I have read so many debt-free journeys over the years and they have spurred me on to start our own. The realities of the debt-free journey, however, were something I had not really considered and there was a lot of adjustments I had to make mentally and physically to keep going.
Here are some of the things I have learnt over the last year on our journey:
Everyone’s journey is different –
I spent so long reading journeys on blogs, social media and places like the MSE forums that I had in my head how our journey was going to go. We would start and each month be chunking great lumps off our debt and within 18 months it would be done, the reality was that wouldn’t happen.
Everyone’s debt-free journey is different, our lives are different, our approaches are different. The only thing that really matters in this is you get to your end goal the best way you can for you.
What works for 1 person might not work for another –
There is so much advice and information out there now on how to become debt-free or how to make more money, that sometimes it can become a little overwhelming. I have thought so many times that there was a perfect approach to this but it has not worked. For example, ways to make money to help pay off debt. I am all for extra ways to boost income and will always give it a try, however, some methods shared just do not work for me around life!
That is not to say they are wrong or don’t work, just they don’t work for me and that is ok.
Be prepared for a mental battle –
The one thing I was not prepared for at all was the mental battle that comes with this.
I swing from being really motivated, earning as much as I can and saving as much as I can to thinking bugger it, I deserve a treat. Finding that happy medium has been hard work but I feel like over the last few weeks I have really found a balance.
Every day before I get started and before I go to bed, I remind myself of what I want to achieve and why we are doing this. That long term goal keeps me going, then once a month I update the tracker to see where we are at and that also gives us a little boost as we see the total dropping. Even just a little drop is a big success!
This journey is yours, yes take advice and read up on ways to improve it and make it the best you can. Just remember, you are walking these steps, make them work the best they can for you.
