and restaurants spending each month. Put any financial windfalls toward your debt. Make a game out of it. Write about it and tell the world, to guilt yourself into paying it off.

Do whatever you need to do. Because when you get your debt paid off, that’s when you stop being a slave to others and start living life by your own terms.

And I dunno about you, but I can’t wait to start truly living.