I was eighteen and packing my stuff. College was only a five hour drive away. I was so excited! Never before did I have so much freedom. No one was going to be there telling me what to do or when to be home or make sure I went to class. Unfortunately no one was there ensuring I made wise financial decisions either. I finished my first year and excitedly began the second. Everything was going great…except the looming balance of my Discover card. But I figured that could wait. At that point, college was more important. I was thinking, “I’ll pay off that card when I graduate and get a job. “
I received my undergraduate degree in December of 2006 and that balance was still there. The interest rate was maxed out and the payments were outrageous. With no job prospects in sight, I decided to go to law school. I reasoned, “This will give me a few more years to get that card under control. “
My husband did not agree. He demanded that we pay that balance immediately. So we did. Yes! True freedom! No more calls from Discover! But wait…now we had no savings. And how were we going to pay our bills? We used the credit cards again. And the cycle continued.
In passing one day, I heard someone say that one will never get out of debt unless he or she gets sick and tired of getting sick and tired. I finally decided I was sick and tired. I added up the Discover card balance, the cars loans, other credit cards, student loans, furniture and so on and I came up with our grand total. I cried. But with a lot of effort, patience and prayer we are months away from being debt free and I’m excited again!
Photo credit, bslmmrs
