Visa Card and The American Dream

I can't say when it exactly started, but I know exactly when it ended. May 1998. It all came to a screeching halt when I bought my shiny red, jacked-up, over-sized mud tired, awesome looking, pile of crap for $4,000 most people would call a Jeep. I bought it with a credit card check. Back then, it ran me 18% interest. I think that old beast ran about 18% of the time too. It came as an epiphany to me soon after I bought it...in the form of a credit card bill. I realized suddenly I had $30,000 in credit card debts. I bought (charged) things according to how much the minimum payments would be, not if I could afford it. It suddenly occured to me that a pimply 15 year old flipping burgers at McDonald's for minimum wage actually made more money than me. He might take home $150 a week. I had $100 a month after bills. That's for gas, food, shampoo, etc. Now, I don't have any excuses either. I graduated from university with a degree in business. Took classes in investing, budgeting, and accounting even. Procrastination and the need for instant gratification doomed me.

I realized my life was that crappy Jeep. Sharp, good-looking, and cool on the outside (I thought); nothing but shit and promises on the inside. I was more concerned with trying to look the american dream than with trying to live it. My back was against the wall right there and then. Anything would have broken me then. I decided to give myself six months to start turning my life around--then file bankruptcy if I couldn't. But there was a catch. If I paid it all, I would take an epic road trip. One I've dreamed of all my life. I would go on a Great North American Roadtrip, ending in Alaska. I buckled up, moved out of my townhouse and rented one room. I vowed celibacy until debt free. I sold all my stereo equipment, television, etc. I knew nothing around me was mine. I wrote out all my bills and their amounts in a notebook, I knew how much I owed to each, and I attacked. That first $1000 I took off took forever, but it happened. And I was excited. Another $1000, and another. Faster and faster it came down, I didn't care about ANYTHING else but dropping it another $1000. A little over 2 years later, it was over. I was victorious. The single most crowning achievement I have ever done. I not only got out of debt, I awakened to a new life, and became someone I could be proud of. And if you ask me sometime, I might tell you of Alaska.