I'm marking my calendar - Our First Debt-Free Christmas!!!

I did it! It is Christmas Eve, we're done with all of our gifting, and we made it through the season with $0 added to the credit cards.

That's not much of an accomplishment, you say.

I have lived on credit cards for the last 9 years, acquiring over $20,000 in credit card debt during that time. During that time, I went through periods of "debt-free" living, weeks or months without using a credit card, telling myself that I had to dig out of debt, but I always ended up caving in sooner or later and falling back into bad habits.

Towards the end of November, I decided that it was time to break the habit once and for all, and I'm doing it in the public's eye with this blog. I set up our finances to automatically contribute to our savings and investments, finally starting an emergency fund, and prioritized the debts. Now, any extra money we have is split between "rewards" to ourselves, debt snowflakes, and savings, and so far, I've made more progress in one month then I did all year.

With no time elapsed between starting on our road to savings and debt reduction and the onset of the holiday season, I can't believe we pulled it off - 100% of our christmas spending was cash. Of course, the money spent on christmas gifts could have lowered our debts, but it felt good giving thoughtful gifts to our friends and family - and even better not paying interest on them!

I am excited about the new year, and I can't wait to keep saving! To everyone, we wish you a safe and Merry Christmas!

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