As of Friday afternoon, I am officially debt-free!
Mind you, I’m a trifle surprised my car did not spontaneously combust the minute I handed over the money–there’s nearly 180K miles on the thing, and while it’s a rock-solid Nissan Altima and should see me to 200K without much complaint*, there’s something about paying off one’s credit cards that seems like a gauntlet thrown at fate.
I was never carrying very MUCH debt on the things–post-divorce, they got the usual workout, and I think the high point was around six grand–but it’s sort of nice to do anyway. Generally I keep them as an emergency fund and for the big one-time expenses (dental work for me or the cat, plane tickets…) and for all those things like hotel rooms that require credit cards to secure, so it’s not like getting out of debt is some kind of great weight off my shoulders, and I will now symbolically cut the card up or anything like that. The debt did not weigh on me emotionally, and I never had any question about my ability to pay it off. A lot of people don’t have that luxury, having been kicked much harder in the wallet than I was with my post-divorce expenses.
So for me, it’s a minor victory. Still, it’s kinda nice to do.
*Nissan has my undying customer loyalty, for just this reason.
