Working at Keeping My Head Above Water

            So many people I know are working every week just to keep their heads above water. They never seem to have enough money to save or to get ahead, or enough for a problem—like a dead car battery or a new transmission.

            I wonder how many people in the world live paycheck to pay check and never really think about the possibility of ever getting ahead. It makes me sad. I remember the feeling of having all my bills paid off. It feels great to know that every bit of money you make that month is either going to a current bill or into the savings. A burden so great, almost that you didn’t know you were carrying because you carried it so long, is suddenly lifted. And why, because you took the time to chip away at the big picture while you were living in the now.

            I think this is the reason why most of America can’t understand the vast need for us to get rid of our country’s debt, because we all live in debt. The reality of being debt free is almost impossible for anyone to imagine. Most of us have a house payment for our entire adult lives. Then we retire, and we begin the reverse mortgage so we can live the lives we are used to until we die.

            There has got to be an answer. Are we all living beyond our means? Are credit cards and the big credit machine in the sky making it far too easy to buy things in advance that we simply can’t afford? Then we spend the rest of our lives paying 20% interest and no principle for way too long?

            Suze Orman often talks about these kinds of questions in her talk show about money and the unwise decisions we make about buying things we don’t need way before we have the finances to get them. I know I’m guilty for that. I bought a BMW when I really shouldn’t have. And I have eked out the high payments for years just because I wanted to have the prestige of driving a high-end car. You get the headaches with the prestige. No one tells you that on the front end.

            I’m finally to the place where almost all my debt is paid off. I have five months and I’m going to be debt free, according to my calculations. That makes me very excited. But I have to tell you that it didn’t come without a price. I haven’t taken a vacation in 3 years. I haven’t bought anything big for 3 years. I don’t go out to eat but once or twice a month. I haven’t had to pay for anything like a roof or an air conditioning for 3 years. And Lord knows in the next three months if I have to, I’ll be back in the debt arm again.

            But I say all this to tell you that working toward being debt free has been worth every bit of the sacrifice. I am so looking forward to paying that last payment on my car and living a life without ten tons of debt on my shoulders.

            I encourage all of you to make a plan to get out of debt. It is a struggle and it takes a lot of a sacrifice, but I believe it’s really going to be worth it.