In-DEBT'ed to You

So before we discuss a serious topic, let's talk about this adorable face I see almost every day of my life... #PartnerInCrime #MamasSidekick

My beanie she stole this A.M.

I have no problem admitting she rocks it way better than I do; however, I don't know whether I am jealous of this fact or just completely stunned by the level of her "adorable" going on. Like I realized I'd have adorable offspring, but day-um…she's just on a whole different level of cuteness.

#OOTD from The Pink Lily Boutique,
my new personal addiction favorite store.

Now that I've shared my "Mommy Moment of the Day", let's discuss a topic that I feel is crucial in planning this whole new direction change I'm looking for. That topic would be monies. Lol. Well, not exactly. More specifically I would like to have an adult conversation ramble on about debt. Yes, the D-word. *runs & hides under the bed* Don't worry, this won't be so excruciating…only because I don't really want to discuss/think about it more than necessary. *climbs out from under the bed & dusts the dust bunnies off* Why? Because it's a very sore topic for me at the moment.

Currently, I believe I have accumulated around the amount of $55,000-$60,000 in debt so far. *insert ballin' sad emoji here*

Let's be clear. This amount DOESN'T include my house (which was a current purchase). That's a whole 'nother story in itself. Another point one should take into account is that I didn't do the smart thing in college. Instead of finishing in four years, I finished in seven…in between two breaks that I took away from school for my two pregnancies. Instead of doing work study, I did nothing but be a lazy college student. Instead of passing all courses the first time, I slacked & had to retake a good number of them. I switched majors halfway through, in which hardly any of my credits from the old transferred to the new. Instead of working towards paying them off while in school, I just kept putting it off 'til the end. My suggestion to every person considering college…don't do me. Do the opposite of me. Because of all of the "me", I now have somewhere around $50,000 in student loans alone. Yeah, it's crap but I did it to myself. Next time around, I'll aim for better choices in life.

The other 5 to 10 thousand I would say is for my "other" category: monthly living expenses, people I owe, credit cards, etc. The "wonderful" thing about having $50,000 in school loans (that you had to start paying back early because you took two breaks for pregnancies) is that you kinda get this "amazing jumpstart in credit" button, so credit cards are easy to come my. My first one: Lowe's. Weird, huh?

Confession #1: I LOVE Lowe's…like it gets a minimum of 2 visits a month from me. More than that in the Summer.

From there, it snowballed. I have more credit cards than I have space in my wallet for now. I couldn't resist the percentage off that you get every time you use them. That was the hook for me. In my defense, I don't use half of them & haven't for a VERY LONG time. I also pay on them regularly & on time. I just never get them all the way paid off. I get so very VERY close & then bam….birthday kid #1, birthday kid #2, & Christmas. Ugh. Another reason I'm not a strong Christmas supporter. I want to cancel some of the older ones & cut them up, but my sister told me canceling them actually hurts your credit. The glitch with that is my O.C.D. & paranoia kicks in & doesn't want to cut up a card but still have an account open because what if someone randomly gets/uses your information for fraud…the struggle is real. Any expert suggestions on this?

Want to hear the irony in all of this? I, currently looking for a job after being a full-time student & mother for 7 years, have better credit than both my Diddy & my son's Diddy, who have both been employed steadily for years. My son's Diddy used me as a cosigner on his truck in order to get the payments lowered. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry now.

BUT…here's the game plan. I hire a finance manager. I wish. There was this guy named Charles that I did my Senior Internship with. He was a financial guru. He was following the Dave Ramsey's model & pretty much was going to have EVERYTHING in his life paid off by July of this year. I was so envious. He had a good head for managing finances though & worked super hard managing a full-time manager's position & a full-time school load. Basically, he was in beast mode always. I need to con him into being my financial advisor. I'll probably just end up reading this book by Dave Ramsey he recommended to me…well, eventually. Add it to the list under that Blogging For Dummies book we discussed earlier.

Basically though, I'm starting with the cards. I'm hoping to have ALL BUT ONE of them paid off by May 2015. That one will be either paid off or just a reoccurring lower glance (I use it for only for my gas on the regular). I think I can manage to do it by then. Afterwards, anything extra I get goes directly towards the PRINCIPAL BALANCE of my student loans.

Anyone have any OTHER suggestions for eliminating debt?