Wealth

Three part series in which I discuss how health, wealth, & happiness play a part in my journey.

Like so many Americans, we are in debt. A lot of debt. And we are trying to pay it off.

Here's the breakdown according to December 2011 statements:

Best Buy Credit Card- $1346.55

My personal Credit Card- $1497.16

Compass Visa- $3112.04

Compass Gold- $5285.00

Overdraft LOC- 654.67

TOTAL: $11,895.42

(I didn't add in my loans, because for some reason, that just hasn't really registered in our minds as debt... in our family, it falls more into the house mortgage category. But for the record I have $28745.33 in student loans for 5 years of undergrad at a small public liberal arts institution.)

To be fair, a majority of this debt was gained (made/happened/etc?) through not-so-wise-decisions made during J's previous marriage, so it has been with us since we started dating over 5 years ago. My personal credit card was used a lot for our wedding stuff & again for "emergencies" when J was out of work for 3 months (not smart I know, but we did what we had to in order to survive).

I do want to take a minute to commend J. He has been working diligently at paying off his debt for as long as I've known him. And since we've been dating he/we have paid off 3 debts (when we first started dating we owed about $20k to various places) & managed to bring the rest of the balances down a lot while eking out a life for ourselves.

This year it is my goal to pay off at least 2 of these debts (the Best Buy card & the LOC) & after looking at my budget for the year, we may be able to pay down my credit card A LOT (I hope to have it paid off by next Spring)... as long as we don't have any major changes.

And honestly, I love planning this stuff. Part of me gets stressed when I look at how much we owe because by nature I am a worrier, but then I look at how far we've come &/or I write out a budget & see how efficiently we can pay it off & I end up feeling uplifted and empowered because I know WE CAN DO THIS! We don't have to be a slave to our debts. We can work our way out from under them & live fulfilling lives as a little family in a little house in our little town. And that makes me feel all warm & fuzzy. Who knew the right attitude about debt could do that?