What was your A-HA moment??

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2006
What was your A-HA moment??
4
Sun, 11-02-2008 - 9:21am

We've lived happily (albeit ignorantly) with debt for years. It was just a way of life - and, funny to think, never really a big deal! DH and I have always been fortunate enough to pay at least the minimum on our cards and loans, if not more, so we just dragged it along with us. That changed recently with the purchase of a new house, a surprise baby on the way, and me finally looking in the mirror and taking a long, hard look at where we are financially -- and how much we're missing out on by being in the hole. It literally makes me sick to think about.

Wondering how other people finally got serious about making a change?

Our good news:
* I've got a handle on everything we owe - everything is in black and white. No more blinders.
* I've set up a budget that I'm going to do my hardest to stick with (this has been challenging, as we've never really had a "budget").
* I've been able to consolidate and transfer balances to really low rates thanks to our good credit
* I have our short-term emergency fund set up & have extra $ coming in this month that will help pay off about 20% of our total cc debt.

All great things - yet I'm dealing every day with the guilt I feel for not doing anything until this point. I'm beating myself up with the I'm too smart, too educated, to let this happen. Did any of you feel that way when you started? I try to tell myself it took me a long time to get to this point, and it will take time, patience and the committment to change to get me out. I just wish I'd start listening to myself! Surely we're not the only family to be in this situation, and with the positive things I've done we're on our way to changing our lives for the BETTER. So why do I feel so bad??

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-01-2008
Sun, 11-02-2008 - 10:45am
My AH-HA moment came this past summer when a storm came through and demolished a pole barn on our property. Homeowners' covered the damage but my husband (who never looks at bills or the checking account) saw just how much we still owe on a HELOC because the insurance wanted to know how much we owe on the property. It is interest only and about the only thing that we have been paying is the interest. I have resolved to pay down debt because we are paying BIG stupid tax on a monthly basis. It made me mad that he thought that it should have been paid down. He doesn't want anything to do with the budget but he wants me to magically pay it all down. He keeps much more money to blow than I do. I'm the one who worries about paying the debts off but he hit the roof because we still owe so much ($36,000) on the HELOC. Never mind that a large chunk of this went to a truck for HIM and a camper that was HIS idea). We also remodeled and that helped contribute to the HELOC amount. Anyway, that's my story and how I got started on this journey........
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-16-2008
Sun, 11-02-2008 - 10:51am

My A-ha moment was in early 2001. My husband was in the Air Force and we were living in NJ. Our house had been broken into for the 2nd time in a year and my husband was going to have to go overseas for several months. Our neighborhood was getting very scary and I didn't want to live there by myself. My husband was supposed to get out of the military in a year, so we decided we'd sell the house, I'd move home to Colorado and he'd rent an apartment and join me when he got out.


When I started adding up how much it was going to cost to move and keep two households I realized we were in big trouble. We were about $15k in cc debt at the time and we also had a pretty hefty car payment. That's when I started reading simple living and debt support message boards.


Because of 9/11 it took nearly 2 years before he was able to separate from the AF, and the money we made from selling our house was long gone and we relied heavily on our cc, while he looked for work. When

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-12-2007
Sun, 11-02-2008 - 12:14pm

My A-HA moment was in early 2007 when I read "All Your Worth" by Elizabeth & Amelia Warren.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-03-2007
Sun, 11-02-2008 - 10:39pm
My A-HA moment was two years ago when my credit card minimum payment was $210.
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