Sorry to go MIA everyone, but as you might have heard, I paid off all my debt recently. And boy oh boy, did I celebrate! Look at those numbers up there, how could I NOT celebrate?
Friday was a bit of a blur. I had meetings for my nonprofit job throughout the day and some freelance work to turn in. It was sunny and I just bopped from thing to thing. I made the last payment on Thursday but it didn’t go through until Friday. Walking around all day with the knowledge that I was 100% debt free was…empowering. Exciting. Happiness inducing. Overall amazing!
Friday night was the night to celebrate. I was officially debt free and a roommate was having his last night in town. Let’s call him A. My other roommates (I have three total) all picked up small bites from A’s favorite restaurants in town and we had ourselves a little dinner party. Good food, good people and we had some good drinks.
Then I went out to my favorite bar and met up with some of my favorite people around and proceeded to get roaring drunk. I don’t drink that often but I did this weekend. No regrets! =)
One of my best friends in the whole world also rolled into town to celebrate with me. As if that wasn’t enough of a debt freedom gift, she also brought with her free tickets to see the Rolling Stones! Now, I’m not a particularly huge Stones Fan but when a bestie says ‘Hey, wanna go on a road trip to see one of the most famous bands in the world with me?’ you say yes.
Mick Jagger on the big screen
So the boyfriend, the best friend and I piled into a car and went up to good old Arlington Texas for the show Saturday night. The concert was at the AT&T center and let me tell you- that is a stadium. It’s huge, it’s sleek; it’s Texas all the way. And it was packed! Even though the Stones are in their 70’s they still sold out the stadium.
And even though they’re in their 70’s, they put on a show full of energy. Mick Jagger danced up a storm. Keith Richards looks like an anti-drug PSA but he jammed out hard. It was a true rock concert.
I came back to Austin pretty exhausted, kind of hung over and having spent way too much money. I really paid no attention to spending this weekend. After such a long time of being so controlled, so on top of my spending and my finances that on this weekend, the weekend of my debt free celebration, I just couldn’t care.
Don’t get me wrong, my frugal financial ways are here to stay. While I did take a look at the damage done this weekend with a twinge of regret and guilt last night, I also know two pretty amazing facts: I am debt free and I can cover all these costs. It was way more money than I would have spent on a regular weekend but for this weekend I absolutely refuse to feel bad about it.
As if that wasn’t enough excitement, I also chopped off 4.5 inches of my hair! I’ve never had short hair in my life. I love long hair, always have. It can be hard to pull off short hair when you have curls. Plus, a good hair cut will easily run you over $100 and of course, that’s not a frugal decision. My very generous Rolling Stones friend gave me a gift card to a salon in town for my birthday and on Friday I cashed it in. It paid for the entire $120 hair cut (Thanks boo!) and I went for a bold new style. New finances, new hair, amirite?
Before and after! God I’m pale.
So, folks, that’s how I celebrated my much awaited day of debt freedom. I’m still pretty tired from the weekend to be honest. I’ve got some other news I plan to share soon though, don’t you worry. Thanks again for everyone who send messages of support my way. It was the cherry on top of my weekend.
Kara Perez is the original founder of From Frugal To Free. She is a money expert, speaker and founder of Bravely Go, a feminist financial education company. Her work has been featured on NPR, Business Insider, Forbes, and Elite Daily.