Does Debt SCARE You?

It wasn't that long ago that I was in the midst of what felt like being buried by debt.

I rarely opened my mail because I knew I would only see paper reminders of every debt I owed and to whom. While I kept up with my bills most of the time, I often missed my payment due dates by 2-3 days, incurring multiple late fees and raising the amounts due the following month.

I liked my job but in my mind, I began loathing it because it was a constant reminder of what I was "forced" to do to make ends meet. I started to resent a lot of things and felt like I was trapped in the never ending cycle of work, pay bills, work, pay bills, work, pay bills.

No matter how much I tried to pay off this debt, it seemed to be growing! How in the heck could that have happened?!

About 62% of my debt was student loans and 38% was owed to eight different credit card accounts. My debt reached six figures when I calculated it. I realized this was more than some peoples' entire mortgages. I flipped out!

So what were the top 5 things that made debt so scary to me at that time?

Here they are in no particular order:

Uncertainty: Not knowing if I was going to make it month-to-month or even paycheck-to-paycheck scared the living daylights out of me. Where would I live? What would I do? How long would I have before the collections started? Had I already been reported to collections? All these things ran through my mind daily, sometimes hourly. It negatively impacted my job, my relationships, my entire life. I was not present for most things because I was so worried and anxious about how to get the bills to stop coming. "What about paying them off, Kristi?" That little voice inside my head would pop in, only to be discredited by "How are you going to do that? You're already working 60 hours a week?!" And that negative voice won out. I let it.

Overwhelm: The definition of overwhelm is "to bury or drown beneath a huge mass; to defeat completely; to give too much of a thing to (someone); inundate." This is EXACTLY how I was feeling. I was drowning under a mass of debt, I felt defeated completely, and I was inundated by these bills. Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Sometimes it impacts you mentally. Sometimes it shows up physically through fatigue, getting sick or through other physical ailments. And sometimes it shows up spiritually. You feel like no one can help unless it comes from "that which is greater," a.k.a.God or the Universe. I felt all those things and this overwhelm did show up in me through forgetfulness, irritability, tiredness, headaches, digestive issues and a sense of hopelessness. I let it.

Anger: This is a memorable one because at any given time leading up to beginning my journey, I was angry what seemed like all the time. Ultimately, I learned that I was really angry at myself for putting my life into this tailspin. It was my own doing. I remember being upset to have to go to events anywhere because I couldn't really scratch up gas money. I remember being upset that I couldn't go out with friends because I didn't have money. I was angry I had to pay rent, to buy groceries, to pay these credit card companies. And, I was really angry the student loans never seemed to decrease no matter how much I paid. (I really needed meditation and prayer back then!) This anger seemed to persist and I let it.

Feeling Out of Control: As a type A personality "robbing Peter to pay Paul" gave me no sense control whatsoever! It was a shell game I was playing over and over. I knew it was just a matter of time before I was not going to be able to do this anymore. That ticking time bomb game seemed to propel into "out of control" feelings and created the sense of no choices. Little did I realize, there is always a choice. It was pretty bad at this point, but I could have decided to take control instead of letting it spiral out. I could have decided that I wouldn't be in debt anymore and change my behavior. Instead, I choose to be in this place by my actions and habits. If I wanted something different, I needed to DO something different…This "out of control" feeling was growing and I let it.

Lack of Progress: I mentioned earlier that my student loans seemed to be growing? I know now they were. The payments I made didn't even cover the interest, so each month my balances were creeping up. I hadn't consolidated these student loans so I didn't realize the pace that the overall total owed was growing at. The credit card debt was growing also because I used my credit cards as an emergency fund when I wasn't making ends meet. (Instead of actually creating an emergency fund!) It seemed no matter how much more I paid each month, everything was up! Wasn't it supposed to go down? I wasn't looking at the whole picture. I didn't have a plan and when you have no plan, you plan to fail, as they say. If I had created some order and implemented a strategy to help keep me focused, I know I would have made more progress. That didn't come till later. In the meantime, I thought I had a plan by paying a little more than the minimums on each bill every month but no progress was made at all. In fact, it was going in the wrong direction. Up. And, I let it.

All these things I "let" happen are because I wasn't paying attention to my money. I wasn't changing my behavior with money. And, I wasn't aiming towards any goal other than trying to keep my head above water.

Does this sound familiar?

When I decided to take charge of my money, there was no more "letting" things happen to me. I wanted to change.

I went online and there was this guy I had been listening to on AM radio named Dave Ramsey. I quickly Googled him and enrolled in my first (of two) Financial Peace University (FPU) classes. The first time around, I realized I had an income problem and had more money going out each month than coming in. I needed to fix that.

About 6 months later, I took FPU a second time and began tackling my debt. In a little over 2.5 years, I have paid off just about $78,000 in debt!

I am down to one last student loan, but will NEVER forget the massive scare that debt created in my life each and every day.

I couldn't have made this much progress without the information that was shared by Dave and my FPU Coordinators. And for that, I will be ever grateful.

This experience is exactly why I became a Financial Coach and FPU Coordinator. I know what it is like to feel stuck, to be overwhelmed, to be virtually paralyzed by debt.

And...I also know how it feels and what it feels like to get on the other side of that debt!

The sense of relief that you have knowing your debit card won't be declined, knowing exactly what's going on with your money because you have a detailed budget and that feeling of accomplishment each time you knock another debt off your list! Those feelings are indescribable, especially when you have a past full of debt like I did. And, I want that for YOU!

I became a Financial Coach because I am passionate about helping people fight their way out of debt, change their behavior with money and create a financial plan to make their dreams come true.

Working with me, YOU will be the HERO of your story and I will simply be the guide who helps you get there!

If you are ready to take that next step, schedule your free consultation today!

-Kristi