Debt Freedom begins with the choice
In “The Most Beautiful Book in the World,” Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt tells the story of a group of women prisoners who happen upon an illegal pen and an empty notebook. With this first possibility to communicate outside of their prison and the decision to use this notebook to write to their daughters, the women pass the notebook back and forth, night after night, each risking their own life. And yet…they can’t write. They continue to fail until one woman finally sets down the only thing she can think to tell her daughter: a recipe.
Amazed, the rest follow suit. What results is a cookbook.
It is my intention to make this post for getting out of debt.
- How do I get out of debt?
- How do I actually make a business?
- What IS a business anyways?
- How do I build a quality life?
- How do I become free?
- What is going on with my mind?
- How do I deal with my family?
- How do I find meaningful work?
- And finally: where do I go to find the wisdom I need when I can’t seem to find what I’m looking for?
Here’s the simple truth: at this juncture, I don’t know all of the answers. Sure, the internet has information, but I’m curious about USING that information and translating it into ACTIONABLE, real-world wisdom. It is my hope is to uncover new strategies of thought so that you, too, can apply them, use them, grow from them, and, ultimately, help yourself.
To do this, we’re going to tackle one recipe at a time. And the first is on getting out of debt – because that’s where I am.
When I started college, I had zero debt. Four years later, I was $20,000 in the hole. For the next five years, this ceiling stayed the same. If my school loans went down, my credit cards went up. Three years ago (9 years after I graduated), my debt blossomed to a whopping $34,000 (that included a car loan, student debt, and credit cards) and My total minimums came to nearly $1000/month. Pow!
I couldn’t take it anymore.
Today, my total debt is down to $16,000. I own my car. My student loans will be paid in full by September. And my plan is to get myself COMPLETELY out of debt by July 2021 (that’s exactly two years from now) if not sooner!
Here’s the recipe:
STEP 1: Commit to Getting Out of Debt
Check.
STEP 2: Make a spreadsheet of all of your debts. List them.
We’ve got to be honest with ourselves. Where are we at? We can’t get out if we don’t know where we are. How big is the mountain you face?
Here’s another way of thinking about it: credit card companies are landlords of giant, high-rise apartments where YOU are for rent. They collect dividends on your debt. They invested in you to collect a greater return over time, making more than they ever invested.
STEP 3: Aggressively knock it out.
This is where I’m at. I do what I can. I have a spreadsheet that calculates exactly where and when my debts will be paid. I can see everything at a glance and I can see how my efforts are impacting my timeline.
Getting out of debt takes time, but it starts by getting conscious of the problem, committing to changing it, and taking steps to knock it out.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
The Total Money Makeover By Dave Ramsey
