It's New Day, A New Year, A New Life

I love New Year's Day. To me it is about taking the best of the past and making your future better. A lot of people just blindly write New Year's resolutions that they have no intent on keeping and are usually unrealistic.

As you have been reading, I have had a credit card debt problem in the past. In February 2008 I quit using credit cards. There was over $71,549.12 in credit card debt. I don't have anything to show for it, no small house, no Hummer, nothing to speak of.

How did you charge that much?

Basically, I charged everything: gas, food, snacks at the gas station....everything. Then I made the big mistake of only making the minimum payment. Of course, the credit card companies would increase my limit as I continued to charge. I thought only of the minimum payment, not the long-term cost.

Big mistake.

I first thought that I was doing the right thing by going with a debt consolidator/debt negotiator. The only thing that happened in four months was that I was $2,800 out of pocket and my credit cards were now in default. Now, on January 1, 2010, the debt is down to $56,493.23. The end is in sight now and I have become more and more money conscious. I will be sharing with you thoughts and actions in future blogs.

Happy New Year!