Dear Debt...I'm So Over You!

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Melanie over at Dear Debt offers everyone who has, or has had, debt to write a "Dear Debt" letter that she might just end up posting on her blog. I met Melanie at WDS and, after checking out her blog and the submission rules, I couldn't resist having a little fun. It didn't take much time and it was fun, but the activity also offered a few surprises...

I didn't expect how cathartic the act of writing about past debt would be. It never hit me how much I disliked the feeling that accompanies debt until I started writing about it.

If you've ever had any debt, even the "good" kind, you know the feeling. The one that tells you that whatever you don't own outright is not really yours, that you have to answer to not one but two masters: your boss and the banker. Ugh!

Without further ado, here's my submission. Enjoy.

Dear Debt,

I can’t believe it’s already been five years since we parted ways. Time sure does fly when I’m living it on my terms and not yours.

Despite your constant pleas for us to be reunited, I have to tell you that I don’t have any interest in rekindling the relationship now or at any point in the foreseeable future. To be blunt, you are dead to me. I’ve turned to my positive net worth for comfort instead. The security it provides me feels like a warm fuzzy blanket on a cold winter’s night. It gives me a soft place to land anytime I encounter expenses that I didn’t anticipate or life-enhancing opportunities that I don’t feel I should pass up.

Please don’t ever try to be a part of my life again. Because I don’t miss:

  • You looming over me as I slept at night.
  • The sinking feeling I would get when I would think about the potential need to refinance the mortgage.
  • Having to answer to you and to a boss. There should only be one “Man” in my life after all, right?
  • Your constant reminders that I was not free by using words such as obligation, minimum payment, terms and conditions and the like.
  • Reading the fine print with the expectation that you’ve hidden some clause that will come back to bite me in the future.

My life feels completely different now. I enjoy:

  • Knowing that I have the freedom to do anything I want…just not everything I want. But that’s enough for me.
  • Feeling like the master of my own destiny.
  • The comfort of living in and using a home, a car and other day-to-day things that are entirely mine (ok, and my husband’s too).
  • Looking at my savings and investments totals increase almost every month.
  • Being fulfilled by life itself and not left wanting the next iGadget or any other status symbol you might have taunted me with in the past with mouth-watering terms and conditions such as 0% & no payments for one year.
  • Saving on home insurance because of the discount I receive by being free of you.

So, you see, there’s no room for you anymore. Go find someone else to latch on to. There’s no hope for you here because I’m taking care of myself and I feel good with what I have.

I’ve moved on and am not including a forwarding address. 

Forever not yours,

 

If you got a kick out of reading this letter, you might like to look at the other letters Melanie has collected via her "dear debt" letter writing challenge.