Our finances are always in a better place when we pay attention to them, which makes perfect sense. What doesn’t make perfect sense is that we aren’t always on top of our finances. Anyway, the one downside I always feel when we are paying strict attention to our finances is the whole “payday high to next day low”.

Every payday that comes around brings with it this high of financial success. Paying bills, paying down debt, cash stuffing envelopes, tallying totals. I love all of it! But, then the next day, there is nothing going on with our finances for a week or two, and I feel this incredible low. That low is the part of our finances that makes it hard to stay the course.

I know we are making great strides financially. We are paying down debt at a pretty good rate. We are slowly building our savings back up to (what we consider) an acceptable amount. We are adequately funding our sinking funds, we contribute 20% to our retirement, and we are making plans for our future, but after payday I’m always so sad that there is nothing I can do to better our financial situation until the next payday.

It's so hard to only feel like you are making progress a few days a month. I know that in reality, every step we take towards financial freedom is a step in the right direction, I just wish the feeling could last longer than payday.

I check my credit card and bank account balances almost daily and most days I don’t see any movement, but when I do, it’s truly the best feeling. For that moment, I feel like I will get out of debt and that I’m making great progress. Inevitably, the feeling fades and I have to wait until payday to feel it again. I can’t be the only person who feels like this, right?

Staying the course is the hardest part of debt payoff… but I am in it for the long haul, and we are making progress… even on the days it doesn’t feel like it!