As of today, we are 100% credit card debt free.
I am not sharing this because I think we deserve praise for digging our way back to the surface of our debt; I am sharing this because I think that it's important for people know it can be done.
Neither of us were unsuspecting or naive about how revolving credit worked; so we can't plead any kind of ignorance about getting into the situation that we found ourselves in. We whole-heartedly agreed from the beginning that credit cards were dangerous, not to be toyed with, and had no place in our lives as a financial crutch.
Then life got a little more real. I left home my junior year of college. I had student loans to pay for my tuition and books, but there were a lot of "extra" expenses that weren't in the shiny university pamphlet....like a laptop, lab fees, student activity fees, etc., etc. etc. I kept my part-time job as a bank teller (just transferred branches); but now I had full-time living expenses as well. I had always paid for my own car, car insurance, and cell phone...now there was an apartment (with running water, electricity, AND cable), A LOT more gas being burned in my car, and I had to actually feed myself at least once a day. Being an "independent" adult turned out to be a real drag.
At first I kept a budget and did okay. Gradually, however, as my feelings of independence grew, I loosened my grip on the "NO" word with myself. I was in charge of me now, and I didn't need approval for every little thing I wanted. There was no one chanting "can't afford that can't afford that can't afford that" every time I wanted to spend money. It was empowering to want something...and then buy it. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't going on shopping sprees or buying "designer" anything. I WAS buying a new pair of jeans at Old Navy for a party that weekend, ordering pizza when friends came over instead of cooking, and buying stuff for my apartment that I definitely didn't need to survive. I was also charging my "living expenses" and justifying it by paying the full balance every month...until I WASN'T paying the full balance every month.
I still had a loose handle on my spending...until I got engaged. Then I lost my damn mind. I was going to have the wedding I wanted, and I would pay for it later. A lot later. Like, until yesterday.
What I hadn't really thought long and hard enough about was the fact that I wouldn't be gainfully employed for quite a while after we got married. I had to give up my super awesome job as a bank teller (for real, I loved that job) to student teach. And you don't get paid to student teach. Quite the opposite, actually - you pay them quite handsomely to complete your student teaching requirements (and to take the umpteen tests required for your license...and secure your actual state license...) And complete mine I did - in DECEMBER. Not a lot of teaching jobs laying around in the middle of the school year. We limped along, though, with me substituting the rest of that year; but by the time the student loan statements started showing up, the numbers on the credit card were almost rubbed smooth.
In 2009, the Credit CARD Act went into effect. This credit card reform law required credit card companies to play a little more fairly - and be a little more honest about their fine print. The jerks at the credit companies were no longer allowed to hike interest rates without advance notice, sneak attack you with due dates that bounced around every month (or had cutoff times of the day for payments), charge outrageous late fees ($25 cap now), or charge you "over the limit" fees unless you "opted-in" to that service. All of those things were nice, but what got my attention was the new box on every statement that broke down for you exactly how long it would take you to pay your card off if you continued to make your monthly minimum payments....and how much you would have actually paid them.
After noticing that horrifyingly eye-opening little box on our statements, we made an appointment with a local Clearpoint counselor. We had made a lot of really bad decisions, and trust me, I'm sure we aren't done doing that, but THIS was an AWESOME one. Clearpoint's Debt Management Program was the kick in the butt that we needed to get on track. Basically, they took over all of our cards and negotiated lower interest rates, higher principal payments, and fast-tracked us towards paying everything off. Luckily, we had never missed any payments or been late on anything, so our credit was still good.... but we did have to cut up all of our cards and weren't eligible to secure any loans or credit accounts while on the program.
For the first few months, you may as well have cut off my arm. It was a serious reality check to not be able to stop at the store and pick up something because I didn't have the cash for it, or to have to turn down friends' invitations to go out because the funds were non-existent. Shortly after signing up for the program, life changed even more drastically; and we survived two maternity leaves and multiple instances of the hubs being out of work due to injury or lack of business. We survived medical bills, student loans, buying baby formula for two out those four years, and buying diapers for all four of them. We made tough decisions about what to spend our last $20.00 on some weeks. We ate dinner at my parents house...and took home leftovers...A LOT.
It took serious adjustments to our way of thinking and to our lifestyle, but it was all worth it for TODAY. Up until now, I was embarrassed about the fact that we were on a debt management program. I was embarrassed that I had managed to graduate college magna cum laude AND be a victim of something as stupid as credit cards at the same time. But not today. Today, I am proud of how hard we worked to leave that debt behind us. I am proud of my husband for all of the extra work he did to make the money we needed to provide for our family. I am proud of how savvy I turned out to be with random food in the cabinet at dinner time. I am proud of the juggling skills I learned when it came to making the credits and debits of our checking account work out JUST right each month.
More than proud, however, I am GRATEFUL. I am grateful that we had awesome friends who didn't ditch us because we couldn't afford to go out. I am grateful that we had loving parents who slipped us gas money when we were living on one income while paying medical bills, or invited us to dinner then sent us home with "extra" food...sometimes once a week. I am grateful that we had trustworthy, affordable babysitters for our children so that we could go to work. I am grateful that I learned how to be empathetic to those who have to make decisions based on living paycheck to paycheck, or not having a paycheck at all.
And - at the risk of this starting to sound like an award acceptance speech ("First and foremost, I would like to thank God...") - I AM grateful that, as a Christian, I have been able to recognize the fact that sometimes, some weeks, some months....things did not make sense on paper, they shouldn't have worked out according to the numbers...but they did. We never missed a house payment, our kids always had food to eat, and no one disowned us for getting really crappy Christmas presents a few of those years. (Thanks, guys!)
We did it.
Watch out student loans - you're next.
♥M
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