Being Debt Free is awesome. Financial freedom does not, however, always make for a compelling story. While I’m no social media expert, I don’t think “5 ways to wait while you slowly stockpile cash” is gonna go viral. Not salacious. Not rebellious. Not filled with cat pictures.
That’s where we’ve been living though. We’ve scraped together a fully funded emergency fund of 3-6 months worth of expenses. Woooo (The King doesn’t woohoo). Slow and steady. Today, we took our next step and invested money outside of an employer sponsored retirement plan. I’m pretty stoked about that. Our lives are forever changed because we’re debt free. The biggest change has been my pants.
I bought new pants. In full disclosure, this wasn’t a noble, we went without during our debt slaying journey so now we will never go pantless again sort of moment. It also wasn’t a treat yo’self and literally buy some fancy pants as a reward for our frugality moment either. Nope. I had to buy new pants.
For the first time in 20 years, my pant size increased. 20 years. Maybe it was the year long victory lap. Maybe it was because we bought our first TV in 14 years. Maybe it was the biscuit and gravy eating tour that commenced after the streak ended. It matters not. The principles that got us out of debt got shelved because the goal was met. The dog caught its tail. New goal. I wanna wear my old pants. My old pants were fine. So begins OP:OP (Operation Old Pants). No more restaurants. No more eyes off the wheel.
My name is the King of Free. Our family paid off over $127,000.00 of consumer debt in 4 years. It has been two days since I ate food from a restaurant. And, as the Court of Free as my witness, I will not eat at a restaurant again until I can eat there wearing my old pants.
