"The Kate Gosselin Effect"

If I watch “Jon & Kate +8” for more than seven minutes at a time it makes me never want to have children. While I realize that Jon seems like a responsibility shirking man-child, Kate seems to never believe that he can do anything correctly if it’s not done her way. Seriously, how many ways is there to wipe oatmeal off of a kid’s face? Just clean it.

At the beginning of our long walk to freedom from debt I knew that we would have plenty of people spewing forth negativity & all the reasons why debt cannot be conquered. But what I didn’t realize was once we began overcoming some of the debt that some people would still be negative despite our good results.

I have found out that just because we’re not doing it their way that they really believe we’re not doing it at all. This is what I call “The Kate Gosselin Effect” & I’ve been on the receiving end of it a time or two. While I don’t generally begin conversations about our debt quest, I do chime in sometimes when it’s brought up in conversation.

An instance of the Kate Gosselin Effect was when I told someone we are paying $25 extra a month on our car payment. It’s not a huge amount & there are other places I could put it. However, $25 is not such an outstanding amount that I would do serious damage with it on another bill. But if left in my pocket that same $25 could be spent each month on various items & I would likely not miss it. So I designate it. I make it work for me. I tell it where to go.

By our calculations we will have the car paid off early already. But by throwing that extra $25 a month on it, I can spare myself of four months of payments. I’m aware that this $25 does not apply towards the principle like it would if I paid it extra on the house. Car financing generally charges all of the interest up front in the loan. However, every $25 that I pay now is $25 I don’t have to pay later. I am $25 closer to being debt free.

I received blatant criticism from the person I was talking to & they declared (Not Michael Scott style declaring) that I should be paying it extra on another bill. I explained my reasoning & they continued for some time to let me know how wrong I was. I ended the conversation with, “Debt free is debt free no matter how you get there.” They had no response.

Listen, until they sit at my house & cut coupons for me to save that $25 then their opinion really doesn’t matter. When they start making their way out of debt & change their spending behavior then maybe I’ll find their advice valuable. Until then, your advice doesn’t apply to me.

For the life of me I cannot understand why people think I will lay awake at night recalling their opinions of my financial decisions. My way may not work for you but that doesn’t mean you can’t be debt free or more frugal. Because no matter which frugal way you decide to work your finances, the bottom line is that you will be more financially set than you were yesterday.

So take that financial Kate Gosselin’s! I don’t believe my method is the only way but I do know that it’s working. In the words of Dave Ramsey, “Live today like no one else & tomorrow you will live like no one else.”

You got it Dave. :)

Nevertheless ~