The first chunk of our tax refund just came, and it is already out the door towards paying off debt.

We still have a long way to go, but I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the progress we’ve made.

Ignoring our mortgage, in the last 6 months, we’ve paid off about 40% of our overall debt.

Thanks to the sale of our old house and a LOT of hard work and budgeting, we were able to pay off that much in spite of setbacks to the tune of thousands of dollars in car repairs for Kyle’s car, oral surgery, a trip to the ER for Lewis, Christmas gifts, buying a new house and buying a ton of stuff to fill up the new house, eating out more than we should instead of cooking, and a little more frivolous shopping than is recommended.

Like I said, we’ve still got a lot of debt (medical bills, my car, a couple credit cards, and those pesky student loans that I just can’t shake), but I can’t believe how much progress we’ve made in so little time. It’s going to be hard, but I feel like the end is in sight. Maybe in a year or two, we’ll finally reach our goal of being debt free (except for our mortgage).

And maybe… JUST MAYBE… that means we’ll be able to afford having a second child someday. Maybe.