When I grew up, I was never really taught how to properly manage money. The day I turned 18 I got a credit card in the mail. They gave me $1,000! I was like SWEET! I ?need? a new stereo for my car. So what did I do? I got the best stereo I could get. Oh, and I had to get the touch screen radio too.
When that one was maxed out, they increased my credit limit for being a ?good customer? and paying my bill on time. It was likely every time I ran out of money on one card, another one was in the mail. CHA-CHING!
Long story short, I racked up over $50,000 of debt before I was 21, and that didn’t include any student loans. When I wanted to go to school, my parents let me go wherever I wanted to go. I loved web and graphic design, so naturally, I chose an art school.
At that time, the bachelor’s degree was going to cost me $60,000. I didn’t flinch and figured it was ok because I would make it back with a high paying job when I graduated. At least that?s what the world was telling me, right?
I started school and almost immediately regretted it. With debt racking up and having to live paycheck to paycheck while going to school full time and working 2 jobs, I began to realize how stupid I was to get myself in so much debt already and then was terrified at the fact that I would have to pay back even more in a few years.
I decided that I didn’t want to quit school, but I wanted to go down to my associate’s degree. I wanted something to show for the money that I already owed, so I wasn?t about to drop out. That cost me $39,000. At least it’s better than $60,000??
I finished school and almost immediately lost both of my jobs when the recession hit in 2008. There I was, 23 years old with almost $100,000 in debt, with no way to pay it.
I looked everywhere for jobs but no one was hiring. Unemployment paid for my rent and food, but that was it. Overwhelmed by everything, I filed for bankruptcy. My debts were eventually discharged?? except of my student loans.
The thing is that I actually regret filing for bankruptcy. Yeah, I was broke, but at that time, I didn’t know it was a bad idea. It seemed like the thing to do. The crazy part was that I actually went back to some of my creditors and tried to pay them back but they didn’t let me.
Did I learn my lesson after bankruptcy? Absolutely. I still used credit cards BUT I paid them off every check. I also got another new car thanks to my grandma for cosigning the loan for me.
I heard of this Dave Ramsey guy and started listening to him. All of his stuff made sense, so I started to go through the baby steps. The thing is, I never really stuck to it. I would budget monthly but never stick to it. I would listen to him almost daily too.
It really wasn’t till I was 33 and met my now wife that things just clicked. Here I was about to marry the love of my life who also had a mountain of debt. We both knew that we didn’t want to start off our new lives together and still be in debt.
So we worked the program. We got married in December of 2018 with $98,169.43 in debt. This was her mountain of credit cards, both of our cars and my student loans. We calculated that it would take us almost 3 YEARS to pay this off with our current income. Still, we worked the debt snowball and paid off all of that debt in February of 2020 – 14 months!
Now, I own a digital marketing business and even became a Ramsey Solutions Preferred Coach so I’m better equipped to help people through their financial journey. It’s my goal to help as many people as possible kick their current debt AND stay out of debt.
