finally-free-friday!

to wrap up a week of alliteratively named posts, i thought, what better subject to end on than a verbal celebration of achieving one really big goal my family set for ourselves. we are officially debt-free!... as of last night. mr. b. signed the last two checks for the last two payments of the last two debts we had. i stuck the checks in the envelopes, sealed them up and slapped the stamps on with emphatic pride and a sense of accomplishment! it was like breathing in the deepest breath and then exhaling. mr. b. dropped them off in the mail box on his way to return a book to the library last night. then he came home to join us for dinner, and i think i can honestly say... my dinner tasted sweeter that night... and my slumber was more restful.

this has been a goal of ours for a very long time... especially the past couple of years. reaching our goal came at a cost, and there are inconveniences that we'll have to live with for the time being as a result. but i would much rather have those slight inconveniences than have debt hanging over our head. it feels so good to achieve something that we worked so hard to do!

i figure, if this guy can do what he did, i have it pretty good {i've got a "few" more things than he has}. debt will no longer play a factor in the choices we make. income, however, is another story. but i'm learning to be content and live modestly, ordered and quietly, and freedom from debt is just one of the many ways i want to quiet my life.

i could write so much more on this... in fact i did just that, originally. but i decided to leave the rest out of my post. it just got to be too long.

well speaking of free...

just kidding! we're not really. but the hubby and i decided we would do something a little unconventional this weekend. we're going to get boxes, bags, bins, and whatever else it will take to go through each room of the house and completely declutter our lives and environment. and we decided we would do it this way... we are going to pretend we have to move into a much smaller place than where we are now. with that little psychological trick up our sleeves, we'll divide all of our belongings into four categories... keep, store, sell, or throw away.

if anything we own falls into any of the last three groups, it's leaving the room... leaving the house {unless it's in the "to store" group}... leaving for good. when we finish, i hope that we are clutter-free and have rid ourselves of meaningless possessions that only take up room. and as a result, i'm hoping for a much more peaceful space to dwell in. i've done this on some level many times before. but the older i get, the more i realize it has to be an on-going maintenance. {although, hopefully, based on the debt lessons we've learned that helped us get to where we are, we won't continue to acquire the things we don't need in the first place... and then this clutter-free status won't be as fleeting.}

anyway, we "move" tomorrow. i can't wait!

and since we're on a kick of freeing ourselves from things, we both decided to start a month-long detox diet next week, too. we had to start after the super bowl, of course.

if you know me or have been reading here a while {or both}, you'll know how much i love ice cream! this detox plan is four weeks long. yikes! four weeks without ice cream? well, i guess that will be good on several levels... namely, the first and last subjects i have written about today. when you like ice cream as much as i do, you sort of become an ice-cream snob and, thus, like the very best... which tends to be the most expensive.

but in keeping with a debt-free mindset that has us living within our means, and in keeping with the rules of the detox we'll be starting, i'm going to have to get rid of my last bit of cherry vanilla in the freezer this weekend. i'll have to savor it more than usual so that i can recall the taste while i'm craving it all next month when it's not allowed at all. *sigh*

here's to being debt-free and, hopefully soon, clutter-free and toxin-free. i realize the toxins are bound to return at some point. but if there was one of the three that i don't mind coming back into my life, it's that one!