My Story

Thursday, 3 April 2008 at 11:03 am (How I Got Here) (, , )

Recently, I stumbled upon a string of financial blogs and found them quite interesting–interesting enough to lead me to beginning my own.  The problem that I saw was that these blogs didn’t apply to me very well.  Sure, many of them are also in debt, but they’re not in MY kind of debt.  They may have a substantial amount of debt, but their net worth is way above mine-it has to be because my net worth is in the red. I’ve always been smart about credit cards; I always pay them off at the end of the month to make sure that I don’t get caught in that horrible cycle of never having enough to pay it down.  My debt is all student loans and my car loan.  I took out loans for my three semesters of graduate school, which totaled about $18,500 (prior to part of it earning interest).  I graduated, got a job as a teacher (which is what my degree was in), and bought a used Toyota 4Runner.  My parents convinced me that I’d be able to make the payments and even offered to put down two-thirds of the money so that I could buy it outright and not have to finance it for a huge interest rate.  Instead, we agreed that I’d borrow $5000 interest free on the condition that I paid that lump sum back after two years.  I borrowed another $5500 at 7% interest to be paid monthly over a three year time period. 

This all seemed relatively fine; I got a used car in wonderful condition for a fairly good price and I knew that I could make the payments with my fancy new salary. Except that I hated teaching.  At the end of the year I resigned with no intention of ever returning.  Previously, I’d been smart enough to choose the 10-month payment plan (instead of the 12) to make sure the money grew interest in my account instead of Fairfax County’s, and I’d set aside that extra money in a separate account.  I foolishly decided to wait on finding a new job while I enjoyed the summer and recovered from a stressful year.  That led to me being out of a job until mid-December.  I had to live on my savings until that point and my expenses were increasing while I had barely any money coming in. 

That September I moved out of a 2-bedroom apartment I shared with a roommate into a one bedroom which cost a lot more; my roommate was getting married and I didn’t have anyone to live with to share expenses.  I realize I could have lived with a stranger, but in the past I had such a horrible living situation that I’d rather struggle financially for a while than struggle emotionally. 

So here I am in April, with more debt than assets.  My biggest trouble is sticking to a budget, so that is what I will start working on first.

 

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