Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

:pimp: :pimp: :pimp:

Anyone else want to share their stories? I want to climb a mountain, pull up one of those foldable chair thingy and just chill and sip some champagne or something. Damn it feels :pimp:

Story:
-Idiot in college and first year and a half after graduation. Credit card companies kept giving me cards and I kept taking on new ones. Between 18 and 24 racked up $35,000 on these cards:
Citicard: 9,000
BofA: 3,500
Care Credit: 4000
American Express: 2000
Lending Club: 12000
Credit Line: 4300


Expenses (18-24) approximations:
Trips:
Vegas 7x, Colorado and Utah skiing 2 weeks, Rosarito/Tijuana 10x, Cabo San Lucas 7 day, Panana City 7 day, Ireland, Amsterdam 10 day, Cross Country Trip Cali to Atlanta
4200+2000+1500+1200+1000+1300+2000 = $13,200

Drinking:
6 years X 52 weeks X 2 nights a week X 40 a night = $25,000

Eating
6 years X 52 weeks X 7 days a week X 15 a day = $33,000

Entertainment, clothes, etc (minimal):
6*12*200= $14,400

Lasik
= $5,000

Total ~ $90,000 for 6 years of life, not including rent and other normal expenses.

For years 24, 25, and 26 I decided to pay off all the credit card debt. I am not FINALLY DONE! I have ZERO credit card debt. It's insane. I still have student loan debt...but it's not debilitating. That can be managed. Good repayment options, etc. Paying off credit card feels so ridiculously good =) Was able to pay it all off and by the end of my work contract I'll have saved up 20k on top of it all. Chump change for ISH, but a dramatic turn around for me in a reasonably short time, without sacrificing any sense of lifestyle. Simple choices of drinking earlier and less, and not spending insane amounts on food everyday are basically all I had to do. Also dropped 30 pounds during this time. Another win =)

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

Nice job. I once was 20K in the hole with credit cards, + owed 10K on car. All paid off. Then I got a mortgage.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

You are not finally done?

Congradulations, stupid.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

:applause: :cheers: :banana:

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

Happy for you. No student loans here... just regular bills and a mortgage. NEVER let your current wants make you a slave to your finances. You don't NEED wants.... Once I paid off my student loans and divorce from my ex :applause: I had to recover financially. Took a couple trips... Refi'd the mortgage from 6.6% @ 30yr to a 4.4% @ 15 yr. Have 13 years left but I'm about to try and pay it off in 4 years by roughly paying $2,000.00 a mo, so I can have and extra $1300.00 in my pocket every month and OWN my home. When I went through my divorce I lost 30 pounds and now I just eat right w/ moderate exercise so I'm like 141.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

I knew I was saving a lot of money by not drinking, but wow.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

Yeah, it is INSANE how much I spent on that. I wouldn't even consider myself a HEAVY HEAVY drinker, but the cost of alcohol is just that high. That average of $40 per night for 6 years at 2 days a week is probably really accurate too sadly.

I don't regret any of the trips or any of the stuff that I did, but I really wish I had spent much much much less on alcohol. I had my most fun nights when I just had a nice flask of vodka mixed with oj.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

A funnier breakdown:

Option A:
College tuition, room and board for 4 years: $60,000
Drinkings, partying, entertainment for 4 years: $60,000
Average of a hooking up with a new girl every month for 4 years: Priceless

Age 22: $120,000 in debt, and 48 chicks you got to mess around with, and a $50,000 a year job. Debt for a $120,000 25 year loan at 6.5% annual is a monthly payment of $580.00


Option B:
$15 hour X 40 hours a week X 45 weeks X 4 years: $108,000
Community college AA degree: $10,000
Living at home, entertainment, food, etc for 4 years: $40,000
Hooker once a month ($200) for 4 years: $10,000

Age 22: $48,000 saved up, 4 years of experience at your job, a relevant ideally community college degree, and 48 less effort based chicks you've been with. Interesting caveat: If someone took $35,000 and added NOTHING to it, and invested it at 10% returns a year for 28 years (turn 50) they'd have $505,000.

Just funny to look at. I know not taking into account taxes, and a bunch of other factors...but in a simple format...it's true! You really are paying for the experience. I went to UCSB..so I would say the return on my investment was worthwhile. Must suck to pay all that and have a not absolutely phenomenal college experience.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

Wow, alcohol consumption was twice as much as your travels. I'm glad I don't smoke and only drinks once in a blue moon.

I bet your $13,200 on your traveling adventures was worth it, though. I'd blow my money on travelling to if I had the budget.

How did you do that Cali to ATL cross-country trip? Did you use your own car? How much was your budget on that trip?

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

Charlie Sheen would be proud of ya! :oldlol:

Looked like you had a lot fun during your college years. Better than what I did. But I had a $9,000 debt when I graduated. Paid it off in a year.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

Yeah, ALL of the traveling was well worth it. Great friends on all the trips and had an amazing, will always remember type of adventure.

Cross Country Trip was for moving to my new job in Atlanta:
Yes, used my own car. Started in Santa Barbaba, ended up in Atlanta. Approx 2,800 mile journey.

Gas costs were about $360 (10 tanks X $36 a tank)
Hotel costs were about $300
Food costs (6 days) were about $100
Entertainment (6 days) were about $200

Santa Barbara - Arizona was the first leg. Have a good friend that is a pilot based out of Tempe so stayed with him for a night and partied like crazy.
Arizona - New Mexico. Saw the Carlsbad Caverns...an amazing gorgeous and 10x Batman level caves.
New Mexico - El Paso - Spent a night at a hotel in El Paso and just went out solo. Got insanely drunk, met a ton of girls, had a ton of fun.
El Paso - Austin - Some cousins live in Austin so stayed with them for two nights.
Austin - Louisiana - Nothing much to say. Just stopped for a night.
Louisiana - Atlanta - Got to my new place.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

Under a thousand. That's not bad. I'd thought it'd a couple of grand.

I'm contemplating on a cross-country road trip or very "budgetty" backpack trip somewhere. Either winter break or spring break, depends on how much I still owe my car for.

Re: Credit Card Debt FREEDOM!
 

My girlfriend and I did a cross country road trip this summer, was lots of fun. We saved a whole lot of money by camping in national parks and forests most nights and rarely eating out. Still have to pay park fees and stuff, but way cheaper than hotels. Also stayed with people we knew along the way. Spent about $500 each on gas, $300 total on reservations and fees, only downside was my car kept having trouble so that resulted in about $1200 in repairs. It was about a 6,000 mile trip from Dallas to San Francisco to Florida.