Escaping the Bonds of Credit Card Debt

Like many people my age, I have had a struggle over the past decade with my spending habits. My excuses are varied and many, ranging from depression, going to school, medical emergencies, sporadic pay checks, and trying to look more successful than I really was. Anyone who has been ensnared in Credit Card debt will be familiar with these, and will probably have one or twelve to add to it. Fortunately, I was able to turn things around, and through a change in habits, a determined goal, and a fresh perspective, I am now about a month shy of declaring my freedom from credit card debt. There are no words to describe the relief I feel at this reality.

Step 1: Making the Decision

How did I do it? Well, as can be expected with a debt of close to 6 figures, it wasn’t easy, simple, or immediate. There are no quick fixes to a problem of this magnitude, no matter what you may read on bankruptcy billboards. For myself, however, I found that the hardest step in the process of eliminating credit card debt was to make the decision to get out of debt.

Step 2: Facing Reality

It took a concerted effort of looking my debt right in the face, analyzing the amount, the toll it was taking on all aspects of my life, and the out of control snow-balling effect at which it was growing. I think before that firm decision point, I was purposely avoiding the reality of it all.

Step 3: Finding Support

Once I faced my problem and declared that I was going to put an end to it, my next step was to get support. My husband and I had gotten ourselves into this mess, and at first, we felt that we needed to get ourselves out of it alone. That was a mistake. Now- don’t get me wrong. I am not soliciting asking others for financial aid. I do not condone bail-outs of that nature. What I mean is that by hiding this truth from our family and friends, we found it hard to have good relationships. They didn’t know that we had cut our spending habits. They did not know that we were in the process of changing our lifestyle. They did not know the reasoning for every time we refused a night out with them. That was wrong and it sent mixed signals.

Step 4: Going Public

Once we opened up to them about our situation, and our decision to get out of our extensive credit card debt, they were understanding and supportive. They found new cost-effective ways to spend time with us, and were open to alterations in old habits like renting a movie and ordering pizza rather than going out to dinner and a movie.

Step 5: Changing the Perspective

The final step that had to be taken to solidify our new lifestyle was to change our perspective. Instead of seeing our new habits as down-grades or punishments, we tried to look at them as stepping stones to a new future. Whenever we felt about whining about how much we missed our favorite (insert inane, spendy non-essential here) we would mention how great it would be once we were out of debt. When we had to refuse eating out to lunch with co-workers we would think about the huge weight that would be lifted off our chests once we no longer owed money to the great plastic God. We began to plan a big vacation that we could go on after getting out of debt that could be paid for in cash with the money we spent on minimum payments on multiple credit cards for one month.

I can’t wait. It will be awesome.

Amanda Goodwin shares her experience with debt and offers her credit card tips to readers like you so you can learn from her mistakes. She hopes sharing her journey will help others make the decision, face reality, find support, go public and change perspective.