“Only use for small purchases and emergencies”
Those were the words my parents told me when they signed me up for my first credit card at the age of eighteen. It made sense. I was such a responsible little lad at the time. In fact, I don’t think I even used my credit card for the first 6 months that I had, as to not run even the slightest risk of getting into the dreaded credit card debt. Eventually, I did start using it, but very responsibly, and I would always make my payments on time.
This would continue till around somewhere before my 21st birthday. As you should know by now, I’m a fairly stubborn individual, which, most instances, usually works in my advantage. Other times it doesn’t. Finally, there are times in which my stubbornness both aids and hinders me at the same time. This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of those times.
It was coming down to my last few semesters in college, and I, of course, wanted to be done as fast as possible. I sat down one day, planned it all out, and came to the realization that if I took six classes in the upcoming semester, which is basically social suicide, I could be finished by the summer of the school year, rather than the fall, which would save me a boatload of cash since I wouldn’t need to rent an apartment for another semester. That thought all but sealed the deal.
The only conflict then, would be that I wouldn’t be able to work for almost six months, possibly even longer counting summer classes. After all, if it’s nearly impossible to have a part time job while going to school full time (roughly four classes) then working a job and taking six classes would basically be sentencing myself to death by exhaustion.
As fate would have it, I just so happened to have a seasonal job at the time, so accomplishing this feat wouldn’t actually require me to “quit” from anywhere. I saved up as much money as I could, and when the season ended, I didn’t look for any more work.
The only real problem lay with the fact that I had a small amount of money that I owed back on my credit card. Truthfully, this all started three years ago so I can’t remember the exact details, but between having to pay for school books and something else that slips my mind at the time, I basically owed more than I could afford at that present time. So I just decided that I would bite the bullet and just pay down the interest every month until I could afford to make payments again.
To make a long story short, it took me a lot longer to find a job than I expected, much, MUCH longer so my debt steadily increased. Add in two back to back traffic violations and a new laptop and suddenly I owed a lot more than what I started off with.
My stubbornness would pay off in the long run though. As soon as I got my job last year, (the same job that shall not be mentioned) I got right on paying down that credit card debt. I had a few setbacks along the way, but tomorrow morning, a little over six months after finding a steady job and working myself to the bone, I will be entirely credit card debt free.
Now I know this hits top headlines in “Nobody Cares Though” News, but I feel amazing about that fact. It was one of my resolutions for the year and to see it come to fruition, despite my many hardships, is such a great feeling.
It may not seem like much but since this is my blog, I wanted to share such an important milestone in my life with you all… Now to celebrate by setting my credit card on fire. 🙂
