How Did We Get Here?

I apologize for breaking today's information into so many posts, but I know how it is to try and read an exceptionally long blog and there are so many aspects of our debt that I thought each issue deserved it's own entry.

So, how did we get here?

Let me start by saying, I was not very smart as a college student. Not to say that I'm not smart, but I made some pretty stupid decisions, especially when it came to finances. I was offered a full scholarship to any Florida school, based on my high school GPA and test scores. Instead, I chose to go to an out of state school where I was offered no scholarships, the federal maximum in grants, and the federal max in student loans. Because I came from poverty and my mom was not eligible for PLUS loans, I took out federal unsubsidized loans as well.

I knew I would have to pay them back. I went through all of the introductory information, had a full explanation of how student loans worked, and signed off on a promissory note. Even having an explanation of how student loans work, I didn't realize the ramifications of taking out the maximum amount I was eligible for.

I graduated from college in six years, with a four year degree in English and nearly $60,000 in student loan debt. I got a temporary job right out of college with an insurance company. I worked hard and was offered a permanent job. My employer asked me how much I needed in order to accept the job. I calculated payments on student loans, rent on our apartment, monthly bills, and gave them a number that was the minimum I would accept. They offered me exactly that; $30,000.

A year later, I found myself married with a new baby, and offered a promotion. In order to find an apartment that met our space needs, we would have been paying $750-$800. We decided a better financial option would be to buy a house. We bought a house we could afford, and then we started filling it with stuff.

The "stuff" is what brought us to where we are now. It started with a couch, then we decided we needed a tv stand because we didn't want the tv on a coffee table. But it didn't stop there; tv, blu ray, entertainment system, toys, clothes, video game systems, camera's, vacation, bed... on and on, thinking that we could afford it because it was on credit and we could afford the payments.

And then things started to break. We were told to take the extra expenses of a house into consideration, but we didn't. Three air conditioner repairs in two years, flooded basement, broken stove, increased property taxes, increased homeowners insurance premiums.

As soon as we'd pay a large chunk of debt down, we'd charge twice as much for an emergency expense.

Now I feel like we're suffocating. For the first time, I had a credit card declined because they wanted to place a hold that was twice as much as the car I was renting, and I went through a mental checklist of which cards had which balances, and only one had enough available balance to rent the car.

It's been a reality check. Trying to cut back on things we've been doing for years has been difficult. Our balances still seem to be going up instead of down. But now we have a game plan, and I will keep researching to figure out how we can make it better.

Once we're out of this debt, we won't get back here again. That's a promise I've made to myself.