I'm twenty six years old and I've lived my life like pretty much anyone else my age. Growing up I had the typical summer jobs along with after school work. I saved some money when I was younger only to spend it all on a car when I was 17. After I got into college, I borrowed as much as I could from the government through student loans to pay for college. My parents made enough money for me not to qualify for full student aid, but not enough to help me with college, so I couldn't get all of my money in government loans and had to get higher interest student loans from a bank. I also bought a newer car and managed to keep a credit card and check protection account maxed out.
When I graduated college, I started to realize that the 30,000 dollars that seemed like so much when I took my first job wasn't going to cut it with all of the bills I had. I was giving 15% of my money to uncle sam, paying 30% of it in loan payments, and paying most of the rest of it out just trying to keep up with the rest of my bills. I was living a paycheck at a time. I lived in constant fear that some emergency would happen that I wouldn't be able to pay for, or worse yet that I would lose my job and have to go for months without work. I was a slave to my job and a slave to money. I hated it!
That's when I decided to change the way I was living. I started to put extra money towards paying off my short term debts every time I got a chance. Whenever I paid off one debt I put that much more towards another one until I had all of my short term debts paid off. I'm resisting buying new toys if I can't afford to pay cash for them and have started a budget. This blog is meant to outline the steps that I'm taking in trying to gain total financial freedom. If anyone out there reads it, I hope it helps you out at least a little bit. If you've got any ideas for me, post them, please! They say knowledge is power and I'm a firm believer that nothing can change your life like one well informed decision.
