It all began when my husband lost his job in Atlanta a few months after we closed on a new house. He had trouble finding another job and I was disabled at the time and unable to work. He was finally offered a job in Houston at a 1/3 cut in pay but it was a job so we moved.
His new job did not include health insurance so we had to get private insurance which cost 25% of his take-home pay every month. It took us a year to get the house in Atlanta sold so we paid two house notes that took about 60% of his take-home pay. During that year, in order to pay our bills, we pulled money out of IRAs. Then we had tax penalties to pay. That meant credit cards. Even with insurance, we still had medical expenses of $10,000.00-15,000.00 per year. That money wound up on credit cards every year.
Every year we went another $10-15,000.00 in debt, all on credit cards and at anywhere from 15-29.9% interest. Now we have almost $125,000.00 in credit card debt. Every time I see one of those shows where they held some poor person in over their head in credit card debt, they have maybe $30,000.00 in debt. I'd like to see one of those people offer to 'save' me. Give me some money.
Anyway, this is not going to be about how to fix your credit. Your already know what you are supposed to do. You've heard the Dave Ramseys and Suze Ormans tell you to spend less. Pay yourself first by putting 10% into savings before you start spending, blah blah blah. You and I already know that. That is like saying, "Exercise more and eat less." It is easy to say but hard to put into practice.
I am going to post about the everyday struggles. The fights I have with my husband because he wants to go out to lunch every day and I want my Starbucks. Do we cancel cable? Is gym membership frivolous or is it health care? What is a reasonable indulgence and what is wasteful?
I am going to ask for comments and I am sure that I won't like most of what I get back but I probably need to hear it so y'all, please, read and respond. He will ignore it. It will probably cause more fights but that will give me something more to post.
