Monday, August 04, 2008

My life lately- getting out of debt

Since April, I have been listening to a lot of Dave Ramsey and realizing that my goal of the last ten years is within reach finally... getting out of debt. When I talk to people about this, most of them listen with a polite silence, appearing interested, but I always kind of feel like what I'm saying is going over their heads.... like, there might be a couple of possibilities running through their minds..

1) That's nice... Dave who?
2) Dave Ramsey... oh yeah, he's the one always telling people to sell their cars..
3) Man, wish I was getting out of debt... oh well, nothing I can really do about it.
4) Out of debt? You SUCK... shut up!
5)What do you mean, debt free?

One of the things I can remember my father saying to me when I was a kid was how he had just come to accept that he would always be in debt, always have a car payment, always owe on his house, etc... and my general impression was that he was fine with it. I learned to be in debt from my dad. Many of us did.

I began my debt journey at college, as did most people my age. I borrowed my way through 4 years at a private college. I was very grateful for the experience. I wasn't worried about the $20,000 dollar or so in student loans because I figured I had plenty of time to pay them back. What really happened was I took LOTS of time to pay them back. 15 years or so, not counting all the times they were in deferment.

But while I was in college, I was having such a good time, I would have signed any note with any terms in order to be able to come back each semester. The hell with the consequences. It set a pattern for me for life.

When I was a senior, I got my first credit card. Wow- free money!

To be continued...

1 comment:

Chris J said...

we have been listening to dave ramsay...i think he is wonderful! and man, is he motivating....i was very skeptical at first, but after watching the dvd's..i'm totally on board! good luck!