Welcome! I am so happy to finally be here and grateful that you’ve joined me on this journey! Being on a debt free journey isn’t easy and I plan to keep it real with you. Here I’ll share the good, the bad, and the ugly of my debt free journey and share tips and resources that I find helpful along the way!
My Debt Story
In 2018 I found myself in $189,000 in debt, $133,000 of that in student loans, and this didn’t even include my mortgage! To make matters worse, I had a job that I was no longer passionate about. The pay was good but I was unchallenged and unmotivated and was long overdue for something different. However, I was enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and eligibility for that program was tied to my job! My minimum monthly student loan payment was already $847 (which barely touched the principal) and I could NOT stomach the idea of staying at the same organization and betting my future on the government to help me out!
“The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” – Proverbs 22:7
No longer wanting to be a slave to my mountain of debt, I officially started my debt free journey in September 2018 after years of only half-ass taking it seriously. I also wanted a way to hold myself accountable by being around people who made similar money mistakes like I did but were serious about getting their financial lives in order. That’s when I found the Debt Free Community on Instagram! I lurked around from my personal page for a while but still kept my goal to be debt free from my family and friends because let’s be honest…debt is such a “normal” part of (broke people’s lives). While I made some progress on my own, I knew I had to lay it all out on the table and fully immerse myself so I created a page solely to document my debt free journey.
I made a lot of progress! I paid off over $15,000 in credit card debt in 10 months and then I was gut punched with a $21,000 tax bill. That was a tough pill to swallow after working so hard but since July, I’ve paid $13,000 (about 60%) of that tax debt! I still have quite the mountain to move but I WILL move it!
Why the Name Debt Free Gonnabe?
Well it all started on Instagram. I would come across posts that talked about wanting to be debt free. Around that time I started looking more into the Law of Attraction and how the words you used shaped the life you live. There was more power in saying what you will do or be rather than wish or want. So I came up with the profile name @debtfreegonnabe. I may have given Debt Free Gonnabe persona on Instagram but it’s a declaration and the mindset to BE debt free!
So whether you’ve joined me here from Instagram or randomly came across this blog, WELCOME! I hope that by sharing my journey to becoming debt free, I can give you the inspiration to start or continue on your own journey towards financial freedom!