Two envelopes came to us this week filled with two things that I had never seen before. No, in my entire life I have never held a title in my hand and I am now the owner of not one, but two old cars. This calls for some celebrating!
Just like our credit card free party, it was time to bring the kids into the celebration and share with them our great news. I decided we would have a Cars Party and hunted in the pantry for what we could fix.
Ethan worked on the centerpiece and picked his favorite cars to display. We put it out on our patio table and started gathering up the food.
No steak for this celebration? I had enough time to throw some hot dogs in the slow cooker and we put out all the hot dog fixings, a big bowl of pretzels, and cheese wedges.
In an incredible twist of good luck, Ryan had a presentation at work so he came home with a projector. I climbed on a patio chair and rigged up that old sheet from this weekend and made a very hillbilly-esque kind of outdoor theater for the kids. Yeah, you know it, they thought I was the coolest mom ever.
What did we watch? Walt Disney’s Cars movie of course! They have seen this movie a ton of times, but it is like the first time every single time for Ethan.
We put our centerpiece to good use and played with our cars on the real and rugged road.
If that road feels too bumpy though, you can always use your legs for the road.
What’s a movie without snacks though? I whipped up a batch of our homemade slushies and we brought the popcorn popper outside and popped a big batch of popcorn to share. Slushie sloshing and popcorn throwing were completely fine at this outdoor event.
If you need to take a nap while watching the show, seating is also available. Ethan pulled his clean blanket off the clothesline and took a little rest while he watched the show.
My liens on cars have been released. With credit cards and car payments behind us, we can start making a dent into those student loans and finally… our mortgage. Each step brings us closer to our goal and each step brings me more peace of mind.
The beauty of it all wore off yesterday as I screeched and clunked my way to stop. My car will be spending this week in the shop for some repairs. My husband’s car is lacking A/C and will need a turn in the shop as well.
They might be a couple of old clunkers, but they are OUR clunkers now.
Boy, am I proud!
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33 Responses to “Vrooming Through Our Debt”
Yeah!!!!!!!!!! How exciting! I love how you celebrated – I’ve wished we could do the projector thing outside, but to rent one is outrageously expensive. So glad you could use one for free!
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Congratulations Amy! Your diligence is paying off! It is very encouraging to see that it can be done. My husband and I are working towards being debt free as well, and I look forward to having my own car party!
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Hurray for you!!!! Congratulations!
That is a really wonderful accomplishment.
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Great! And what a wonderful idea to celebrate w/the kiddos too.
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Congrats, way to go! We’ll be having our No Non-Mortgage Debt party next month, and I’m seriously looking forward to it!
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Very cute! Congrats on getting out of car debt!! I still remember when I was a teenager and my parents paid off their house and we had a party, fun times.
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Wow, Amy! Great job! We just got a letter from our bank this week that had our remaining balance on our car…it was smaller than I thought and feels manageable. We are hoping to have it paid by Christmas. Can’t wait!
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YIPPEE!!! We are throwing money at my car payment which we are aiming to be done with by December. Then on to our credit cards. It’s so great to have a PLAN.
On a side note, how in the WORLD do you always manage to come up with these creative ideas to do with your kids and then ACTUALLY implement them?? I feel like such a slacker!
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Monica- You are right, those projectors are really expensive. I would love to do that another night so fingers crossed for Ryan to have lots of presentations
Joanna & Shannon- A no mortgage party sounds wonderful! I can’t wait until we can get that paid off.
Simplebeauty- Ha!! I think I have too much time in my hands. My husband said last night, as he looked at my crazy festivities, “Just another night with Amy Clark”
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Congratulations! Steady wins the race!!
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Way to go! That is so exciting!
how big is the student loan? (my husband just went back to school – so we are adding to our debt!)
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Dana- We have a little less than $2K left on my husband’s loans. My student loan debt was major and we rolled it into our mortgage (lowered the interest rate and accelerated the payments). The interest rate was really high before and variable so we made the tough decision to roll it into the house pymt. It is much more manageable now, but I can’t wait to pay it off!
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Congrats and good for you! That little paper provides such a sense of accomplishment (and relief), doesn’t it? We received the title (free & clear) on our car 11 mos. ago.
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Congrats on paying off the cars!
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What a great feeling! Congratulations!
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Congratulations! My parents always used to justify a day in the shop by pointing out that it’s cheaper than a car payment.
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Hooray! I’m so glad for you all! And what a fun way to celebrate!
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Congratulations! We just paid off our car last month, too… and BOTH of our cars have been in the shop to the tune of almost $2000 since then. It’s almost guaranteed to have to do repairs after you pay off a car, I’ve decided. BUT, we can’t buy a decent new car for 2K, so it’s worth it! (Hopefully, yours won’t cost so much!)
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That’s so exciting, Amy! Congratulations. You guys are constantly checking some major debts off of your list…it’s amazing.
You sure know how to celebrate. I don’t think your unending creativity will ever cease to amaze me. What a fun party!
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Congrats!! What a creative way to celebrate=)
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Congratulations to you and your family too.
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Good for you!! That’s got to be a great feeling, working off debt. I seem to be getting nowhere in that area….one step forward, two steps back it seems to be these days! But we’re trying and you are most certainly my role model!
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Great News! Congratulations!
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Amy, you are simply amazing. It really is the simple things, isn’t it? I am so happy and excited for you guys. Congrats!
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Thanks, everyone, for celebrating with us! I can’t wait to celebrate with each of you as you guys tackle your debt too!!
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Congratulations! It does feel nice to get out from under that debt, doesn’t it?
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Congrats Amy and family! I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now and just LOVE all of the great ideas! This is the cutest thing I have ever seen and my son would have loved it! Great theme!
Keep up the great work and keep thinking up these wonderful ideas!
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My husband and I are 27. We took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Seminar about a year & 1/2 ago. We had no credit card debt and have already paid off 1 car and will pay off the 2nd at the end of this month. Student loans are huge and will be the next to snowball. The feeling of freedom is amazing. Congratulations on your success! Did you use the Dave Ramsey model?
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Amy I am so proud and happy for ya’ll! Woo hoo!
And your Cars party idea is too awesome.
Yea!
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Awesome! So happy for your accomplishment!
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Congratulations!!! I keep praying that our vehicles will both hold out for at least two more years, as one is paid off and the other will be paid off in one year. It would be so nice to have no car payments for a while, particularly so we could put that money toward other bills.
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Congratulations! I love how you included your kids in the celebration.
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Congratulations! We just made our last payment on one of our vehicles a week ago. So strange to not have to pay that money out each month now!
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