So, another unhealthy part of my life is the awful CC debt I've accumulated. It all started last summer when my ex and I split. I was living alone again and racked up $14,000 in debt in one year. So insanely stupid and irresponsible of me, I know. I am now trying to pay it off while going to school full time and working part time. I'm working more hours than I thought I should with school, but it feels so good to be able to make the payments.
I have taken out student loans to help pay them off and will be down to $6,000 this semester. Not great, but at least the interest isn't as high and won't accumulate until I graduate and have a better paying job. Also, it will make the payments each month more manageable (possible!) for me.
So, Just had to get that out there. No one I know in real life knows exactly how much debt I have. I'm afraid to tell them... i'm too embarrassed that I let it get so out of hand.
I was living so far out of my means before. I am a poor college student. I've shredded both of my cards so I can't use them again. I will not miss another payment this year.
Anyone else working through debt or have a success story?
I'm no success story in this area, but when you feel bad about it, just think about my €80K debt because of my divorce and ex-H leaving the country! It's something that will take the rest of my life to clear up unfortunately!!
Sarby, DH and I were able to finally clear up our CC debt last Spring. We had been working on it for about 1.5 years. I kept switching the balance (about 3-4x) to a 0% interest card and throwing as much $ as we could at it. It's a great feeling to be done with it. Since then, we've been putting more in our savings account, which is then used for those unexpected expenses that we used to have to use our CC for. I kind of lost weight and paid off CC debt at the same time!
I totally understand about debt I have about 10,000 in credit cards right now....I am also a full time student and a single mom. I don't work because I don't have childcare in the evenings or weekends but I'm slowly trying to get down my cards with student loans, but I also live off my loans ugh! When I graduate I'll have about 60,000 in student loans. vicious cycle lol We can do it!
At one point, I had something close to $30k in cc debt. It actually all came after I graduated college and it came fast, within a couple years. I was renting an apartment that cost too much, I had just got my first car and had to deal with lots of expenses I never had before.
Luckily, I was able to recognize the issue and work on it. I no longer have cc debt and my student loans are all paid off. I have a car loan but I expect that will be paid off this year as well.
We're also in CC debt **** with about 8k in debt. It sucks because we only have ourselves to blame, but I've decided to stop beating myself up for, put my foot down and work at paying it off. Just like weight loss, I've made the decision to quit making things worse and plug away at getting rid of the weight and debt FOR GOOD!!
I am thankful that it isn't more! I'll just have to worry about my student loans once i graduate though and hope that I can get some sort of deferment or adjustment because I am not in a high paying field.
thanks for the encouragement guys... I feel better just telling someone. I too look forward to the day I can start saving for emergencies (or anything!)
I know it sounds like the opposite of what you should do , but pay the minimum on the higher interest ones and concentrate on the smallest amount one first. Once the smallest amount is paid off start on the next smallest paying the minumum plus the monthly amount you had concentrated on the one that it now totally paid off. It takes awhile and bugeting is HARD!!
while I was doing it I didn't have anything extra to put in savings. Now I have money going into two separate savings. One is linked to my checking account and the other goes to a credit union which I did not get a card to withdraw for. If I need extra money for something, I have to actually drive to the credit union and take money out.
the last change which is slow going is decluttering and simplifying my life. Before I bring anything into the house, I really think about it.
Thanks Jules!
I am using part of my student loan to completely pay off one credit card (the interest rates where about the same on both of them) and then I'll just be left with one with a balance of about 6,000.
I am also trying to declutter my life. Part of my problem is excessive spending which I am trying to control. I come home from dollar tree or big lots with bags of stuff and just set them on the floor in the livingroom. Most of that stuff is still sitting around in bags. Gah.
Getting in control of my weight has really motivated me to make positive changes all around.
I started a thread about decluttering and simplifying since losing weight yesterday. It seems that my WL has triggered my desire to make my life simpler and get rid of some of the junk.
Good luck paying off the CC debt. With determination I know you can do it!
Credit card debt
