Dumb, dumb, dumb...

We were very dumb the first 12 years of our marriage. After getting neck deep in debt in the first couple of years, we got a personal loan from our Credit Union to pay off the credit cards. We thought we owed a lot, but in reality it was about $6000, and it took us 2 years to payoff.

We were able to stay away from credit cards during that 2 years, but as soon as that last payment was sent to the bank, we started charging again. We decided that my wife needed to complete her college degree and that she shouldn't have to work while she finished, so we took out the max in student loans for 2 semesters and started back down the credit card road.

In the next 2 years we managed to get ourselves in enough debt that it started affecting my work. This was how we found Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS). I am not endorsing CCCS, because when you go to a credit counseling agency it is treated as a bankruptcy for the purposes of qualifying for a mortgage. No wonder we were turned down for a $50,000 mortgage after one year in the CCCS program.

It took us 5 years to pay off CCCS. During that 5 years we decided we were through with credit cards. During the 4th year of this payoff, we were blessed with our second child, and Sonya was accepted to law school.

Now imagine, we don't have any debt except for the $350 a month going to CCCS, and I was making 40K a year, so we should be able to pay for law school as we went right. WRONG!

We didn't have sense enough to cut our lifestyle, instead we took out the max student loans that were allowed every year for three years. Now we did big things with this money. We paid off CCCS, and went to Europe for 2 weeks.

Obviously, this was very stupid, but Sonya was going to be an attorney making six figures, so we would be able to afford the loan payments after graduation.

Well, we were shocked into reality when Sonya took her post graduation job making 35K. We had already agreed that I wasn't going to work and would go to school full-time, well that was all good until Usama Bin Laden decided to attack the US.

I was activated with my National Guard Unit in October 2001. Now, this was great because we had just doubled our income and we had already worked out living on 40K, so we should have been able to pay a lot on the student loans, but we didn't.

Instead, we went out and bought a $150,000 home, and we bought Sonya a convertible. Needless to say, we weren't thinking long-term, like that my activation was not going to last forever. Luckily, in May 2003, I discovered something that would eventually change our lives...

'Til we meet again, I am...

Tim, Your Tour Guide