Confession (update pt. 5)

I'm not saying this to put all our cards out on the table and reveal too much to our readers. I'm not saying this to receive handouts. I'm not saying this for pity. I'm not saying this so you can judge us.

I'm saying this so we can be accountable. I'm saying this so that we can be proud of a HUGE accomplishment when everything is all said and done. I'm saying this so we might inspire another family to do the same. I'm saying this because it's on our minds daily and when it's over, we'll feel so at peace.

We're in $35,000+ debt. Credit cards only. Not including student loans or mortgage. You might ask us...WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING? Believe me, we were thinking the best we could. But when...

You graduate from college in August 2004, and apply for jobs you don't even get an interview for, and instead you sub. And you sub some more. And you work at the YMCA. And you teach piano lessons. But you don't get health insurance, so you pay for your own. And then you DO get a full time teaching job in 2007. And you teach summer school. And piano lessons. And you cancel your gym membership. And you have a baby. And daycare costs $720/month. It adds up. And it adds up quickly.

Sure, we had some fun with those credit cards. We went to Jamaica. But I wouldn't trade that for anything. It was something we'd never done. And we wanted to do it before we had kids. And who knows when the next "just us" vacation will be. That vacation was invaluable to us. Sure, next time we hope we'll have a vacation fund of some sort to actually pay for a vacation instead of racking up our credit card bill. We didn't spent outrageously. Look in my closet if you don't believe me. I HATE about 80% of the clothes that are in it. Either they don't fit or they are old.

We tried the Dave Ramsay snowball, and we were doing so well. But then Colin came along and daycare expenses put our momentum at an absolute halt. Hamsters on a wheel--that's how we felt with our credit cards.

Now that you *maybe* understand, you ask, "NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?" Because, obviously, something needs to be done.

And to that I say, "Not what are we going to do, but what did we do?

Through work, we have an Employee Assistance Program through Family Means in Stillwater, MN. We saw a credit counselor there who helped us "balance our budget." He gave us some tips. And he set us up with the Debt Management Program (DMP). It isn't a debt settlement program (which I understand can be a bit sketchy). What happens is that our credit cards get closed. And we're okay with this because we really don't use our cards very much anymore anyway. Our interest rates get lowered to INSANE APRs. What was once a 20% APR is now a 7% APR. So that right there cuts down A LOT of our debt. And now instead of sending money to our creditors, we send it to Family Means and our counselor disperses it to them using Dave Ramsay's snowball. All clients get put on a five year plan to pay their debts off. Ours is more like 53 months (4.5 years) because our debt isn't TOO high. But then we're always going to pay a few $100 more a month to get it down faster. Our credit scores may go down, but only by 10-40 points (more on the 10ish side for us because, again, our numbers aren't THAT high). And then they'll go back up again.

We are SO excited for this. We left our appointment feeling less burdened already. Kevin told me I should have convinced him earlier. I told him he should just listen to me the first time :) We're set to start in July.

I plan on letting you know when good things happen with this. I want to share this accomplishment with you. Maybe if you're in the same situation, it will help or inspire you.