I have so much to tell you guys! This week I have hit some major
milestones in my debt repayment process and I am so overjoyed that I may
actually wet my snuggy as I write this! Before I get to all my amazing
achievements, I want to take a moment to talk about a special project that I
have been up to this week. I received a cool calendar from my friend Angie, and
in that calendar this week is marked off as “Random Acts of Kindness Week”. Now
I don’t know if this is strictly an American thing or what, but I still thought
it would be a good opportunity to stop being such a selfish a$$hole and start
reconnecting with my fellow man. February has always been a rough month for me
and this one has been no different so I decided to change my misfortune and
spread some positivity throughout the week instead.
I guess you’re wondering why February is a rough month for me. Well,
it’s mainly because I get to thinking about loved ones that I have lost who
have a connection to this month. My Grandmother, who was born on Valentines Day,
passed away a couple years ago, so when I see the 14th on my
calendar, it always makes me think about my family. The day serves as a
reminder to my roots and where I came from, and I can’t forget how my
Grandparents worked so hard to make a better life for all of us. Now we have a
family full of successful and talented people who are doing amazing things all
across the country. My Grandfather (on the other side of the family) passed
away a couple days after Valentines Day. He didn’t have everything handed to
him either. I know that he worked incredibly hard up until his retirement and
made sure to be able to leave this world knowing that my Grandmother would be
taken care of financially. My grandparents were great examples of how to live
within your means and they have certainly inspired me to strive to have their
kind of comfort when I retire.
I really feel that through kindness week I could share the love that my
grandparents gave me with others and at the same time, leave me with feelings of
happiness and not those so-called “winter blues”. To start out my kindness
week, I spent my Saturday perusing through thrift stores and stopping by an art
gallery to look into acquiring some artwork and afterward I stopped by my
partner’s job to visit him at the end of his shift at the diner. I saw that he
had one table left in his section so I asked my partner to give me their bill
so that I could pay it. He asked me if I knew the people, but I had no clue who
they were, after all, it wouldn’t be “random” if I did, now would it? I also
told my partner that he couldn’t tell them that I paid for it. It was incredibly
heartwarming to see their smiles when they were told that their meal was paid
for. Not only were they smiling, but the staff at the restaurant were so happy
to see that someone would just randomly do something like that for their fellow
man without expecting anything in return.
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| Fight hobophobia! |
I really wanted to continue on with the kindness week so on Monday I decided
that I would do give some money to a homeless person (which is something I
don’t ever do because I don’t believe it solves anything etc. etc.). Yes, it
seems super cliché but I decided that I would give some money with a bit of a
twist. I told myself that the person had to ask me for change and if they did,
I would give, sort of. On my way to the grocery store, I saw a man asking for
change and I decided that he would be the next random person that would receive
another random act of kindness. When he asked me for some change I stopped and
said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any change, so I hope that this works instead”
and I dropped a $20 bill in his cup. He had an expression of shock on his face
as I walked away and heard him shout out “thank you” as I continued down the
street. I don’t care how he spent the money; I just know that that would be
enough for him to really enjoy his evening which is something that so few of us
do for $20.
Yesterday I wanted to do something kind for my coworkers. Most of them
are single and hate the idea of Valentines Day (rightfully so because it’s kind
of a bull$hit commercial spendathon) so I wanted to lift their spirits. I
decided that the best way to do that would be to buy some gourmet cupcakes and
share them with my coworkers. The cupcakes were so incredibly delicious and the
smiles and thank-yous I got from my coworkers made me feel like a million
bucks.
Tonight I am going to write an email to someone who inspired me in my
life as a way to say thank you for the impact that they had on my life today. I
hope that my random email really lifts their spirits knowing what a profound
impact they have had on me!
What I really am beginning to remember again is that it doesn’t take
much to make someone smile and make a difference in someone’s life. Money can’t
really buy happiness, but it can certainly be used to create magic little
moments in someone’s life. There are still a few days left in this “Random Acts
of Kindness Week” so see if you can come up with something to help your fellow
man. As an added bonus, since I am feeling so kind, I would be happy to sit
down with anyone of you to help you with your debt management, just give me a
shout!
Ok, now to end on a super, awesome note. Today I finished paying off my
MasterCard! I am so freaking excited about it! I cannot believe that in a
little as 1 year and 4 months that I have paid this off! I remember feeling so
overwhelmed by how much debt I had on that card so to get this back down to
zero feels amazing. So what happens now that I have it all paid off? Well if
you follow the rule of Gail, you start paying the debt with the next highest
interest rate which is my regular line of credit, and it only has $3,400 left
on it! It pales in comparison to the beast that my MasterCard was!
But wait, there’s more! I have now paid off more that 50% of my debt!!!
Isn’t that nucking futs!? That means that if I can keep going at this pace, I
will be debt free well before 3 years have passed! It’s time to crack open the
booze and celebrate the best February I’ve had in a very long time! I think my
Grandparents are definitely looking down and smiling on me this month.
