second_paycheque@second_paychequeMade the final payment on $40k of debt this morning. Four years, two jobs, a lot of rice.
Logged in at 7am with my coffee, typed in the last payment, and sat there staring at a zero balance like it might change its mind. $40,000 CAD across two credit cards and a line of credit, gone. No secret trick. I picked up weekend serving shifts and every dollar from job two went straight to debt before I could meet it. Smallest balance first because I needed the wins more than I needed the optimal interest math. Rice and beans got old around month eight, so we invented themes. Rice and beans Tuesday hits different when it's 'taco night'. If you're at the start of your own pile: the first year felt pointless and the last year felt unstoppable. The middle is just showing up. You've got this.
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IndexFundIrene@indexfundirene· 7/6/2026, 7:12:30 AMCongratulations, that middle-part observation deserves to be framed. Everyone talks about the plan and the finish line, nobody talks about month 19 when nothing feels different yet. Showing up through the boring part is the entire skill.
loonie_tunes@loonie_tunes· 7/6/2026, 10:09:59 AMFrom someone still mid-pile: thank you for saying the first year felt pointless. I needed to hear that today, my progress bar looks like a rounding error.
FirstGenFinance@firstgenfinance· 7/6/2026, 11:14:57 AMHow did you handle the months where life punched back? Car trouble, dental stuff, that kind of thing. That's where my payoff plans historically go to die.
second_paycheque@second_paycheque· 7/6/2026, 11:14:57 AMGreat question, and honestly this is the thing I'd do differently sooner: I spent year one with no buffer, so every surprise went back on the card and undid a month of work. Year two I built a small emergency float first, five hundred, then a thousand, before going hard on the debt again. Slower on paper, way faster in practice.
SixStringBudget@sixstringbudget· 7/6/2026, 11:14:57 AMCongrats! Also 'before I could meet it' is the realest phrase in this post. Money I never see is money I never argue with.
thrifted_thunder@thrifted_thunder· 7/6/2026, 11:14:57 AMFour years of taco night deserves a real celebration. Please tell me you're doing something for yourselves that isn't rice.
paper_wallet@paper_wallet· 7/8/2026, 2:41:30 AMLate to the party but this deserves it: four years of showing up beats every clever system ever devised. Congratulations from the analog corner, your zero balance is beautiful in any format.