One of my big financial goals before the end of 2017 was to pay off my car. I didn’t have a huge remaining loan but after we paid for our Alaska trip I really wanted to focus on becoming consumer debt free before our next big adventure of starting a family.

So obviously the title gives it away, but I don’t care! I paid off my car this year!

I actually paid it off several months ago and then never posted about it because creating a human is hard and I’ve been pretty sick over the last few months.

I’m so, so happy that I finally paid off my car loan after 3 years of making payments… on a 5 year loan! I still had another year left on my loan even after making a few huge principle payments so getting rid of that car payment every month was a nice feeling.

Paying off my car loan was my one big financial goal of the year and I managed to do it on top of going on a dream trip to Alaska.. It certainly was not easy and at times felt unnecessary – everyone has a car payment, right? Well I’m happy to report I’m thrilled with the decision to eliminate this debt and carry on living without a car payment! The last two months without a car payment have been very nice.

I plan to keep on living without a car payment and will pay for my next car in cash – no car loan needed.

I’m hoping this particular car has a few good years left to go. I’ve already starting using that monthly car payment as savings so we can save up for things like our eventual daycare expenses and car replacement fund in a few years. It’s nice to have that extra monthly savings each month now instead of paying down a loan. There is something about the additional security that is very appealing now that our family is growing.

So that’s my end of the year “I achieved a goal!” post. I might not have achieved every goal I set out to accomplish this year but I’m pretty proud of this one.