One of the biggest obstacles in the quest to get debt FREE is getting and staying motivated. When starting our journey I listed our debts from lowest to highest and was able to knock out the first few debts quickly. This helped me to get motivated. We rolled along for the first nine to twelve months quickly. It was such a rush to knock off a bill or two every month.
The problem came in when we started tackling the bigger debts. When we began paying off our bigger debts it could take up to a year or more to knock one out. I remember feeling really frustrated when we were paying off my hubby’s student loans. At one point there was a $31,000 balance and I NEVER thought it would go down. I remember feeling overwhelmed and quite frankly bored with the process. It felt like we would never be done. I did a little research on motivation and came up with a few ideas of my own to throw in the mix. What I found out was that it was really all about my attitude. If I could be happy and upbeat about the process, it wouldn’t feel as long or uninspired. If I could create mini goals within the goal, it would make it feel as though it was going more quickly.
Here are just a few ideas for you. Please feel FREE to add your comments and thoughts in the comments section. I love it when we inspire one another:
- Place a “Debt Thermometer” somewhere in your home so that you can track your progress. I have heard of people drawing a big thermometer on a piece of poster board and coloring in sections and the debt dwindles.
- Make a paper chain and pull one off for every $100 you pay off on a debt. You will have the visual reinforcement of seeing the chain get smaller.
- Make a large poster with the goal written on it that you are currently working on. Under the goal, section off the poster board according to how many hundred/thousand dollars you owe and tear a section off as you pay it off.
- When we sell our current house and our only debt is our new mortgage, I plan to make a large drawing of our house using bricks for every $1,000 owed. My hubby and I will then color in a brick for every thousand dollars that we manage to pay off. I think that will help us stay motivated.
You can keep your charts, chains or whatever in a private place for your eyes only or hang them in the living room for all to see. The choice is yours. There are other things that I do to keep myself motivated. I like to watch and listen to debt free content material (Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey, Til Debt Do Us Part …). I also get a whole lot of motivation from reading all of your comments. I love it that we all help to motivate one another. It really helps me.
Share your tips and comments below 
Thanks for this post. I am checking my mortgage balance and drawing the house/bricks today. If we pay another $129 per mo, it will be an even $1000..also doing debt thermometer
Awesome, I’m excited for you ! Keep me/us posted !
I like the debt free thermometer idea. We have a big hole so that would work well for us.
Got my calculations off, we pay $824 towards principal now, if we add another $176 it will be an even $1000 every month..ie one brick to color per month!
I love it ! I can’t wait to make my brick house to color in. I think I will hang it in the master bedroom, but we have to sell this house first. Hopefully that will happen relatively fast. I am glad you are feeling motivated ! Keep it up and IT will be gone
We use both a paper chain and a large debt thermometer. The paper chain represents the debt we are currently snowballing and the thermometer represents our entire debt load. I find the paper chain a huge motivator. Amazing how much the budget can be tightened in order to remove the next link. I view debt like a ball and chain. By removing these links we are one step closer to ridding ourselves of the heavy weight of the ball….aka, our debt.
I love it Yvonne. Very inspiring. 12/12/12 will be one year from Monday. You cAn do it