Im 23 and I am soo over my head in debt it's not even funny! I live with my parents so I dont have to worry about rent/utilities/food and I had an epiphany about a month ago when I realized how much I have gotten myself into. Its going to take a lot of self control for me..but I am going to stick to my guns this time. I shredded my credit cards (all 10 of them!!) and I am ready to work towards paying it off. Thanks for this thread! It's the kick in the booty I needed :)

It is so easy especially when your young now a days to get into debt. I remember the first day of college there were bank reps in the quad giving out CC apps. They didn't care that I was a damn student earning next to nothing..all they knew was that I paid $15k to attend that schools so I had to have some money somewhere...lol.

I started this thread as a cross post so everyone can add how they saved money so we can probably adapt it into our lives. Please add on what you can. This is definitely a subject that is very near and dear to us all.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...55#post1413055

Hey guys,
Debt is a real epidemic in this country. Some people even commit suicide over it. Many people DO NOT talk about it because their embarassed. This is something we all should talk about AND teach our teens about.

When I first married my husband he was $20K in the hole and NOTHING to show for it because of a repo and nasty credit cards. We DID NOT have the money so I called to ask if they would settle. Most of them settled for at least half of the amount that I owed. I DO NOT recommend this if you are planning on taking out any credit or getting a house soon. I asked my mother if she could let us borrow against her cds for a lower rate to cover the car repo debt. We were able to pay everything off within 2 years and after 3 years had $20K for a downpayment on a house.

We did it by living within our means. We have been brainwashed into thinking that we need so much. The truth is that lower income people SAVE more money. I turned off cable and used the internet for tv and netflix instead. We shopped at Aldis and I only bought the extra stuff like clothes and toys on holidays. Just like a DIET, we have to change our lifestyle.

You need to write down your goals and how much money every month it will take to achieve them. Pay those debts FIRST!

Did anyone see that episode on MTV Truelife about the teens that were in debt? One girl bought a house and had like $100,000 in debt, she was a bartender and made a lot. Another girl owed $20,000 in debt:eek:

That is so true and it makes me mad! As soon as I turned 18 i was swamped with phone calls and mail about credit cards and app. I got myself in debt with only one card, and that's the only card i have, now i am working hard to pay it off. And when im finally done i am going to celebrate cause i know it will be a liberating feeling and i have learned from this experience, nver to splurge like that again if i don't have the money upfront to pay the payments right away!!! Despite what my mother taught me i still went ahead and used my CC cause i was so excited to have one, and the only way i think teens will learn is if they go thru it themselves and get that lesson. It sucks to be in debt for sure!:rolleyes:

Wow these are all great ideas....
that's what were doing now to get out of dept. here are a few samples of the budget that i have for home for the next 8 months until were out of dept. Hope this might help someone..
1. i have a strick budget.
2. i have a list when i got grocery shopping, only buy what WE NEED to live on.
3. Bills and baby come first.
4. Dinner movies.going out at all, is out of the question until were out of dept.
5. we skipped presents for our Birthday / anniversery etc.
6. pay off credit cards first...
7. This is the one i HATE, no extras, like clothes, shoes, shopping, unless you need it..... i had to give up getting my nails done, my tans, well there is always next year maybe :(
But were getting the bills paid off, so i can't bitch to much.. these were some of the reason we got into dept.. so i had to give up stuff to, especially with a 7 month old child at home....
Hope some of these help someone...
and forgot the most important one, when i go shopping i pay CASH for everything now....

This is actually what we do. We have one cc, and keep it in our lock box. No, hubby doesn't take the key with him <smirk> ; but then, I've never been a shopoholic. I wish I did enjoy shopping more! When either of us think we want / need to use the credit card, the act of getting the key from its place, then going to the box in its place, opening the box and finding cc actually gives you time to rethink how much you might need the item in question. This really only works for online shopping, though. If you go out, and take the cc "just in case", this method obviously won't work :p

my daughter graduated this may and she has no job and shes getting credit after credit card apps in the mail .i just cut them up and throw them away she dont need them and get in debt .i told her never have a credit card its so easy to use until you get the bill i told her never spend what you dont have so far so good.

PLEASE be carefull when looking into debt consolidation plans, do your research. I know someone who did that and they say it won't affect your credit but it does. They're basically forcing companies to lower their interest rate and or amount owed which for obvious reasons they don't like. It will not look good on your credit report. I would only do that if my only other option was bankruptsy.

If you could get all your credit card debt on one 0% interest card (read the fine print to see what the interest rate goes up to after the alloted time) and try to pay off the balance or big chunk of it within the alloted time that might be your best bet. Always pay more then the minimum due if you can. It's so easy to get too far into debt using credit cards, the balance adds up fast! Make a budget and a plan on how to pay it off and stick to it. Good luck!

$15K isn't too bad.

The way we handle this in our household is to come up with a gameplan and a strict budget and follow it...ie, how much should you spend on groceries per month, clothes, paying off the cc Use some sort of program like quicken or excel to track all this.

For sure apply for 0 interest cards...some cards will give you 0 interest for 12-15 months.

That's not all that odd. I believe $20,000 is the average amount of debt college graduate has.

I definitely agree with Jennie that a computer program really helps track everything. Personally, I LOVE my Microsoft Money. You can run various reports, break it down by expense category, and really analyze your spending from all different angles! It also has a debt planner to tell you where to put your money, based on the amount "extra" you have each month to put toward debt!

$20,000 isn't odd if it is student loan debt, but $20,000 in credit card debt after college is a lot different. I'm $27,000 in debt - all student loans - i have credit cards, but all have a zero balance - the student loans are a big problem for many of us getting out of college :( It makes it so hard to get ahead when you are starting out with 20 grand that needs to be paid back

:thumbs_up Thanks everyone...I have truly found this thread to be a wealth of information!!! :thumbs_up