Think Small, Dream Big
A lot of the time, my focus when talking about debt is on big financial goals like “Get out of debt”. But maybe I should stop calling those goals and start calling them dreams. Make no mistake, debt elimination is still my goal, but reframing it as a dream may make it feel less like a daily struggle (for it isn’t going to happen anytime soon) and more like an achievement to strive for. A dream can become reality through the implementation of many small goals and successes stacked upon each other, which is what my debt reduction journey is made out of.
Most of the time, in my actual day to day life, I think about small things, parts of the debt reduction puzzle that together will eventually add up to big things. I earn small amounts of extra money to apply to debt. I plan for one day at a time of not spending any money. I save small amounts of money shopping for the best deal. And all these small things do add up. When I look at my overall payments to my credit card in a billing cycle, for example, even though I only make one large payment and a dozen small (sometimes very small) payments, by the end of the cycle it has all added up to a much larger amount than my original large payment by itself was. I don’t think I have been so excited about such small amounts of money since I was a small child and a found nickel seemed like a fortune of possibilities. Every little bit I earn selling something or doing a survey, no matter how small, seems really powerful and significant, and every dollar milestone in debt reduction seems empowering. I can’t imagine how excited I will be when the total debt number drops below the $30K mark, since even drops into different hundreds right now get me all giddy inside.
I think small. But I dream big. And those big dreams are becoming reality, one small snowflake at a time. I may have only snowflaked $22.69 last week, but that is $22.69 I am now done paying interest on for the rest of my life, and $22.69 closer to the goal of being debt-free. And that’s a powerful thing.
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August 27th, 2007 at 11:07 am
I’m glad to hear that you’re almost done paying down one of your debts…
I think your method of paying for non-essentials twice is novel…you should consider writing a book (a la Dave Ramsey).
August 27th, 2007 at 11:31 am
My book would be like three pages long I think. I have a very short attention span.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Hi,
” may have only snowflaked $22.69 last week, but that is $22.69 I am now done paying interest on for the rest of my life, and $22.69 closer to the goal of being debt-free. And that’s a powerful thing.”
Right on!
I wonder how much interest you would have paid on this $22.69 if you hadn’t paid it? (during the life of the loan).
Every penny is better in your pockets than in the large credit cards companies pockets.
Marie
August 27th, 2007 at 11:47 am
I don’t want to think about how much interest I have already paid on it. lol
August 27th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Be careful, sometimes we associate dreams with being unattainable. Not sure if you’ve read “Getting Things Done”, but breaking a large task into much smaller “actions” is one of the key principles on completing a task.
If you look at the task itself (i.e. paying off your debt) it looks BIG, so your brain says, procrastinate or that is so big I don’t even know what to do next.
But, if you just focus on the next action, that is small and you gain confidence you can do it.
Love the analogy though, I mean after all a snowball is nothing but a bunch of small snowflakes.
I really admire your ability how you pack so much insight into 2 small paragraphs…I think I’m too detailed, I need to learn how to be less verbose
See, even my comment is long
August 27th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I have read nothing. I probably should read some books. Heck, I snowflake and I’ve never read Ramsey. lol
The fact that I pack detail into small paragraphs is why I can’t write a book. It would be three pages long. here, this is what I think, try it. lol
I like long comments
August 27th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
glblguy is exactly right - focus on the next step, nothing else matters. If you owe $100,000 a payment of $22.69 is still that much closer to the end. It is exactly the same as dieting or recovering from illness or anything else - take one step and worry about the next step tomorrow. Nothing else matters.
Even at the other end of the scale like I’m at (no debt, big salary but also a big mortgage) tiny payments on debt like my massive mortgage are hard. It’s always a matter of scale…
August 27th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
For a long time I ignored the big picture. And that didn’t work for me. Ignoring the big picture made it easier to just stay where I was and not move anywhere. I couldn’t construct the little pieces very well if I wasn’t thinking about the bigger puzzle.
I actually started the blog to help me keep the big picture in focus. I’m an “eyes on the prize” kind of girl.
Not that I don’t think about the little pieces, and this post was to remind me to look at the little goals more often.
Never fear, I completely ignore my mortgage (other than paying the standard payment every month). Some big pictures I know better than to think about at this stage. lol
Thanks!
September 3rd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Congratulations on getting that much closer to your goal. Baby steps, right?
September 3rd, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Yep! Baby baby steps.
Thanks!!