My Debt Quest

I've been in debt for a long time. I've made so many mistakes with money that I doubt I should even be here offering advice to others on how to get out of debt, particularly since I'm still in debt myself. However, as I've mentioned before, the reality is this blog is more for my own benefit than anyone elses. As the saying goes, sometimes the best way to learn is to teach. In this case, I certainly hope that saying applies far more than the related saying, those who can do and those who can't teach.

I am a math and science geek. I am analytical, I love numbers and formulas, and I'm good at problem-solving. I figure this makes me uniquely qualified to figure out how to get myself out of debt. Once I decided that it was time to get out of debt, I approached it like any other problem - starting with determining the root cause.

The root cause of my debt: Spending more than I earn.

Of course, I didn't intentionally run out to spend more money than I earned. It just happened. I got my first credit card during orientation week at college. I barely used it initially, and when I did, usually to buy something online, I paid it off right away. Somewhere along the way, I decided that I really wanted something and didn't have the cash available right away. I don't even remember what that first credit purchase was, which speaks volumes about the actual value of that purchase, but I do know that I convinced myself that I would just buy it now and pay it off over the next few pay periods. In doing so, I opened Pandora's Box.

With the balance of that first purchase sitting on my credit card, I used the same faulty logic over and over again, each time telling myself that I would just pay the credit card balance down - not today, but soon. I still made payments on the card every month, always more than the minimum payment, but always less than the remaining balance. My definition of "soon" kept growing and growing.

It wasn't enough that I slowly ran the balance up on my first credit card. As the balance crept up, so did my credit limit. I started getting offers from other credit cards offering rewards and points and miles, and before too long I fell for one of them, leaving me with a second card that allowed me to dig further into debt.

With two credit cards running a balance, I finally realized that I had to do something. I consolidated the balances from the two cards into a personal line of credit for the simplicity of one low monthly payment. Those were the exact words of the advertisement that I naively allowed to entice me. With both credit cards cleared and a new personal line of credit carrying the balance, I still failed to see the light. I ran up the balance on the credit cards again.

The theme through those years is consistent - instant gratification, poor planning, lack of concern for the future, and an overriding failure to consider any logic or common sense. I spent more money than I earned, all the while thinking that I was somehow making good decisions as I moved the debt from one credit card to another.

Step 1: How I got there in the first place
1. Spent more than I earned.
2. Believed that credit card offers were there for my benefit.
3. Never looked at the big picture of credit card debt.
4. Failed to consider the impact of credit card debt on my future financial health.