It has only just begun

Yes, my lovelies. After a year and a half of effort, (and about nine months of concerted effort) this Lil' Bit has become credit card debt free!

It has not been an easy road, let me tell you. There has been many a clothing item that I wanted to buy, but I didn't. Many a restaurant I wanted to dine at, but I didn't. Many a vacation I wanted to take, but I didn't.

Granted, much of the blame for the un-taken vacations and non-party times (aside from lack of funds) lies with my crazy, hectic, unpredictable work schedule (boo) and my learned love of "staying in" on a Saturday night (yay!). These days, instead of fun fancy dinners, you can find me snuggled up with Hon watching a movie, or grabbing "cheap eats" with Jason. The staying in, I think, is also a product of the super crazy busy work schedule, because the older I get, the more I realize that the last thing I want to do on my so-called "days off" (in quotes because I am more often than not working in some capacity on the weekend, or at least stressing about upcoming work) is to exert any effort at all. I mean, I've got a pile of laundry from a month ago that I'm scared to look at. I CAN'T EVEN DO LAUNDRY PEOPLE. What makes me think I could plan a party and/or go out? WORK: Keeping the Kitty off the Streets since 2008.

I also gotta give Hon some credit. Now, I can hear his incredulous voice in my head almost as a knee-jerk reaction when some of my baser and more materialistic instincts assert themselves. Like the time I recently found myself in Bed Bath and Beyond, fondling the $120 SonicCare toothbrushes. "Are you kidding me?" I heard (virtual) Hon say, "Don't you already have a SonicCare toothbrush?" Yes, I do. Two, actually. (Shut up, one is for travel.) It's just the home one is gross and a little grungy and there are newer, prettier models, and...well, you get the idea. And you can pretty much insert any product that I may think of in for the "SonicCare toothbrush" and get Hon's authentic reaction to most anything I would want to buy.

I know that while I may have won this battle, I must remain ever vigilant so that I don't lose the war. This is only the beginning, and the hardest part, actually is to come. (It is easy to say, "I can't afford that," when you are in debt; it is harder to justify the non-spending when you don't have debt to blame it on.) Which is why I'm devising new goals: Paying off my car loan (early), saving money for a real estate downpayment, and saving money for an international vacation. So friends, no, I will not be rocking that new Gilt Group item that is OMG such a good deal, or those McQueen "Faithful" booties that are mesmerizing because they are so ugly, because now that I have pulled myself out of the morass that was credit card debt, the last thing I want to do is dive right back in (even if I would be wearing McQueens).