I’m not usually one to pat myself on the back for a job well done, but I’m far too elated to concern myself with modesty right at this moment.

What has me so pleased, you ask? Today, for the first time in my adult life, I am debt free. Without debt. Zero dollars owed. My credit cards are goose-egged and I owe nothing!

This screen capture doesn’t really tell the whole story, of course. I pulled it from Mint and that only has my data going back as far as March 2009. The truth is that I owed upwards of $30,000 as recently as early 2008, steadily accumulated from the time I got my first credit card as a college freshman in 1996. Poor spending habits and spending well outside my means really bit me in the ass for a long, long time.

I suppose that at the end of the day, getting out from under a mountain of debt like that isn’t a particularly heroic act. It’s a little like setting fire to your neighbor’s house and wondering why they didn’t thank you with a nice zucchini bread after you saved them from the flaming wreckage. That said, it’s still a satisfying personal victory. Seeing your debts totally outstrip your income is an imposing sight. It’s scary and it feels like the process of getting rid of that debt will never end, that you’ll just be paying it off well into your golden years. No matter how much you pay (or can afford to pay), it always feels like the process is going too slow. Just keep at it and don’t lose your cool.