Nancy, who I don't know, slapped my hand for shopping at Macys when according to her I should be shopping at Walmart's clearance aisle because of my debt.
Here's what she had to say:
"I just found this blog and have read about 30% of it. It's scary. Your credit card balances are so high and yet you refer to a housekeeper, manicures, vacations, and such, when in reality, when if ever will you ever get out of debt? The sweaters at Macy, for example -- go shop at WalMart on clearance. I hope this blog gives you insight and I will bookmark it because when I read it, it serves as a cautionary tale, indeed."
This was my response to Nancy:
"Sorry you're scared, Nancy, but I'm not sure what you're afraid of. I'm paying my debt off on time. I'm not late on anything. I own a house and have a huge amount of equity and I have a boatload of savings in other accounts (remember what you see reflected there is not my complete savings, but it is my complete debt). If I wanted to, I could pay off the debt today, but given that I'm a compulsive debtor paying it off in one fell swoop is not going to make my problem go away so I'm following a very set program for paying it off on my terms while not living in deprivation. I have a housekeeper because I work more than 40 hours a week. My husband does as well. We go on vacation by paying cash. The clothes I buy at Macys are paid for with cash. We have no more credit cards, so the debt is not increasing in any way. Deprivation is just going to make me want to spend more, so if I can live comfortably while still paying for my debt it really shouldn't scare you."
Now, having said all that, I've decided to clear up some of my vagueness surrounding my savings and debt. First. look over to the left and you'll see my savings has jumped drastically because I've decided to include the equity on my house. Note that I still need to add a bunch of pension money into that measly total, but I'll get to that sometime before I retire. Plus, I own some property that is being drilled on for oil and gas and I'm not sure what the current value is so it's not included here either.
Also, my debt is not all credit cards. My husband and I put a kid through a very pricey private university and I put myself through grad school, so a whole lot of that debt is in student loans. It's still debt, but I'd just like to clarify what kind of debt it is so that Nancy won't think I'm using credit cards to fund my sweater-buying trips at Macys.
Nancy, Nancy, Nancy
February 5th, 2008 at 06:01 pm
February 5th, 2008 at 06:20 pm 1202235619
I would guess that you and your husband are not the norm. As Dave Ramsey would say, you probbaly got yourself a big hole but you a lso have a really big shovel. It takes time to change your attitude and habits about money. You have stopped digging and dcreased your debt by over 10k.
This is a marathon and evryone has their own pace. Good luck and am looking forward to you bringing your debt down.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:45 pm 1202255141
If you paid these debts off -- let's just say, the consumer debt with the icky interest --, don't you think you would be better off? (I assume your student loans have a nice 7% interest or something, and they are tax deductible.)
I don't get that you have to carry these balances and pay interest while paying it off "on your own terms." Your own terms?
Pay it off with savings. As for the compulsive debtor stuff, seek treatment; I have a friend who has been sober for almost 30 years and another friend who is sober for 20 yrs. Surely you are not saying that you lack self control to stop buying things?
In any event, I am setting up my own blog here because I think this is a great idea to blog about money. And yes, you could buy two sweaters a Wal Mart for less than what you paid at Macy's and send in an early payment to a credit card, the interest from which would feed a small village in an African nation for years.
Nancy
February 6th, 2008 at 12:44 am 1202258640
P.S. I've always admired the total in your savings!
February 6th, 2008 at 02:30 am 1202265025
Is compulsive debtor different than a compulsive shopper?
Just asking.
February 6th, 2008 at 04:45 am 1202273109
February 7th, 2008 at 08:28 pm 1202416081
It's hard for me to fathom that if someone had much more money saved than what's owed, that they wouldn't just pay off the debt and start fresh (other than debts that are extremely low interest). Of course, when I had debt I was young and wasn't concerned with the future, I just wanted to be free of the obligation. Now, even the thought of a car payment makes me ill...
I think the most important thing is that you are in recovery and have a plan to work through your debt and not accumulate more, plus being able to enjoy life!
February 7th, 2008 at 09:54 pm 1202421262