Note: This post comes from Debt & the City who would like to be the next BAD Blogger. Read her introduction and ask any questions you may have. This is for the new blogger position which you can find out more information about here
That was the name of my old blog so I’m not new to blogging about my debt. At my highest (start of 2012) I had about 26K in credit card debt and 26k in undergrad and grad school loans. That’s a lot of debt! Thankfully, I’m down to approximately 7K in Credit Cards and 19k in loans so you can see I’m motivated.
Let’s talk about me for a second. I’m a typical twenty-something year old with lots of debt that I mostly incurred before I started working full-time. I had absolutely no concept of money management in school and thought that once I got a real job, I’d be able to pay it all off in one year. With that in mind and a job offer in hand, I decided to travel around Europe and “experience the world”. Needless to say, it was a shock to my system to find that i could not find a semi-decent one bedroom apartment in New York City for less than $1500. I got an even bigger shock when I got my first pay check – what do you mean I have to pay state AND city taxes? My plan of paying all my debt off seemed laughable and I literally lived paycheck to paycheck. I tried to focus on paying my debt but struggled with balancing that and enjoying life. My turning point came when I found the world of personal finance and eventually started my old blog.
Now I live in a different (but almost as expensive) city and I can finally see the light at the end of a long and dark tunnel. Having so much debt throughout my early adulthood has held me back from so many things I want to accomplish and I am ready to finally throw the weight off. There are some life decisions I am currently contemplating that might slow my progress down a little but that is still in the works.
I’ve read BAD since the era of Trisha and I don’t think we have really had a younger more urban perspective. I’m not gazelle – I will only read recycled newspapers for entertainment – focused but then again, I did go 6 months without a bed because I didn’t want to spend so I have my moments. I try to balance having a reasonably enjoyable life while getting rid of the debt so that might not be for everyone. I definitely know that I don’t always prioritize the way people expect (plane ticket over couch and dining table anyone?). However, it means that I find creative ways to enjoy myself or make extra money (craigslist is a treasure chest guys).
I’m closer (knock on wood) to the tail end of my journey and would love to share it with the BAD community because i have NEVER in my adult life known what it feels like to get paid and keep all the money (it’s actually scary when I think about it). I should add that I work in the finance/accounting industry so I’m a lover of excel and spreadsheets are my friend.
Hopefully, there are readers out there that can relate and would benefit from my story as I know I have a lot of information to share with you all and I am excited to get some feedback (and advice).
Jeffrey strain is a freelance author, his work has appeared at The Street.com and seekingalpha.com. In addition to having authored thousands of articles, Jeffrey is a former resident of Japan, former owner of Savingadvice.com and a professional digital nomad.
While I appreciate the opportunity to learn about all sorts of people who would like to be the next blogger….I think we are being offered TOO many choices. I thought that people would apply, and then we would weigh in on the top 3 or 5 choices. Not that I don’t appreciate all the work that people are putting into their application…but they are all blurring together.
Can we please narrow it down, instead of continuing to hear from multitudes of people? Additionally, while I am dealing with my own student debt and realize this is a chunk of debt for alot of folks…I would like to select someone who has student loans in addition to other debt. There was one girl….see, I don’t even remember her name at this point….who seemed to fit the bill.
I wish all the bloggers the best of luck and fortune, but let’s select someone and get on with it.
Believe me, I am limiting — I’m only putting up about 1 in 5 that I receive. Since there is a possibility that there will be more than one blogger, I wanted to give a choice of about 10 or so.
I am not sure how more than one blogger would pan out. It would get a little harder to follow people’s stories.
Even if this is a paired down selection….it is still too much. Sorry!!!
Maybe when it’s all said and done, you could do a voting post with a bullet point summary of each blogger’s main details to jog everyone’s memory.
I appreciate having a larger pool to choose from especially since the last 2 bloggers both bailed. Although some of the personal stories of the bloggers have been engaging when they get to the debts they have it seems to be a lot of student loans and home mortgages. I feel like the person who writes for the blog needs to be new to getting out of debt but also needs to have a larger combination of credit cards, personal loans, car loans, mortgages and student loans. Hopefully, they also present more challenges like children, job issues and real life drama that inhibits the process. There needs to be a background of some poor choices and struggles. I would not continue to read a blog that has a mortgage and student loans as the total debt. I want to be drawn in as part of the story and learns some lessons along the way.
