During the course of my college years, I got a credit card at far too young an age. [After I graduated], I started out with a total of $10,000 in college debt and $20,000 in credit cards -- so $30,000 altogether.
[I started paying it off] when I started my first position after college in restaurant management ... I created a strict budget ... and I was able to slash my spending on things like convenience store purchases, new clothes and going out all the time. I cut down to barebone packages for cable TV and utility costs, such as home energy, electricity and water.
Once I got my spending under [control], anything else that month got sent in as additional payment for credit cards. I would send in roughly $300 to $400 in addition to the minimum payment.
It didn't come without a certain degree of sacrifice, but I looked myself in the mirror and said 'If you don't do this now, it's going to be with you forever.' And I wasn't even saving for retirement and had no emergency fund, so I told myself the longer this goes on, the further behind you're going to get on those things.
[At the same time], I was in the restaurant industry ... so I devoted myself to my career and got decent bonus checks -- between $800 and $1,400 a month -- and put them in an envelope and sent them to my parents [to pay off the $10,000 I owed them for school]... It took one year to [pay them back], and then I switched to sending those bonus checks to credit card companies.
Barring getting hit by a truck or something where I'm unable to work ... I will never go into debt again. Those memories [of being in debt] will probably stick with me forever.
