Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Our Story part 1: How we got into this mess

When we started working on this blog, we wanted to create a place where we could keep ourselves accountable; and hopefully provide encouragement for those of you who read our stories that the future is not as grim as it may appear at times. Coming to the realization that we had to start taking responsibility for our finances took some time, and we have had to constantly reaffirm our commitment to our goals and our future. As we move closer to our being received into the Orthodox Church, I thought it would be appropriate for some financial confession.

If I'm being honest with myself, I financed my way through college and graduate school by reasoning that ten years (the estimated time to repay student loans from the time you graduate) really isn't that long, and I'd have a job that paid well enough to cut that time in half. When I received my bill for $28,000 from Gordon College, I was just thankful that it wasn't six figures like others of my graduating class. Of course, I didn't take into account that my first job out of college would pay me $7.50/hr, nor that I would jump right into graduate school-- taking on another $25,000 in student loan debt. I also had to fix my car ($3000) and buy a new one. (Yes, I bought a new car.) $14,000 later and I was $67,000 in the hole. Then we got married (bringing another $15,000 into the mix), got a well-paying job, and proceeded to blow our money like children! By the time we realized that we were in trouble, the damage had been done: we were in deep debt and struggling to pay our monthly bills.

Looking back on it now, a lot of this could have been avoided if we had been a little more discerning in our choices. For one thing, I definitely wouldn't have hit "accept" on the loan with a 10% interest rate.  I probably also would have bought a nice used car with the money I got from selling the old one. Now we're stuck paying for our mistakes, and missing out on a lot of the fun things in life now because we've made a decision to change our family tree and give our family a brighter future.

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