What was your turning point?

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
What was your turning point?
8
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 11:44am

Most of us can point to one event - one "a-ha" moment, a lightbulb, a boulder, *something* that made us say enough is enough.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 2:25pm

Great question! Mine was my EXTREMELY LOUD upstairs neighbor! I realized I didn't want to continue living in that same apt. any longer than I had too! I am still there even though I have reduced my debt by $10,000 over the last year. I have under $16,000 to go and am using that same neighbor as my motivation to continue paying off that debt all the time! Seems to be working for now, so I am sticking with it! Everything should be paid off by April 2006! Yeah! I also keep a detailed spreadsheet of my debt and the plan to pay it off, including the amounts I want to pay each month. I love it when I can change that payment made to a higher amount than I had anticipated! :) Seeing the progress I am making each month is also a great motivating tool for me! I look forward to hearing other peoples "AHA" moment!

~leanne

~leanne

deciding to be happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, but that you had decided to look beyond the imp

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-21-2004
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 2:25pm

Without a doubt, my wake up call was in 2004 when my husband got a new job, and we realized that we would not be able to renew the "lease" we had on the house we were renting from his former employer. Out credit was trashed and had no savings. We were declined for a mortgage and moved in with my parents. Dreaming of owning our own house is what keeps me going day to day.

kel

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 3:17pm
Having my two credit cards maxed out and no longer being able to use them to maintain our lifestyle, then realizing that almost every dollar of my payment went to interest each month. That was the turning point, although I have gotten out of debt since then and got myself back in debt too - I have a much healthier attitude and it isn't so out of control like it was before the 'turning point.'

Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2004
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 5:05pm
When I realized I would never have another girlfriend
if I had even $1 in debt.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 7:29pm


I had known for a long while that I needed help with my debt, but I was keeping it a secret from my husband for so long that I felt helpless and guilty and just plain awful. So I guess the moment I finally came clean with my husband was my turning point. From that moment, with his support and love and unbelieveable amount of understanding, I began to soak up any and all information about budgeting and cutting back on expenses, etc.

Pat

Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 8:38pm

For me, it was the "magic" number on the credit cards!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-20-2004
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 9:18pm
For us, our turning point was just changes in our life which have made it possible to do something about the situation we are in. We didn't get into our situation because of reckless spending, mostly we got into this situation by underearning and a bunch of stuff going on in the family which made frequent trips back and forth a necessity. Now we have better paying jobs, and the family situation has gone away, so we are able to refocus and hopefully, make progress. there have been a few occasional depression-related tack-ons to our debt, there were times that everything was so bad in my life that i really did not care (or even comprehend) what i was doing. I am lucky i made it through those times. It is a long and rocky road. I fell off the wagon the whole two years that this stuff was going on..mind you, the numbers didn't go up that much, but they didn't go down, either. I am trying to do what I can to deal better without putting up an emotional wall, which is usually my other defense. Yesterday, I took dd to get her hair cut. I couldn't deal, but she needed a haircut, and we're only talking $10 there, so not too bad. H
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-29-2003
Thu, 04-07-2005 - 11:24pm

Mine was a combination of things.

I realized that
1. my debt to income ratio was WAY too high
2. I was still paying off stuff from college and I had been out of college for 7 years!
3. I was about to turn 30 and I had no savings.
4. I wanted to eventually adopt a child and there was no way I could do that with all that debt hanging over my head.



Kimberly