Eleven years ago a passion in me ignited that has not let up.
I had been married for three years. Financially speaking, the first three years of marriage for me were primarily about paying the bills. The month we got married, I had just moved to the area and hardly brought in any income. I got busy building my piano teaching studio and also got gigs playing piano. These things got the financial engines going.
It was good to have money to cover expenses, but we were still essentially living month-to-month. I also felt the unsettling weight of debt. Our second year of marriage, we took out a line of credit to pay a health expense. The credit terms were 18 months of 0% interest. I was determined to pay that thing off without paying a cent of interest.
We did.
Fresh from that financial victory, I decided to take on my own personal debt. This included a long-held credit card balance that felt stuck at $4300. By merely adding $130 a month to the minimum payment of about $85, I got a much-needed feeling of progress toward paying off. I ended up paying the card down completely within a little over a year. This freed up money for paying off other debt, and savings and investing.
Speaking of which, I started investing soon after starting my personal debt elimination program. At first, it was a mere $100 a month, but I was excited and determined and I haven’t look back. Eventually, my wife got on board with the saving and investing game, too.
As a result, the spark that started with paying off debt has become a life-changing savings snowball.