Debt Free 2015

This year I had two major new years resolutions:

1. To lose my post-college/desk job weight 
2. Pay off a large portion of my debt. 

Surprisingly goal #2 has been much easier for me to make progress on.  Who'd have thought it would be easier to lose debt than lose weight?!?

Over the next several months I want to share with you all the progress I have been making and any tips/tricks or inspirations that seem to help. To help you understand here is my debt story.

I begin my debt life with the beginning of my adult life, I went to college. (Charles Dickens anyone?)

As soon as I start classes at CU I took out student loans to pay for them. My first semester of school I was able to live on money I had earned the previous summer but after that I worked between 25-35 hours a week. Each year I racked up more an more loans. With the exception of this I didn't have any debt. I paid off my credit cards each month and didn't have a car loan.

After graduating I decided to move to the San Francisco Area. I was able to save a fair amount of money but moving across country is expensive! To help supplement this cost and started charging things to my credit cards that I couldn't pay off. Once in the bay, I continued to buy things I really couldn't afford/need. But it was all going on my card so it didn't feel like real money. Pretty soon I had some substantial credit card debit.

The last piece of mess I have created is my car payment. A few months after moving out here, my car was totaled. I wasn't hurt but I had to buy a new car. Now I probably should have bought something cheap. Instead I had my heart set on a Mini Cooper Convertible. While it wasn't particularly expensive it might not have been the best decision I have ever made.

Sometimes, I ask myself do I regret the decisions I made that led me down this black hole? The answer is complicated.

No I don't regret going to school but I do regret not searching for more affordable ways (community college classes, scholarships).

I also don't regret moving to California. I just wish I would have done a few things differently. I bought lots of things I didn't need and made bad spending decisions about things I did.

Do I regret buy my sporty little car? Absolutely not. I spend a lot of time driving and this makes it a whole lot more fun. I had to buy a car so I might as well get something I love.

Even though I don't regret my decisions that got me here, doesn't mean am necessarily happy with the place I am at. Being this much in debt is hard. It's like a weight is pulling me down keeping me from living the life I really want. Therefore I have vowed to change it, while I know I can't pay everything off this year, here's to Debt Free 2015!