My Life Right Now
By the age of 30, I expected so many things for myself: a college degree, successful career, marriage, and the beginning of a family.For the last couple of years, I have lived in constant fear that any phone call at my employer's office was a debt collector. I even feared a police officer showing up at my job or home to deliver a notice about money I owed. Until last year, my boyfriend had no idea that I was in debt. I feared that he would leave me if I explained the details of my situation.
In April 2010, my car broke down. I was not in a position to get another car or pay for repairs. For six months, my boyfriend took me back and forth to work. In October 2010, I had to quit my job because we could no longer keep the transportation arrangement. My job was 1 hour south of our home and his new job was over 1 hour north. Unfortunately, living in a rural area makes it difficult to get transportation arrangements by bus or ride-shares.
For several months, I earned some money writing articles online. I barely made any money. Later I opened a store on Etsy so that I could sell some digital items. I made enough money each month to pay the $75 internet bill and hosting for my web pages.
I guess most people would enjoy working from home, but for me it has felt like a prison. My only social interaction has been going to the grocery store on weekends and occasionally going to houses of friends for dinner. I just started a short contract with a company and I am hopeful that my income will increase. My car was back on the road for 1 day until another repair issue was discovered.
How did I get to this point?
High cost of rent for a crummy town apartment combined with college expenses, vet bills, car repairs, and medical problems. In one year, I accumulated a lot of debt on credit cards. I would not say that I lived extravagantly. I was struggling to make minimum payments on my credit cards and in order to make the payments, I had to put more on the cards for groceries and school supplies.
Although I was going into debt and needed a second job, I stayed in school. At the time, I felt that I could work out the debt problem later if I got my degree. I did not graduate.
I haven't had a credit card for 4 years and I'm still paying off the debt that I accumulated between 2005-2007. Until I was unemployed, I was living paycheck to paycheck, with many negative account balances appearing in between pay periods.
August 2013: I was introduced to the Dave Ramsey Baby Step Program to get out of debt.
