My Budgeting Story- Part One

This story is deeply personal, and I struggled whether or not to share it. I’ve learned so much in the past few years because others were bold enough to share their stories, and so I’m doing the same in hopes of showing one other person a better way.

I was never bad with money, but I was never good with it either. My first job was at a fruit and vegetable farm when I was 16, stocking shelves, cleaning, and working the register for $7 per hour. It was the first time in my life that I was making my own money and not relying on my parents, but I didn’t really know what to do with the money. I can’t think of anything grand that I spent it on. Most of the money was likely spent on everything teenagers buy- clothes, going to the movies, makeup, and Starbucks.

The next time that I made what I considered to be a lot of money was waitressing at a restaurant in college. I would end a shift with a couple hundred dollars in my hand, and I had no idea what to do with it. I remember going to Best Buy after work one day and buying a digital camera just because I had the money to afford it, and my other camera was old-ish. But again, nothing really grand, just money spent away on food, Smirnoff Twisters, clothes, and entertainment.

Now, I could go through each phase of my life here and what job I had and what I spent the money on- But that wouldn’t be useful and it wouldn’t help to tell my story. So next up was my first “career job,” the job that allowed me to afford my first apartment, pay rent for the first time, and for the first time in my life, be what I considered at the time “a real adult.” A couple of years into that job, I decided I wanted a new laptop. My current MacBook was old– It only worked while plugged in. I had purchased an iPad mini the year prior, but it still didn’t replace an actual computer.

I decided on a MacBook Pro, since I’ve always been an Apple user. Financially, I didn’t have the entire $1500 to pay for it, so I decided to open a credit card through Apple’s preferred provider, Barclay Financial. If I paid it off within a year, there was 0% APR financing, so the laptop wouldn’t cost me any more money than it’s retail rate. This was my first credit card.

A few months after buying the laptop and paying my monthly payments on time, Barclay increased my spending limit- Whoa! I could spend more money now.. and I did. I continued to make minimum payments each month, and continued to swipe the card. I didn’t know any better. Now, let me be clear- It was my responsibility to know better. It was my responsibility to educate myself as to what credit means, what would happen if I only paid the monthly minimums, and what it means to spend more than you have. I do feel that our society does not do a good job of educating young people about budgeting and finance, but still, it was my responsibility and my fault. Within a year, I had $12,000 of credit card debt and an apartment filled with more stuff than I had room for.

I decided to ignore it. I didn’t tell any one, and at some point, I stopped paying off the credit card. My memory isn’t as strong as it used to be and I’m not sure when exactly I gave up, but I did. Life continued, and so did the phone calls from debt collectors. I didn’t answer- I would see that 800 number come up on my phone, get a pit in my stomach, and press “ignore.” They didn’t give up. A few years later, my mom told me that she received a phone call from a debt collector looking for me- They weren’t able to give her any information besides their phone number and a general idea of what they were calling for. She asked me about it, and I knew it was time.

I can still picture sitting in my office on a Friday afternoon in May calling the company back. I had to finally face something that I had hidden from for years. After a long phone call, I had a plan- The collection company and I agreed on a settlement and a payment plan that I could barely afford. I knew that it would make things very tight for a long time until I finished making the payments, but I also knew that it would eventually be over.

Since that phone call, I’ve learned a lot more about debt settlements, credit scores, collection agencies, etc. There are varying opinions on how to handle debt and again, I didn’t educate myself- I just wanted it to go away.

Stay tuned for Part Two!