As Juliet and I completed our 5th anniversary weekend in Oklahoma, we were discussing on the way back how great it would have been to have started our marriage without going into debt.
As a young married couple, we initially had just one credit card. We used it to buy groceries and then promptly paid it off each paycheck. It allowed more freedom in our grocery selection as we weren't always trying to stretch $20 for the week.
As we continued using it responsibly, I'm sure something whispered in our ear that it would be nice to buy each other something once in awhile. Then our first Christmas as a married couple came (Or maybe this was Christmas #2 can't remember) and we were now adults who needed to buy gifts for others, not just receive them ourselves.
Well Mr. Credit Card was right there along the way, assisting in gift selection, and whispering in our ears that it would be easy to pay things off in time.
Christmas now had come and gone, and we were still spending a little here, and a little there. Our grocery supplement credit card, had now brought us with open arms into the world of debt. This one card was not a huge burden, but for a couple struggling as it was to have any leftover after bills, it provided a way to get what we wanted, despite living on a limited budget.
We used it here and there, and most everywhere, until finally one day, we realized we were running out of room on that one little card, and might need another. And so, as things go, we got another card (this time with a higher limit), and continued along our merry little way.
When we moved to Austin, it was a spur of the moment thing, and even though we knew I had a job, and that Juliet would have one, we didn't adjust mentally for the cost of living increase. During our first months in Austin, the two credit cards allowed us to not starve, and covered moving costs (though I imagine we still technically owe some moving expenses to family from that trip.)
It has been a worthwhile move coming to Austin, but the transition proved dramatic and we gradually began accumulating more cards, to offset our budget deficit and in all honesty, to be able to have some stuff of our own.
So the retail stores were generous with their card offerings, and a few Christmases further on, we needed some extra for gifts. The cycle repeated until right about January of this year.
We had numerous cards we were trying to pay off, and finally got them consolidated down to an easy monthly payment, that covers our minimums and does not ding our credit.
Since eliminating cards, we have been able to legitiately purchase what is needed, on money we actually have, instead of credit.
Still, I would love to have all of that debt eliminated in one fell swoop. My mom whose house finally sold is in that position, and to a degree I envy the potential freedom she will soon experience. Freedom from debt.
Of course as former debtors, the last thing we want to do is fall right back into the trap of amassing more debt. It's one thing to amass debt to God as Christians, which is totally and forever covered in Christ. Monetary debt rarely affords us more than one chance to just start fresh.
As we chip away slowly at something that was our own doing; however, we do learn the lesson of consequence. Our consequence is thankfully nothing more than wasting most of our paychecks on debt when we could be saving for the future, or some other worthwhile venture. While living without using credit has been freeing, there is still some discipline that needs to be involved.
In the Old Testament, every 7 years, debts were forgiven of debtors as part of their system of governing. I hope that those forgiven of debt would then use that freedom to start fresh.
It is tempting I suppose to finally have freedom, and not use it on the same pitfalls as before. Staying in for dinner instead of eating out. Saving for vacation instead of cutting it close to the bank.
Our stubbornness as humans would have us often repeating the same mistakes. I think that by paying our debt down slowly, we are learning better money management and budgeting techniques, and realizing the drastic effect it can have on finances.
Our one little grocery card turned into a mountain of debt, with only a few scattered obejects to show for it. More than those objects, much of it went to intangibles like food.
I think for now we will be content with our little mountain, gradually chipping away, until we are finally free to start anew. I think by then we'll appreciate that freedom enough to not waste it by going into more debt.
Either that or we'll win the lottery and pay it all at once....wishful thinking doesn't balance checkbooks though.
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