"This is getting out of control. The debt cycle becomes a death spiral. My whole life is a mess"
How does everyone else do it? You only use the credit card for emergencies, but there are so many emergencies. It’s not like I’m splurging on a vacation. I have no choice but to fix the fridge! Sometimes it feels like all your income is going to monthly payments. I work so hard and I don’t even see the money. You try not to think about it. Because what can you do about it already? Until you can’t make the payments. This is getting out of control. The debt cycle becomes a death spiral. My whole life is a mess.
Is there a way out?
We got into debt by accident.
I guess no one gets into debt on purpose. But what I mean is that we didn’t realize we were getting into debt. It’s not like we made a formal decision to take out a loan or borrow money. We just didn’t realize that we weren’t covering our expenses anymore.
I used to say it started when we moved to a new home, and our income and expenses changed suddenly. But looking back, I know it really started before we moved. It started when we didn’t plan for the move by saving in advance for the cost of the movers, the real estate broker’s fee, and the extra expenses involved in moving. We just assumed it would all work out somehow — but of course, it doesn’t just happen like that.
Moving was an enormous upheaval. I started a new job. My wife had to start commuting to her existing teaching job. We had a new neighborhood to acclimate to and new schedules to adjust to. It was pretty overwhelming, even without thinking about our new financial reality. Which we didn’t.
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