I literally just said “Ugh, I do not even want to write this.”
Y’all remember how I posted that I had to get a new car? Well I was completely unprepared for that, was off of work and unsure of when I’d be back/get paid again/etc… and it was a quick, slightly impulsive decision. Like it was Friday and I turned in the rental on Saturday.
So I got a car with less miles. The sticker price on the car was way different than what I actually ended up paying because I bought the warranty. I’m that person, and I guess I don’t care. All of this means that things were put on my credit card because I’m an idiot who was scared of using my emergency savings (now, on the other side of it, I think that having your car totaled and being off work totally counts as emergency savings worthy, but I guess I thought differently). and I didn’t have as much of a down payment that I’d hoped for (I didn’t get paid for my car for two weeks)… blah blah blah….
I’m not looking forward to looking at these numbers, like at all. But my finances – coming in and going out – are going to look completely different, and it’s worth it to just start right away. Here we go.
Car Loan: $17,815.62
Credit Card Debt: $3,672.74
Total debt: $21,488.36
For half a second, I almost compared it to last month’s. But I’m not going to. Because I didn’t choose to lose my car. I didn’t choose to be off of work. I did make some stupid choices as a result of that, but I personally didn’t go on a $3,000 shopping spree and so I’m just going to not put the numbers side by side and start beating myself up.
I’m walking into a new chapter of life, and that new chapter happens to have a new amount of debt and I’m going to keep on keeping on.
My friend Brittany has been a huge inspiration for me in my debt repayment, and after finally paying off her consumer debt she  posted about tackling her massive (like $125k) student loan debt. I love that Brittany follows the Dave Ramsey plan but also does what works best for her – and it does work, as long as you keep plugging regardless of if you feel like it is or not. I’m excited to see how she works to get her student loans under control, you should join along her journey too 🙂
Hang in there Stephanie! This is just a minor setback in your debt payment plan!
I went in for an oil change today and wound up spending $668 for brakes and a starter. While not as big of a purchase as yours, I understand.
GOOD JOB not beating yourself up!! Hiding in shame from the reality of our debt doesn’t make it better. You’re right. This was not your fault and you were not expecting an emergency. No one expects what you went through. So you’re going to do great to get back to normal and I’m so proud of you for not allowing yourself to get down during debt repayment.