Hello again! It’s me, and I’m back in debt.
If you read my previous posts, which are four or five years old by now, I managed to pay down a significant portion of my credit-card debt over a few months thanks mostly to getting a second job. Then, of course, things in my life changed, and my finances shifted accordingly. My primary employer went out of business, so I took a big pay cut from that. I was able to pick up more shifts at my second job to make up for the loss, so that helped, and a few months later I added a new second job. Between the two jobs, I was doing well for about a year.
Then I had health problems, and those are expensive! My cat also had health problems, and those aren’t cheap even if you only weigh 8 lbs. I had to cut back to one job to accommodate my health, and with the lower income and the increased expenses, I fell back into credit-card debt again.
A family member helped me repay some student-loan debt, for which I am forever grateful. I actually feel guilty about it, but I’m trying to ignore that feeling and roll with it. I ended up with very little debt after undergrad, so I got help there too, and I’m trying to look at grad school the same way.
I still have a car loan, and I’m paying down my medical debt on top of all of it. Thankfully, I was able to get no-interest payment plans for all of my medical debt. That helps me psychologically — I pay the minimum and don’t worry that I’m losing ground by not paying more. The debts will be gone by the end of their terms, which are about three years each across three debts. Two of those are down to a year left.
The medical debt is minor compared to many stories out there. I had Obamacare for the first year or so. Say what you will, but I wouldn’t have been able to get insurance without Obamacare due to preexisting conditions. It was a higher deductible than one would want, but it did give me a cap on what I ultimately owed. Starting in November 2017, I had an employer who provided health insurance. The deductibles still weren’t stellar, and I made an insurance choice in 2018 that ended up being more costly than the other option, but the deductibles again capped my expenditures. I realize that people can end up owing tens of thousands from health issues, so I’m trying to look at my (currently) $5000 of medical debt as not that bad.
I’m very, very stressed out about my debt, especially my credit-card debt. I feel guilty about it and I feel ashamed and I lose sleep over worrying about how I’m going to pay it off more quickly. I’ve made some changes recently that will help:
- I got a new job, which got me a gross yearly raise of $4540. That works out to about $200 a month after taxes, benefits, and 401k commitment
- I got rid of a car-insurance company charging me $100 a month and (for real) switched to Geico at $52 per month, saving $48 per month
- I got rid of my cable, saving $66 per month
- I moved part of my credit-card balance when I got a no-interest offer from one of my other cards. The minimum payment dropped $35 per month
That all works out to about $350 per month of new room in my bank account. I’ve also started tracking all of my balances in Excel (thanks to the mobile app), including all my debts and savings accounts.
I’m restarting this blog for the encouragement to make more changes. Even though I never had any readership, blogging helped me stay on track before. I could use the boost now, even if I’m typing into the void 🙂
the balance feat 