One month into a debt free marriage and I have to be honest and say that I feel a lot more at peace in my day to day life than when we carried debt. Although I’ve personally been debt free for three years, being in a debt free marriage is just as thrilling and even rejuvenated my drive for financial security.
We still budget monthly and use the envelope system for certain spending categories. In fact, with a high school reunion on the horizon my wife was free to pluck off some new attire just for the occasion using the clothing envelope. The biggest change has obviously been the opening of disposable income. But my favorite aspect of this is that even after clearing this latest hurdle we have not changed who we are.
My wife did not clean out the clothing envelope when getting her new ensemble, in fact she bought everything (1 dress and 2 pairs of shoes) at discount and well below retail price. When using the date night envelope (a newer line item) I am more conscious of spending time with my wife than spending down to $0. And even with the freedom to expand our entertainment budget we still prefer to connect at home with a home cooked meal and talk about what’s on our mind, rather than hyper-consume and pile up, “stuff.”
I absolutely love connecting with my wife through conversation and sharing my thoughts and ideas with her, and of course dreaming and planning the future. A debt free marriage is wonderful and I highly recommend it. We definitely have our share of problems as well as nothing is perfect. But living in the moment and planning for the future is so much easier and with limited stress when you are doing it from this kind of a position. I knew I was working towards financial peace, but I didn’t think it would find me this fast.
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