Sunday, July 10, 2011

Growing Up?

It's funny. We filed bankruptcy over a year ago & have managed to stay debt free since then, other than buying Troy's car from a friend of his & a few medical bills. This wasn't our first bankruptcy, we filed for our first one 11 years ago & within a year we were back in debt. We seem to have learned a lot from that experience, being in debt now really scares me, in a way it never did before. I just remember the suffocating feeling every month when it came time to pay the bills & never having any money to enjoy.

I'm nervous about getting back into debt to get another car, even though I know that it will, in fact, save us money on gas over time. I've been very diligent about keeping everything paid & throwing away credit card applications when they come in. I want no more stupid debt in our lives or easy "money" options. I think buying a car is different, at least it's an investment. I was thrilled that we saved money & bought furniture, that really felt like one of the first adult things we've done in a long time.

Our monthly bills are under control for the first time in years, we don't find ourselves struggling & hoping to find Wholesale Insurance deals or anything. Yes, we pay for our health insurance (for the first time ever!) & have 2 auto policies (one is full coverage), but we manage to pay those off six months at a time. We're able to budget most everything we really want to do, like going to Sedona, completely without credit cards, or save up for it if we have enough time to plan ahead. I know we can afford to do this without too much pain, even with Rhi's bills on top of everything else, I just need to let go, breathe & make a plan.

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