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Becoming Financially Fit

“my journey to becoming financially responsible”

March 10, 2011 How I got myself into this Mess called “Debt”

I guess you could say I related a little too well to the book, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella.
I didn’t go around buying anything designer, or really go on any big shopping sprees, but I did understand the whole “it’d-be-wrong-to-not-take-up-this-amazing-sale-opportunity” idea.

During my last year of college, I decided to cut back hours at work and increase studio time to get classes out of the way, and not take any summer classes. Just wanted to be free of school.
Result?
Not much money.
And to keep up with my friends’ lifestyle of entertainment (a movie here and there, going out on the weekends, etc), I used my ‘Emergency-Only’ credit card.

Big mistake.

I had a nice, high credit limit, and lots of fun times. Then I’d get the statement in the mail, get depressed about it, make the minimum payment, and buy a little something pretty to get over it (“What’s $15 more on my statement?”). Meanwhile, I was only getting closer to the end of 0% interest, and closer to that dreaded, evil 19% interest.
Nine-teen percent.
Good grief.
Every time one of those booming “ARE YOU IN CREDIT CARD DEBT OF $10,000 OR MORE?” commercials came on the radio, I turned it off. I hid.
I felt like I was in a downhill spiral. And to push it out of my mind, I pretended like I didn’t have that debt on my shoulders. Big mistake, well-deserved. I know I got myself into that mess, and I’m not blaming anyone but myself, (Ok, maybe I have a little resentment toward credit card companies for getting away with interest-rape).

It took several attempts to finally buckle down and get myself out of this Mess.

The first attempt, I hid my credit cards from myself. Only problem with that is, is you can’t actually hide something from yourself. I knew right where they were, and somehow that pretty silver card found it’s way back into my wallet.

The second attempt, I created a too-tight budget. Well that’s just not going to work for anyone. I cut entertainment out completely, spent minimal amounts on food, and desperately tried to cut back on gas. Thing is, you have to live. I learned this in Attempt 3..

The third attempt, I sat down with a credit counselor about negotiating a lower interest rate with both credit card companies I was borrowing from, and she helped me create a budget. She taught me that, as I said earlier, you have to live. The reason my too-tight budget wasn’t working for me was because I completely cut out having fun with friends — no movies, no drinks, no comedy night — and that only made it worse… aaaand I’d end up spending money anyways, all the while saying, “Screw it. It’s only $10 more.”

I didn’t end up going with the credit counseling agency to negotiate lower rates, because I wanted to do it on my own. I guess I just needed a little encouragement from someone professional. She said that it was all very workable, that I wasn’t really in as big a Mess as I felt, and I could knock it out in a year if I was diligent.
A year!
Ahhh… big weight off my shoulders.

So I logged into my Mint.com account, took a good look at my numbers, and decided that 2011 was The Year to kill The Mess.

A couple months prior, I decided to set aside $50 from every paycheck to put into savings. Having a little something in that account started to make me really happy. Usually I only had $0.50.. so having anything more than that meant that I was being diligent.
And you know what?
The things I normally would consider buying just weren’t worth not having that money in savings. There was no way I was taking money out of that account when it had taken so long to build up. In fact — my goal was to buy a laptop from Apple, but now that I’m close to having that dream computer, I don’t want to see the balance go to $0.00. I can do with not having a computer for a little while longer, while I earn interest on my savings, and decide what I really want to do with that money.

Anyhoo.

Lucky for me, I recently started a new job where I earn hourly + commission, and if I work reeeally hard, that year of knocking down The Mess will get a little shorter. Logging into my bank accounts and Mint is actually something I look forward to, now that I get to watch those numbers go down significantly.

I have to say — being diligent about being responsible with my money is worth more than anything I’ve seen in a store. Not buying that super-cute outfit means that I’m that much closer to having a burden lifted off my shoulders. There will always be time to save up for something I truly want after I become debt-free.. but for now, I have to keep my eyes on the goal of getting there.

If you’re still reading, you’re pretty awesome. I know it’s been wordy, but I know I’m not the only one out there feeling this way. If you’re in a similar boat, stick around. Let’s get through The Mess together. I don’t claim to be a financial expert, just all too familiar with getting frustrated with money (or the lack thereof, as the case may be).

So.. that’s my story. As I learn more about being financially responsible I’ll share it all with you, so check back here. 🙂

.shannon