How I Vanquished My $25,000 Debt Monster

 

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There is a reason why history is taught in schools. So we can learn from our mistakes and not repeat it. Looking back at my family history, I should have learned from my Mom’s mistake. She was (gasp) 25k in debt 10 years ago and had to file for bankruptcy. What does it mean when you decide that there is no other way than to file for bankruptcy? It means that you give up.

There’s no other way to spin it. It means that you are willing to take a seven year exile of not having credit, the inability to have a credit card, purchase a car, and a house without a steep price tag. I did not want to be in the same position as my Mom but its scary how fast 25k can creep up.

When I was twenty one years old, I had a pretty good time. I worked for Cutco as a certified knifeologist salesman and as a part time taekwondo instructor. I had only a car payment, car insurance, and a phone bill to take care of. I was just doing typical stuff.

I would go out on the weekends with my friends, go clubbing, play video games, and play sports. I was going to school part time at a community college close by. I took three classes per quarter but didn’t have much direction on what I wanted to go with my life.

After one year, things started to change. This was a pivotal point in my life when the debt started to creep in. I was no longer making money as for Cutco and my taekwondo gig was only making 250 dollars a month. As I try to go to school and find a replacement for my salesman job, expenses are still coming in consistently. Car payment, insurance, phone, and the addition of school expenses keep piling on.

Within a four month period I was over $2000 in debt. I was a part time student looking for a job that can make consistent money. I was tired of the up and down rollercoaster pay as a salesman. It took six months until I was able to get another job. I landed a job as a relay operator for the deaf community. Not in a million years would I have seen myself as a relay operator.

I had my own little cubicle typing over 60 words a minute working 8-10 hours a day. Now I know what if felt like to work at a cubicle farm. After a year, I quit my full time cubicle job to save my hands and sanity. Even working full time as a relay operator, I still added more to the debt grave I was digging.

My car needed major maintenance which cost a few thousand dollars. I never even thought about having an emergency fund back then. This included new tires, ac going out, and the master/slave cylinder crapping out on me. Here I am thinking Hondas are super reliable…they’re not. Without proper maintenance and care, it can be a nightmare just like any vehicle on the road today.

Six months…that’s another half a year with no income and my debt had ballooned $10,000. I was barely able to keep the bleeding from completely destroying me by paying the multiple credit card bills on time. I was too embarrassed to ask my parents for help and I felt that it was my responsibility to get my self out of it. After working as a relay operator, I got a job working for MedAmerica as a Medical Biller. The cubicle farm always seemed to suck me back in. I felt like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix. I was just typing my life away, one keystroke at a time.

Two years and one transfer to southern California later, I was fired after three months in my new location. During that time, gas was over four dollars and I drove a one hour commute to work. I knew how it felt like working at a cubicle farm and now I knew how it felt to join the rat race. The commutes were soul crushing; a terrible way to start a day…just to get fired after three months.

Once again, I had no job. It took three months to find a job as a swim instructor. Here’s a little secret: I’m a terrible swimmer. I don’t float, water hates me, and water loves to get in my ears quickly. But what can I do? I had to make money and I had to find something to keep me afloat.

The drive was still one hour but the job was fun! I was able to work with kids and splash around the pool all day. I got super tanned and I mean Wesley Snipes in the Blade series type of tan. Great flicks by the way.
When the summer of 2008 ended, the swim gig was also done. I decided that I was going LeBron style and take my talent to south beach…of San Diego. I was 15k in debt at this time. I had no cash flow coming since I moved to a new

location near my Aunt at Imperial Beach. No cash meant that I had to rely on my credit card.
Cash advance burned me badly and before I got in the military, I was selling shoes and taking tourist on Segway tours. Both those jobs had no future and it was not helping me reduce my debt. I was 26 years old and I was $25,000 in debt. I joined the Air Force with over 25k over my head and that was when I started chipping away.
It’s hard to describe that kind of burden. I felt like a failure, I was ashamed, and I felt hopeless.

America: The land where dreams come true has become a nightmare.

Every month I get a reminder of just how much of a failure I was and the worse part of that statement was the interest charge. I’ve mentioned it on a previous article before, interest doesn’t sleep.

The end of those Band of America Visa statements interest charge was up to $75 dollars – for each card. When I hear about stories of people being in unimaginable debt, I know the feeling because I experienced it first hand. It took over three years to pay off my debt.

In order get out of my own debt grave, I had to have the right mindset and a rock solid plan. I don’t wish on anyone to happen what happened to me and I hope that my story keeps you away from the mistakes I’ve made. My master plan on slaying my debt monster is a follows.

• Cash flow: Cash flow rules when it comes to paying off debt. I’ve tried sales for many years and it just never worked for me. In sales, commission pay is the only game in town. The commission rollercoaster pay of sales crippled me and was one of the many culprits of my debt grave. It’s all about consistency. Find a job that makes a solid income consistently. Starting out as a no stripe trainee in the Air Force, my first paycheck was $32 bucks! I knew it would only go up from there and I’ve been getting paid consistently twice a month for the last seven years. It was slow at first, but as I moved up in rank, I bit huge chunks out of my debt.
• Spend less: Sounds obvious but for some reason it’s something that gets overlooked. Remember the number one rule when it comes to debt: When you’re buried in debt, the first rule is to stop digging. We must take all measures to cut down all unnecessary expenses. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, cable TV, fancy phone plans, and internet have to go. The exception only if any of those services can make extra income for us. I lived in the dorms for 2 ½ years and the only thing I spent money on was internet since I sold things on EBay. As a civilian, a way to cut down would be all of the above plus maybe renting a smaller house or apartment. Also car payments ruined me early! Never finance a car. Ride a bike if possible. Do everything necessary to cut down to the basics.
• Urgency: $25,000 is a lot of money. Every time I saw my balance, It would infuriate me and light a fire in me…Every. Single. Time. Twice a month I got paid and the first check always pays the credit card. Sometime I would even pay up to 80% of my monthly check while I sold extra crap I had on EBay. Additionally, I would walk around the whole base and go by garbage cans to find TV’s and other cool items just to clean them up and sell them on Craigslist. I even walked around the base parking lot looking for loose change so I can add it to my payment. Having debt made me angry, motivated, and desperate. I was doing everything I could to pay it off.
• Staying power: It doesn’t just take one or two surges of cutting down expenses here and a little fury of making side hustle money there to make $25,000 go away. For me, I needed my family, my girlfriend (now wife) to keep me going. I even wrote down and celebrated my small little victories just so I can keep on fighting. The moment we turn into the negative side and decide to give up is the day that debt monster knows we’re weak and the monster feeds to get even bigger. Don’t let it. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Please don’t eat real elephants.
• Make more money: Cash flow might rule but in the world of debt slaying, big money wins. If last week you were making $10/hr and a month later found a job that pays $20/hr, you can pay off debt twice as fast. Find a higher paying job, work side hustles, or juggle for tips! Just make more money.
• Believe: It’s so easy to get crushed by debt. I’ve seen it first hand growing up. My mother was in the same boat and felt she had no choice but to file for bankruptcy. There’s a better way but we have to believe. Believe that slaying the debt monster is possible. Believe that the plan will work even if it seems to take forever. Believe that you can do it. I did. I believe you will to.