$2700 changed my life

[TxZen]

Back in the late 1999, I made one of the biggest but life changing mistakes of my life. I had a credit card and I charged over $2700 to purchase clothing, over a period of 1 year. It took me the next 6 years of my life to pay off those purchases but it thrust me into minimal and simple living once again. What I had bought for that $$2700 was everything I thought I was...the fake me, the wannabe me, the fantasy me. I ended up over the next few years giving away brand new items with tags on them, each time, it stinging just a bit. I ended up cultivating a life that is me, my true me and I could not be happier. Now, we live debt free and simple and I thank goodness for that mistake.

Lesson learned!!!

[iris lilies]

I remember back about a dozen years before that, in 1987, I stopped smoking, and it was during the fall and winter in northern Iowa, so outdoor activity wasn't a reality.

In order to replace that habit with another, I started hanging out at the mall in the evenings, shopping. I think I ended up spending about $1.000 in that effort, all for clothes. Now, that was 30 years ago and $1,000 back then was a lot of money now!

But I must have been able to afford it because I don't remember carrying debt on my charge card. Did I even have a charge card? Don't remember, it came about somewhere in there. That was the Era Of Clothes for me.

Brfore then, and after, I was not a fashon maven.

That spending was always well worth it, looking back. I had some cute clothes and kept myself off the nicotine and didn't gain weight, but t was all of that mall walking.

[Simplemind]

Great lesson TxZen.

[lessisbest]

Thanks for sharing the great lesson. I think we've all learned from similar mistakes over the years.

I got this from an article in Kiplinger and found it a great reminder for the reality of carrying a credit card balance.

If you have a credit card balance of $5,000 with an APR of 14%, and you only pay the minimum of $100, it will take 22 years to pay off the debt in full, according to a Federal Reserve credit card calculator. You'll also hand over $6,110 in interest. Boost your monthly payment to $150, however, and you'll be debt-free in four years and pay $1,369 in interest.

My personal thoughts.... Pay cash and be done with it, no interest.

I had a friend who made really good money, but didn't know how to budget to save her life. After she had her car reposed, she was asking me about saving money by making the homemade mixtures for laundry detergent, and did I know anything about it? I looked her in the eyes and said the cost of laundry detergent wasn't her problem, then kindly worked with her to get her finances in line. She used shopping as therapy, so we worked on how to feel good without shopping. Or how to "shop" for free at the public library. And the ever popular, $5 at the Dollar Tree shopping spree once a week. Cut up her credit cards and found some peace in her life.

[sylvia]

Thats what I call thanking your Karma until lesson learned!