Almost seven years ago a young, independent woman met a younger independent man and they fell in love. After these two combined their hearts and their homes they sat down one evening and realized that they were also combining a very large amount of credit card and student loan debt. So much so, that most consolidation companies that they called to consult with advised that they file bankruptcy. This wasn't an option that they really wanted to consider. And so this couple embarked on a 4 year journey of paying an enormous monthly payment so that they could get free from this debt.
In March of 2011 Jimm and I paid off an astonomical amount of credit card and student loan debt. We did not do it alone. We had to borrow money from both sets of our parents at times and were given financial assistance from my aunt as well, especially when medical bills started flooding in after my cancer diagnosis. It. was. not. easy. We fought. We cried. We went every month wondering if we would be able to pay our bills or be able to go get the groceries we needed. We had a huge jar of change downstairs that had started to accumulate over the months and in one act of desperation we took that change into the grocery store and got bills in order to get $40 worth of groceries. We stole from our kids' piggy banks on more than one occasion (sorry God. You know that I've already confessed for this) and went without new underwear or socks for many years. We packed on some (ok a lot) of extra pounds because face it, eating healthy is more expensive. We didn't get out very much and I could probably name the movies we've seen in the theatre on one hand since we started paying off our debt.
But it was worth every painful, wanna scratch your eyes out moment.
Because now, except for a monthly carrying charge for our co-op and 1 car payment we are debt free. It is freeing, exhilerating, peaceful & exciting. We have been able to buy new underwear without worrying about paying a $25 fee for insufficient funds. We have been able to take our parents out to dinner as a thank you for all they have done for us and not have to worry about our ability to pay the electric bill. We have been able to go on an actual date downtown for our anniversary and not have to worry about it breaking us.
And now we are starting to look for our first real house as a family. Yes, we technically own our co-op (or townhouse for those that aren't familiar with a co-op), but it's so dang small. 2 bedrooms (the kids share the master bedroom and we took the smaller one), 1 bathroom (which is ridiculous when you've got a kid that waits too long to pee!), no garage, no driveway, 1 parking space for 2 cars, the tiniest little kitchen you could imagine with no cabinet or counter space as well as patches of grass that they call a yard.
The market is great right now as well as interest rates.
But we want to do this right. We don't want to buy a house and gain a mortgage only to go into debt again. We do not own credit cards. I had one left after our fiasco of financial horrors....Kohl's. I was determined to let Jimm allow me to keep it because "I get such GREAT deals there, honey!". After sitting down with me and reasonably reminding me that they weren't great deals on a 19% interest rate credit card if we couldn't pay it off right away....as well as ahem the fact that we actually already had the money in the bank, he asked why not just pay cash/debit?
So, I responsibly cut up my very last credit card I owned. And the Kohl's angels sent me another one in the mail the VERY next day....they must have known what happened and corrected my silly mistake!!!! :-)
No, it was just time for a new one. SIGH. It, too, was cut up and thrown away.
Again, we want to go into this house buying business with the best possible scenario. So, we've signed up for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University classes. Granted, he would probably tell us NOT to buy a house right now if we can't pay cash for it or put at least 20% down and try to pay it off within 7 years....but hey. We're READY to learn, ready to open our eyes, minds and hearts to being financially secure and continue down our debt free path.
Did you know that 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck? We did. But no longer.....
Not only will we be budgeting on a monthly basis, we will also be talking about insurance, emergency funds, saving for our kids/retirement and investments (among other things....it's a 13 week series!).
If I could go back and talk to 22 year old me, fresh out of college- I would adamantly tell her to NOT apply for any credit cards. It's NOT free money and you lose count on how many times you hand it over to the Target checkout guy to be swiped. I would tell her that having that first apartment is great, but you don't need it. You should stick it out and hang out with mom and dad a little while longer while you save some money. I would remind her that the trip to the Bahamas, Europe & the Caribbean sound awesome and are life changing experiences.....but they can wait another 5-10 years. I would tell her that those new clothes look really cute, but the old ones really haven't gone out of style...just yet.
A weight has been lifted off of our shoulders by being debt-free. Are we rich? Heck no. My husband is self-employed and I'm a social worker. Puh-lease. Our combined salary doesn't hold even a spark compared to some people. But we're comfortable.
Finally. And it feels wonderful.
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