Good morning Dinks people always say that being debt free gives us a sense of freedom and it’s true. It lets us do other things with our money that don’t revolve around paying interest and paying bills. Financial freedom truly comes when you can choose to do what you want with your money as oppose to having to meet your monthly debt obligations. Being debt free definitely gives me a sense of comfort in knowing that I can enjoy my money.
No more fighting about debt
Being debt free also improved the quality of life in my relationship. Money was a really sore point in our relationship a few years ago when we were spending the majority of our income on making multiple credit card payments. It seemed that money was the underlying root of all our disagreements, arguments and fights.
I know a lot of people who say that money doesn’t matter, it’s just a number. But it’s hard to believe that when money is ruining your life. Now I’m debt free, loving my life and my relationship is thankful for my improved money habits.
What’s the point of having money if you don’t enjoy it together?
Some people will tell you to live on less now so you can enjoy your money later, but what happens if later never comes. I say we should enjoy our money now while saving for the future. What’s the point of having money if you can’t spend it together? When we were over $50,000 in debt we were both working multiple jobs and working overtime just to afford the monthly payments. That leaves very little time to spend together as a couple.
As we became debt free we got so addicted to making a certain amount of money that we both just kept working like crazy. Our bank accounts were finally in the black and we loved watching our money grow every month. You may be thinking, so what’s the problem? The problem was we didn’t see each other, eat dinner at the same time, fall asleep together at night or wake up together in the morning.
We were on different schedules and not only were we not enjoying our money because we had no time to spend it; we also weren’t enjoying each other because we had no free time. It’s hard to be in a relationship with someone when you never see them.
Enjoying our money together
Now that we are debt free and we have learned that money doesn’t buy happiness we are actually enjoying our life together. We take an annual vacation, we eat dinner together and although we don’t fall asleep together at the same time we do wake up together every morning.
I am not sure if our old money habits got us in trouble because we were young or because we were really bad with money. I am sure it’s a little bit of both. We learned to manage our money together and our relationship is stronger because of it. We spent it together, paid it off together and now we are saving it together. I don’t even want to think about where we would be if we didn’t make the decision to turn our financial lives around. Being debt free definitely saved my relationship.
Photo by marcfalardeau
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
Couples need to be on the same page with their money attitudes and goals. Nothing cements a relationship more than working together on a common goal. Knowing your partner shares and supports your goals makes the relationship so strong. Working together and each one giving more than 50%.
Money becomes a problem in so many relationships these days. It’s important to be on the same page with each other and be open to talking about any financial issues you may have.
No doubt…having debt totally increases your stress level and decreases your quality of life.
This sounds like me and my husband. We fought constantly about money. I was not very good with it. Once he finally convinced me his way was better (took years..lol), and we got serious about paying off our debt, it got way better. Now being debt free and seeing the black..frees up time for us to hang out and enjoy life in early retirement.
Completely agree – money can be such a strain on relationship. It also prevents you from doing things together as you feel you should be saving not spending! Getting out of debt can be so difficult according to this interactive infographic http://www.helpwithdebtconsolidation.co.uk/you-vs-the-nation/index.php the average national household debt in the UK is £54,197 – now that must be a strain on so many marriages. My partner and I are under the national debt average and still are always fighting about money!