I really appreciate all of the choices and am looking forward to reading the posts from more than one blogger (I personally would like it if 3 bloggers were selected).
I don’t think this is the right blogger however. It’s so wonderful how much progress she has made but unfortunately for me, her debt is too small for me to relate to.
Kathleen,
I can definitely understand your point. When you have a lot of debt it’s harder to think of someone who can pay off their credit card debt in the next 8 months off as a person who has debt problems.
Believe me, I’ve been there. I read PF blogs all the time and was comforted by people who were like me. One thing I have come to realize is that there is value in hearing from people nearer the end of their journey. One, it gives you hope. Being part of that “i’m finally debt-free” post was motivational to me. Two, people that have been at it for a while definitely have a different and more layered perspective. There’s a lot I’ve learned over the last 3 or 4 years that I’m pretty excited to share but I guess we’ll see.
I read this over and it seems a little like a sales pitch so I’ll stop here. I think it might be worth it for Jeff and the rest to pick someone near the beginning, in the middle and nearing the end of their journey. You’d appeal to a wider range and I think even the bloggers would learn from each other.
I am all for the idea to have more than one blogger. For me, it is not about relating to the blogger. I like to read about life choices, frugality tactics, things about daily life. 3 bloggers with different backgrounds and lives would be nice. You may have three different pages for them so, it will not be so difficult for readers to follow.
Can you break down your debts and let us know your income?
Is there a reason you’re not willing to use your real name?
It’s Mimi.
I don’t tend to sign off with my real name often because at some point I worked for the government and stuff like that.
Debt breakdown
American Express $588
US Bank $800
Capital One $4,987
Total CC $6,375
Undergrad loan $7,945
Grad loan $11,240.77
Total Debt $30,547
Take home is about $3800 a year but live in a pretty high COL city
I will agree that it is starting to get a bit overwhelming, although I do know for sure who I would vote for over others. I think a middle ground of two bloggers might be nice, maybe they could both agree to post twice a week, then we would get our regular dose of BAD without the stress that may be burning out the other writers. I must say that I am a bit surprised that all the bloggers presented have been women, I understand that this blog may be geared toward women but I feel that Adam was the primary with the last bloggers so a man shouldn’t be automatically discounted (assuming there have been male candidates.)
I know that for myself there are several characteristics that I am hoping for in the next blogger:
Willing and able to make the time committment needed.
If they are married then spouse is on-board with putting their private life out in a public forum.
A level of debt that they could feasibly blog away within 2-3 years.
An income that allows for them to actually make more than the minimum payments every month.
A minimum level of skill in spelling and grammar.
A mix of debt, there should be at least some consumer debt involved showing that they once made some mistakes and they would like to grow from the experience.
Someone who has already begun a path down the road to debt reduction, they have made a few changes but have lots of opportunities for more change.
A willingness to make sacrifices, take suggestions, share mistakes, and really try to kick debt’s butt!!!
An openness to transparency, I think my biggest frustration with the recent bloggers was an unwillingness to share financial information under the guise of it not being relevant. We never even learned their monthly take-home pay. I understand that they wanted to build a level of trust with the readers first but that is something to be done when starting your own blog. I think any new blogger to BAD needs to understand that many readers have been here a while and have an expectation of knowing everything up front.
Cheers!
-Meghan
Great points!
Although I am not married, I don’t mind being fairly open with my numbers. As stated in the intro, I’m pretty much an excel junkie so I don’t mind sharing my budget template with actual numbers. That captures all my spending so you can’t get more detailed than that.
My goal is that I can get rid of my credit card debt this year and hopefully loans by the end of next year. I’m contemplating going back to school so that’s something to factor.
My biggest problem is that I literally have no savings and that’s something I have been trying to rectify but I got so debt-payoff focused in the past that I didn’t consider the safety net savings provides.
I’ve made a ton of changes (from a credit card nordstrom shopaholic to having 2 pairs of work pants!) but I definitely think I could do with outside perspective in balancing paying off debt with living life.
