Yesterday was a great day. I hit “send” on my last payment for the first debt on our list of debt payoffs. It was a credit card with a high interest rate so I was more than happy to say goodbye to it. We have a lot more to go though. So as great as that felt, to see the long list of what’s next is definitely enough to raise your anxiety levels. But imagine if we hadn’t buckled down to start aggressively paying things off.
A while back though, the thought came to my mind that after this first debt was paid off I wanted to pause our plan to put all extra money towards debt. That may sound like going backwards and I am well aware that it pushes back our debt free date by quite a bit, but I think it’s for a good reason.
When we bought our home, it was a new build which meant we had no backyard, just dirt back there. Without going into all the details, our plan initially was to pay for it with the profits from the sale of our last home however last minute that changed when our new home didn’t appraise for as much as expected and we had to come up with more money for the down payment.
No big deal! We’ll be able to save for it soon. 5 years later, here we are. The undone backyard has been a source of sarcastic jokes, frustration, and we’ve basically taken on a strategy of just keeping the blinds closed so we don’t have to look at the overgrown weed jungle out there.
Our kids don’t know any different. I suppose a lot of kids live in homes without yards and grow up to be functioning members of society. However they’re growing fast and if we wait any longer they won’t be able to enjoy the backyard in the same way. I want to watch them running around and playing out there when it’s done. Not rolling their eyes and asking if they can go inside and play on their phone.
Then there’s the biggest source of my disdain for the backyard… the weeds! Every few months I go out there to pull as many as I can, and then they just grow back until they get so bad I have to do it again a few months later.
So it’s time to get it done. It’s been time. Now that we have that first high interest debt paid off, we’re funneling any and all extra money into a sinking fund for our backyard until we can get that done. Once that’s done it will be right back to debt payoff.
I can’t wait for the day when that account is fully funded and we can start the process of creating a nice backyard for our family to enjoy for years to come. Until then, if you come over and happen to catch a glimpse of our backyard jungle, just know I’m working on it!
<3 Krista