sacrifices

uno

sacrifices

April 2016

Debt Check – 3%

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First let me start off by saying that I know trying to pay off upwards of $80,000 in debt is going to be a challenge. I know that I will have to make some serious sacrifices to do it, but that doesn’t mean the sacrifices are going to be easy. Let me premise the first sacrifice I made for you. I moved out of my parents’ house when I was around 17. Why? Well among a multitude of reasons that I won’t really go into detail about, I had a full time job and college scholarships that allowed me to do it. I was eager and READY to take on the world. Ready to be a successful adult! And for the most part I was a successful adult. I lived on-campus for all of my college years then after graduation, I got my own apartment and pretty much had the adulting thing down. Never made a late payment on a single bill and had a pretty decent job.

Fast-forward to 2016, ten years later. I, the “successful” adult, was moving back into my parent’s house.

And yea I know plenty of people move back home for one reason or another blah blah blah. BUT CERTAINLY NOT ME.

It wasn’t fair! I had done everything RIGHT. Got the degrees (three…humble brag) and certifications, had the really good paying job. But yet, after ten or so years, I had to make a choice. I had to give up the thought that I could pay off this debt in a reasonable amount of time and still carry rent payments that were at a minimum $1,000 per month (Thanks Metro DC area -_-). And I don’t know about ya’ll but I am NOT trying to be 67 still paying off grad school debt. TUH.

So I called my mom (literally the best momma in the world…HEY MOMMA!) in January of 2016 and said…. I’m coming home. I created an excel spreadsheet with all my debts and calculated how much I would pay each month and how long it would take for me to pay it ALL off. Inspiring? Sure. Crazy? Probably. Now between January and April 2016, I was having MAJOR meltdowns. I was so ANGRY that I had to move back home. I felt like I had FAILED. You deal with ALL these thoughts of depression and sadness that you couldn’t do “it” (whatever “it” is) on your own.

I followed my “so-called” Recipe for Success.

4 cups of Hard Work

2 cups of a good paying career 3 cups of College Education 1 cup of finishing the CPA exam

Take Hard Work and College Education; mix it thoroughly with finishing the CPA exam.

Blend it with a good paying career.

Bake it with years of tenacity.

Serve daily.

I felt bamboozled! Hoodwinked! Why couldn’t I still live on my own and pay my debt off in a reasonable amount of time? But I knew if I wanted this to work and if I wanted the next decade of my life to be poppin’, I had to do this. Living on a strict budget…every…single…month. Moving back home with my mom into a space that’s literally a fourth of the apartment size I came from. Getting over this ridiculous notion that I had failed at life because I decided to get free room and board.

At the end of a day, this was a choice. I can very well afford my own place and live on my own. I know that now. I made the choice to go back home. I made the choice to pay off upwards of $60,000 in debt (the remaining balance) in less than 22 months. And hey, so far… of the NINE debts I have…ONE was already paid off by the time I moved home…. I just finished paying off the THIRD debt and FIVE will be paid off by December of THIS year.