Be completely debt free

I’ve just opened an INGdirect savings account, with the intent of saving some extra money. Also, Grandma gave me some of her savings in order to make a substantial payment on my student loans and get the interest down.

I’m so used to buying what I want when I want it, that it takes some real discipline to really ask myself, “Do I need this?” I am taking steps to pay off all my credit cards, the house, and my car, so that when I retire in ten years (at 62) I will be able to sleep nights without worrying about income.

Geez, I just added another 6K for a car onto my list of things to pay off. I’m making sooooo much progress here! LOL And if I continue to go to school I’ll have more debt. :( Sometimes I don’t think that going to school really pays off in the long-run…

Why oh why did I live like I made twice as much money as I did in 2005? Oh I know, because it is impossible to expect a person to live comfortably in a STUDIO apartment in this ridiculously inflated area with an income of 30k! $850 a month. For a cramped room where the beat from The Five Spot served only to drown out the sirens. I didn’t even have a car for christ’s sake. I know, I know, I shouldn’t have bought that Target couch or gone out for happy hour once a week. It’s silly to have luxuries (and yes I’m being sarcastic) like a cheap couch and a couple of beers. This country either needs to stop making people work so hard or pay them what they’re worth. No one with a college degree should be making the shit money we’re paid. But it was my fault. I could have lived differently. I should have eaten Ramen soup and fed my cats mice I hunted in the alleys. I should have stayed inside all day and night lest I spent money I didn’t have. I shouldn’t have traveled to far off places to escape this shithole of a country. Goddamn credit cards. 11/26/06 – 18k in CC and 14.4k in car loans.

Consumer debt drives the economy and is the American way yet so many people live beyond their means, including me. I can remember times when I earned a fraction of what I do now and was content and happy with my simple life. Yet there is always the tightrope dance where you’re walking the line between just enough and too little.