Debt Free in Ten Easy Steps
Somehow since I graduated from college (a mere three months ago) I have acquired a surprising amount of credit cards. This I attribute in part to the sheer number of offers I received in the mail. It was like the creditors saw the 22 year old with a regular pay check and a clean credit record and said to themselves, "Boys, what we have here is an easy target." And they were right.
I also attribute it to going to Biola. I subsisted for most of my undergraduate career on $150 dollars a month, since the rest of my pay check went to the big bank account in the sky that helped pay for my private education. I look back at these days in awe and wonderment at how I managed to pay for all my clothes, movies, hair products (man I buy a lot of hair products), make-up and more on this tiny, insignificant, ridiculously inadequate amount of money. It was this paltry sum of money that convinced me during my junior year to teach 30 7th graders why grammar is important at 8:00 in the morning (and if I knew why grammar was important then maybe that sentence wouldn't sound like grammar is only important at 8:00 in the morning).
Anyways, back to the issue at hand. After surviving for four years off of a very limited bank account and praying every day that I would not commit the dreaded sin of overdrawing, credit cards seemed like a gift from the gods. And indeed they are. The pagan gods who also force people to jump into volcanoes and sacrifice their first born.
The rest of this post was originally top secret information to be concealed from the parents at all costs as I was raised in the church of "Never, ever, ever, ever get into debt on your credit cards, ever", but what the hell; I am an adult. An irresponsible one, but one none the less.
I originally got a credit card in order to help finance living in England and for emergencies. It had six months of free interest, and so functioned like a savings account in reverse: money that just sat there without any penalties, waiting to be paid back. Then the day came that I would have to pay it back. This also happened to be the day I needed to pay for summer school, put down my first month's rent on my own room, and begin saving for a down payment to start graduate school. Before I knew it I had another, better card with no interest for 15 months and I merely transferred the balance from the now expensive card to the free one and congratulated myself (probably rewarding my financial prowess by buying something, which was the worst possible choice in that situation).
Fast forward to today. With the help of the federal government (who knew they would come in handy someday?), school costs are taken care of, and without the help of the federal government, I have been receiving regular, wonderful paychecks every two weeks since June 15th. Unfortunately, I also have four credit cards now. It is getting out of control. I am to the point that I refuse to open rectangular envelopes for fear of the offers inside.
It took me about 3 hours this weekend, but with the help of some remaining student loan money, an enormous expense reimbursement check, my savings account, and those glorious pay checks, I can pay off all credit cards this week. All of them. Every Freaking One. This will leave me with approximately 2 dollars, but it will also get me out of this period of credit card mania without ever having paid interest or late fees (a gift from God. The good one who doesn't like his believers in volcanoes). I've rarely done so much math in my life, and Mr. Carlson, if you are reading this, balancing credit card bills with your bank account would be a much more helpful topic than Mayan math.
So now the question is, to cut or not to cut? Do I keep my four hard earned cards in case I need to by something really really expensive and vitally important (I'm not sure what this would be [maybe a robot body guard in case of impending anarchy?])? Or do I let them all go but one, guard its balance like a jealous boyfriend, and rejoin society and my family as a contributing member?
Someday I will tell you about that time the federal collections agency was notified about my overdue video rental, but that is another financial disaster story for another day.
I also attribute it to going to Biola. I subsisted for most of my undergraduate career on $150 dollars a month, since the rest of my pay check went to the big bank account in the sky that helped pay for my private education. I look back at these days in awe and wonderment at how I managed to pay for all my clothes, movies, hair products (man I buy a lot of hair products), make-up and more on this tiny, insignificant, ridiculously inadequate amount of money. It was this paltry sum of money that convinced me during my junior year to teach 30 7th graders why grammar is important at 8:00 in the morning (and if I knew why grammar was important then maybe that sentence wouldn't sound like grammar is only important at 8:00 in the morning).
Anyways, back to the issue at hand. After surviving for four years off of a very limited bank account and praying every day that I would not commit the dreaded sin of overdrawing, credit cards seemed like a gift from the gods. And indeed they are. The pagan gods who also force people to jump into volcanoes and sacrifice their first born.
The rest of this post was originally top secret information to be concealed from the parents at all costs as I was raised in the church of "Never, ever, ever, ever get into debt on your credit cards, ever", but what the hell; I am an adult. An irresponsible one, but one none the less.
I originally got a credit card in order to help finance living in England and for emergencies. It had six months of free interest, and so functioned like a savings account in reverse: money that just sat there without any penalties, waiting to be paid back. Then the day came that I would have to pay it back. This also happened to be the day I needed to pay for summer school, put down my first month's rent on my own room, and begin saving for a down payment to start graduate school. Before I knew it I had another, better card with no interest for 15 months and I merely transferred the balance from the now expensive card to the free one and congratulated myself (probably rewarding my financial prowess by buying something, which was the worst possible choice in that situation).
Fast forward to today. With the help of the federal government (who knew they would come in handy someday?), school costs are taken care of, and without the help of the federal government, I have been receiving regular, wonderful paychecks every two weeks since June 15th. Unfortunately, I also have four credit cards now. It is getting out of control. I am to the point that I refuse to open rectangular envelopes for fear of the offers inside.
It took me about 3 hours this weekend, but with the help of some remaining student loan money, an enormous expense reimbursement check, my savings account, and those glorious pay checks, I can pay off all credit cards this week. All of them. Every Freaking One. This will leave me with approximately 2 dollars, but it will also get me out of this period of credit card mania without ever having paid interest or late fees (a gift from God. The good one who doesn't like his believers in volcanoes). I've rarely done so much math in my life, and Mr. Carlson, if you are reading this, balancing credit card bills with your bank account would be a much more helpful topic than Mayan math.
So now the question is, to cut or not to cut? Do I keep my four hard earned cards in case I need to by something really really expensive and vitally important (I'm not sure what this would be [maybe a robot body guard in case of impending anarchy?])? Or do I let them all go but one, guard its balance like a jealous boyfriend, and rejoin society and my family as a contributing member?
Someday I will tell you about that time the federal collections agency was notified about my overdue video rental, but that is another financial disaster story for another day.
posted by Cate at 12:09 PM
4 Comments:
The only thing more seductive and magical than a credit card is a student loan. But they are all a snare a deception.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go cruise Amazon for some books... to put on my new credit card. =)
Credit cards are great. They are also the devil. Keep one for emergencies, burn the rest and dance on their remains. You'll be glad you did.
PS - Never again carry a balance unless it's interest free. Interest on those things is on or around 20%, which is just shy of half, which is just shy of double.
Wise words Bradley James, wise words. But I think that is how I ended up with so many, I kept chasing down the free interest, and all the sudden I couldn't handle the situation anymore. It is all a haze.
FIX MISS CATE DOT COM!
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