My five steps to becoming 100% Debt Free!
1-
Have a
vision
2-
Set SMART
Goals
3-
Reflect and
Educate yourself
4-
Create a
support network and pray
5-
Get a little
crazy and Go!!
Step #1 Have a Vision
I used to tell myself and others, “I get what I want in
life!” I know it didn’t always settle
well with some of my friends around me.
I am not sure if they doubted my ambition or if they just thought I was
crazy for shooting high in life. I
started telling myself this because I wanted to believe it. There has been more than one time I have
gotten stumped and felt overcome with life’s challenges, but creating an ideal
picture in my head has always helped me through slumps and helped me move
forward. I often refer to myself as a
lofty dreamer but to tell you the truth, I have gotten the things I have
wanted!! If you want something bad
enough and paint a visual you are giving your self the freedom to step forward.
What is life if you don’t dream big? For goodness sake, talk
about dreaming big, our family is unemployed and we are living in my
Grandparents home and I believe that we can become 100% debt free within the
next five years!!!
Heck yes I believe in dreaming big!!
You can have some fun with this step, and you should. I have encountered people in my life who have
forgotten how to dream and frankly, it is sad.
But to see this come back into an individuals life is very satisfying
and rewarding.
The first part to this step is to reflect and ask your self
these questions.
******Don’t be lazy, get
a piece of paper and write down your answers to the following…. Take time and revisit the questions if you
don’t know right away. This probably
will work best if you do not rush
the process!******
Reflecting in financial terms answer these questions:
What do you want?
What does it look like?
What does is feel like?
What are you able to do when you have achieved this
vision?
After you have taken time to reflect on these questions
gather materials to create a vision board.
This isn’t only a financial quest and vision. It is a life vision. Gather words, pictures and symbols that
attain to what you are aiming for and begin forming an ideal of what you are
dreaming to achieve in your financial life.
I have done this in my personal life and I have to tell you
looking at a visual every day has been very rewarding. I have done this several years and made a visual
road map to my year and how I would like to see it go and what I would like to
accomplish. I am not going to lie to
you. I began to see what I wanted and those things became real and
tangible. They became more than the
pictures on my wall and I began living what I envisioned.
Here is a photo of my vision board from 2007. I created it as a road map going from the lower
right hand corner weaving up to the upper right hand corner.
I was a college graduate and a couple years into my first
job and I wanted some new “toys”: a road bike, a cruiser bike and digital
SLR. I saved and made it happen. Not
only did I get my toys, I also paid off all of my student loans and my brand
new car! Since then I have been disciplined and have not accumulated any other
loans or consumer debts. My debts lie in
real estate (which if you continue to follow my journey you will learn more details!).
With my new toys I wanted to live out my dream of biking the
Oregon Coast
So today in my Financial 100% Debt Free Vision I am going to
answer the following questions from above:
What do you want?
I want to be able to
sit down and feel free. Free from our
two mortgages. I want to know that I
have the means to help others and don’t have to worry about my financial future
down the road. I want to rest at ease
when my husband and I are in our 60’s and be able to look forward to the days where
neither of us are working and we will be able to reach for new goals!
What does it look like?
I will have a roof
over my head that is paid for and dirt in the garden that is ours. We will live
in a modest home with space for the kids to run and it will be filled with my
personal quirky touches. Our investments
will be ours and we won’t be paying multiple mortgages. They all will be cash flowing to capacity! We
will be thrifty despite our financial freedom and we will be comfortable in our
space.
Eventually down the
road (beyond our five year plan) I will have my 100% paid for dream home with
room for the kids to roam, a kitchen
with an awesome stove, plenty of counter space, with ample storage and a rockin’
garden!
We will finally
splurge on a big vacation, I mean really big!
Who am I kidding, any vacation would be really big for us!!
What does is feel like?
It feels peaceful,
freeing, clean. It feels like I can walk
confidently and be able to help others and pay it forward.
What are you able to do when you have
achieved this vision?
Even before I achieve
this vision I hope to be able to teach others along the way. I want to instill that hard things are
possible and that great things are bound to happen when you set your mind to
it. I want to be able to buoy others up
and give them a lift as they reach to achieve their dreams!
Since this is a
process, I know there are more questions that can be asked and more answers
will continue to come, but this is a place to start and a new day to move
forward.
Step 1: Homework
*Answer the following
questions from above:
What do you want?
What does it look like?
What does is feel like?
What are you able to do when you have achieved this
vision?
*Create a financial vision
board!
I will post my financial vision board tomorrow!
I will post my financial vision board tomorrow!
I want to hear from you!
What are you doing to create financial independence? What are you doing to prepare for
tomorrow? Please share your vision
boards and stories by sending me an email (mrs. domestica @ yahoo. com) or commenting below!!
Happily Creating a Debt Free Life!!
1 comment:
I love your vision and your ZEST! And how you keep stepping toward your goals, no matter what.
I have some financial target statements that I say aloud daily....I can see that I'm making progress!
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