I took wbmsic’s challenge and have finally made time to sit down and make a list of 100 Things I Can Do When I Am Debt Free. And here it is!! And with this, I will check this goal “done!” even though it never really could be totally finished – because maybe some of them are better under “100 Things I Can Do When I Am Financially Independent.” Oh well! It’s about the dream!

100 Things I Can Do When I Am Debt Free

1. Take as many trips as I want to, whenever I want to
2. Buy an Airstream trailer and a truck and take it around the world
3. Work part time
4. Spend more time volunteering for causes I love
5. Join a gym or a Y or something
6. Join a volleyball league
7. Buy a super-sweet computer and super-sweet software for photos and digital scrapbooking and video
8. Ditch all the weirdo part-time money efforts
9. Buy a book if I want it, right on the spot, without a cost-benefit analysis
10. Go to Australia
11. Go to Siberia
12. Go to Sweden
13. Go to Japan
14. Go to Spain and Portugal
15. Cruise around the world
16. Get a bigger house
17. Fence in the back yard
18. Buy clothes that are new and high quality and that I love and that make me look hot
19. Buy a sweet digital camera
20. Take long weekends to visit my faraway friends
21. Buy stuff for my classroom and not feel guilty about it
22. Fund my wacky ideas like the alternative gift fair
23. Donate more money to different groups
24. Don’t count pennies when buying a gift – when I see something someone would like, get it
25. Invite people for dinner and don’t make it potluck – I pay to feed them all!
26. Have my loved ones out to restaurants and pick up the tab
27. Buy whatever lovely trees and shrubs and plants that I want
28. Have really nice camping gear
29. Take a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon
30. Go to New York and really DO New York
31. Take a trip where I just lay on the beach and eat good food the whole time
32. Save for retirement
33. Build my emergency fund
34. Save for my next car
35. Go to show and plays and even newly released movies!
36. Take as many classes and workshops and community ed stuff as I want
37. Buy the cute scrapbook embellishments and tools that I see and like
38. Save to go back to school for Law
39. Take long weekends up north and ski or hike and not need to do it in a tent
40. Pay a petsitter for my dog
41. Sponsor a doggy from Canine Castaways (even though they don’t have a sponsorship program)
42. Buy the best food
43. Have time and money to grow the best veggies
44. Throw parties and provide all the food and entertainment
45. Start a business, maybe curriculum consulting?
46. Buy high quality goods so they will last a good ol’ long time, like wool bedding or high end kitchen stuff
47. Take a trip to Northern California
48. Drive to Halifax and see all the big and little places along the way and not worry about how long it will take or the cost per mile and do it in hotels, not camping
49. Get an iPod, one that will hold a lot of photos
50. Buy people really nice wedding gifts
51. Take a trip for Christmas instead of buying crapola
52. Host Thanksgiving or at least take everyone out for it
53. Have a gorgeous dining room set
54. Buy nice jewelry
55. Buy Corky a heated dog bed
56. Drive wherever I want and not think of how much money it’s costing me
57. Make lots of digital scrapbooks for people
58. Have legacy furniture (i.e. really nice furniture that would be passed down)
59. Never worry about how much is in the checkbook
60. Have the option to buy as large a house as I would comfortably want (not so big that it’s too much work!!)
61. Pay all home improvements in cash
62. Landscape beautifully and make the outside a comfortable “room”
63. Get a kickin’ cellie with GPS and Internet and all the bells and whistles
64. Throw a debt free party with tons of lovely desserts
65. Ramp up my contributions to the library
66. Pay for my boyfriend’s trips, too
67. Get dessert AND a drink with dinner
68. Have super nice shoes – and more than just a black and a brown pair
69. Go on scrapbooking retreats!
70. Buy a kayak and take it to awesome Arctic and/or Caribbean locations
71. Take yoga with the teacher I love the best and not just where it’s cheapest
72. Have my groceries delivered
73. Create – and not have the cost of the supplies or the time impinge on my creative streak
74. Fight for healthcare reform and have the funds to do it . . .
75. Be willing/able to pay for volunteer opportunities, like those organizations that sponsor overseas volunteering, or Girl Scout events that still need money from the volunteers, or training fees, etc.
76. Get a nice gas grill
77. Go to Concordia Language Villages weekends for adults
78. Take as many language classes as I want with no consideration for cost
79. Frame my degrees
80. Join a church and feel like I can make a fair contribution to it
81. Make my donations in lumps, and generous ones, instead of piece-meal contributions made throughout the year
82. Do more things on a volunteer basis
83. Buy hot swimsuits at full price if necessary. You can’t just always find a hot swimsuit on clearance!
84. Buy organic cotton clothing or other green materials
85. Buy as much as I want at REI
86. Use a credit card that earns points of some kind because I won’t be worried about overspending what’s in the checkbook (this makes sense to me, don’t worry)
87. Feel ok about continuing to be frugal if that’s what I want to do
88. Send my friends care packages, or see them more often!
89. Make political contributions
90. Order high quality scrapbooking supplies
91. Spend my energies on goals and self-improvements and thoughts that are not related to financial discipline
92. Help my loved ones have cool experiences instead of buying them junk
93. Buy nice cheeses and meats
94. Have Café Latte birthday cake – a whole cake!
95. Not track my money so closely
96. Do stuff for school and don’t analyze the cost so closely – like workshops, or my personal portion of a field trip outing, etc.
97. Go to museums whenever I want, with or without coupon!
98. Buy a bitchin’ bike with super comfy seat, ideal baskets, perfect angle for sitting up
99. Feel financially secure with a well-funded emergency fund
100. Become a professional interpreter because I will have enough money – or at least few enough obligations – to make it feasible