Slave to the Lender
I haven't always been a nerd about finances. In fact, there was a time when I was completely oblivious and ignorant about it ALL. I grew up blessed and was given many things in life. I always worked, as early as 15, but never was expected to pay for anything. I was thrilled and proud of myself the day I got off my dad's payroll & started living on my own, earning my own way & being a responsible adult. The problem is that my 20 year old brain was still very immature and not aware of financial dangers, such as credit cards & student loans. When I enrolled in college, I was handed a piece of paper like it was no big deal to borrow money to pay for college, books, a shiny new computer or anything else you WANTED - because after all, its FREE money, right?! Nah... We all know better, right? But in the moment it FEELS like free money because you don't actually feel the PAIN of your actions until several years later when you have to begin paying back all the money you borrowed. This is the time you also curse yourself out - for making the wrong choice.
Unfortunately, I was normal. I had student loan debt up to my eyeballs. I had a credit card to buy things I did not have the money for because, hey... its only a low monthly payment of $55, right?! There were things I HAD to have, so I bought them, with money I did not have, not realizing what a hole I was digging myself.
As my brain began to mature, I started feeling the weight of my poor financial choices. I had so many monthly payments, I was drowning. I was a SLAVE to the LENDER. I felt like a prisoner desperately wanting freedom. All those "things" I "had" to have suddenly felt trade-able for this feeling.
My boyfriend, now husband, at the time had no debt. His parents paid for his college, he only spent money he had on hand or saved & he had no idea what he was about to marry - a big mess. This time it was probably a good thing his brain was immature or else he would have RAN like a gazelle from the mess he was about to help clean up. He even saved up money from his part time job at Spencer's to pay for a surprise trip to Hawaii to propose to me with a paid-for 2+ carat diamond ring.
Fast forward a few years to when we get married and began our life together - after we charged our $5,000 honeymoon, of course. We found a financial guy on TV, who was also on the radio and had written a few best selling books. His name was Dave Ramsey. We owe everything to this man. He has inspired us to clean up our financial act & begin living the life we want. We read his book called The Total Money Makeover. While trying to wander out of debt - we realized that you cannot wander into debt, you have to get MAD about your situation & be laser focused and intentional to make the needle move. You also have to follow the baby steps as he teaches. I wish we would have been more committed BEFORE we had 2 kids in daycare, a home and more financial responsibility- but nonetheless, we are almost to the finish line and could not be more proud.
Here is where we STARTED:
Student Loan Debt: $65,000
Credit Card: $10,000
Line of Credit: $6,500
Medical Bills: $9,000
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$90,500 TOTAL DEBT
Here is what have LEFT:
Student Loan Debt: $24,900
We have paid off $65,600 in about 8 years. We paid off almost $20,000 in 2016, (leave it to us to wait until we have 2 kids in daycare to be gazelle intense!!) We definitely could have been a freed slave a lot sooner, but, hey - coulda, shoulda woulda... we are here & I am proud of our accomplishment this far.
We plan to be DEBT FREE by January 2018.
Continue to follow our Debt Free Journey & things we have done to be successful.
