Then there was one

There's only one debt left to pay. I sent a payment today to pay off another credit card.

It feels like this has been a long time coming. I am impatient to be done with all of this. Before the end of summer, I should be completely debt free, barring unforeseen financial circumstances.

There was a time in this process where any unforeseen expenses were a cause of great anxiety. Now, it is mostly just a cause of irritation, because it's just some money that can't go toward eliminating the debt.

I really wanted to have everything paid off in less than 4 years from the time I became committed to getting out of debt. That, really, that's just an arbitrary number. Perhaps there is some benefit to having this process take four-plus years. I have learned patience and persistence and learned to trust the plan and the process.

It works to live on less money than I make. If I can do that now, when I am still working to get out of debt, I think I have better odds I can be successful doing the same thing when I don't have credit card debt hanging over me.

All it will take now is about 4 more payments. Four more BIG payments. Then I'm done with it. Out from under it. And I can turn attention to other things. Then, and only then, can I start setting some new priorities. Then I can start making new plans.

That's the part I look forward to the most. It feels like life has been on hold, in far too many ways for far too long.

Vacations. Clothes. Toys. Car. Retirement. Maybe a house, someday.

I've learned how to get out of debt. Now, the next task will be learning how to save money and learning how to make smart choices on how to spend money again. I've spent the last four years paying off past bad decisions, large and small.

One more piece of penitence to perform, in four installments, then I shall be debt free.