Hopefully, I get to share more of my story.
This is the person I would vote for so far. I have the most in common with her.
Thanks!
Wow, you eliminated alot of your credit card debt in just two years (maybe alittle less)! that’s great. How did you pay down that credit card debt in such a short amount of time? In my twenties, i didn’t have much debt (now’s a different story) but for you to be able to do that in your twenties that fast is amazing. great job!
It seems so surreal to me. As someone that has NEVER not had debt, I can’t believe I am nearing the end (fingers crossed) of at least consumer debt. It has actually been longer than 2 years. I graduated grad school in 2009 but only got serious about paying my debt around the end of 2010/beginning of 2011 when I started working in the big apple.
Once I got serious, the first thing that helped me was to BUDGET. I have a pretty strict budget, and luckily for the most part, I am pretty good about sticking to it. I’m talking, my grocery budget for the MONTH has been 50-60 dollars for the past couple of years. Funny thing is, i think it’s normal now and don’t know how people spend 200 a month.
It has definitely NOT been smooth sailing. Every now and then, I get this “YOLO” spirit that takes over my mind and I’ll do something like buy a ticket to London for a friend’s wedding (because i rationalize that they only get married once) or I’ll plan something for my birthday.
That has set me back maybe a year or so. I’m actually not sure if I regret it 100%. I think in life, you have to make choices and sometimes I have chosen the experience over getting out of debt faster but overall stayed committed.
I’ve found loads of ways to keep my costs (Except housing) low and still have some semblance of fun….reading blogs kept me motivate too.
To date this is my favorite candidate. It is nice to see someone in a similar situation as mine. I also racked up debt with my magic-plastic best friend when I was in university. I had no idea how money or credit cards worked. As much as I enjoy reading about people with families or who are recently married or divorced, it’s nice to see someone in a different phase of their life. We want to grow up but we’re too broke-a**-poor to be able to afford it!
This is my favorite blogger to date. I think balancing savings with debt payoff would be an interesting storyline, as I find saving money to be a very different challenge than just paying off debt.
I completely agree Walnut, I just don’t know how to save according to my pay.
Great story! I was fortunate and didn’t have much of student debt, even though I have two degrees. This was all due to the military, paying for 75% of my schooling, and me paying the other 25%. Last year I finally paid off all that debt. But like you, I do plan on going back to school within the next year or two… This is all due in the fact that I didn’t know my G.I. Bill ($50,000) runs out 10 years after you get out of the military. I was lead to believe that I could pass this down to my children.
But I don’t mind, I think when I do it, I will actually be making more money, since they give you a housing allowance while going back to school.
That is a great situations for you to be in!
ps. filling out applications is such a time suck isn’t it?
“i have NEVER in my adult life known what it feels like to get paid and keep all the money (it’s actually scary when I think about it).”
I had to smile when I read that. You do get so used to debt reduction once you are ‘in the zone.’
Great job on what you’ve accomplished so far!! A low cost of living really helped with our debt reduction. Now that we live somewhere with a higher cost of living, I realize how fortunate we really were and I can relate better with those with the higher cost of living. I wish you the best and I’d love to see some spreadsheets 😉
I’m glad you can relate! I know sometimes it’s hard for people to understand paying $1200 or more for a 1 bedroom apartment. But believe me, it’s hard for me to understand people paying $600 or less for a 2 bedroom apartment (Texas! Atlanta!).
PS. Is this the old Trish?
Our cost of living is still not that high, but our housing costs tripled which has been very interesting financially!
Yep, the old Trish 🙂 I don’t stop in as much as I should, but do check in at least every few months to see what is going on and catch up with how the bloggers are doing. Life has been super-crazy for us and time is limited so most of my internet surfing/reading has went to the wayside.
It’s always been my saying that everyone’s situation is different. Years later that attitude hasn’t changed. It saddens me sometimes when I read the comments how judgmental others can be without knowing everything. To have Jeffrey mention thick skin as something you’ll need to blog here makes me sad. But you really do need it. My husband and I still joke about a certain reader who loved to rip on him.
Trish!!! We miss you!!! How are things for you and your family????1