In my 13 years of being on my own, I’ve been in and out of debt. At age 33, the total right now is a bit over $30 grand. That includes two vehicles, two credit cards and a small line of credit at the bank.
About a year ago, I had to get a newer car because my Toyota Camry was getting a bit on the worn out side. The shocks were worn out and I could feel every bump on the road. Then it started burning oil, and at 165,000 miles, I was getting a little worried about getting stranded on a long trip. The timing belt had never been changed and started making noise. That’s a five hundred dollar repair bill that I just wasn’t interested in doing… not knowing if it would need more repair work immediately thereafter. You know with older cars, once you start having one thing fixed, it seems like everything starts to go bad.
So, without having the credit to buy a car and get a loan with a regular bank, I had to go to a dealer that finances their own cars.
But, fortunately, it was a good one that had newer cars so I didn’t have to end up with something that had really high mileage. They had a fairly good selection, and rather than pick out something that is more trendy, I opted for a “old lady” car.
They had a nice looking ’04 Buick Lesabre, silver. It looked like something that you would normally see an older person driving, but I liked it. It’s very big, has a very smooth ride and plenty of room. Almost too much room. Seems like I’m driving a couch at times!
But, it’s very dependable, gets great gas mileage and I don’t find myself getting eyed by the police for speeding. They seem to assume that I’m an older driver, so even when I’m a little past their typical limit for pulling people over, they don’t seem to care.
Right now, I owe $8,000.00 on it. That’s about what the average NADA retail is, so I’m not in too bad of shape. I just started doubling up on the payments, so hopefully it will be paid off in the next 18 months, which is good, too.
My other vehicle is an ’04 Suburban. This is a great family vehicle and I chose to purchase it when I found out that my wife was pregnant with our third son.
We already had 2 boys and her vehicle was not something that I felt safe about her and 3 kids being in. If they were to have a wreck, oh my gosh what would that have been like.
So, I quickly went shopping for a bigger vehicle and found a good deal on it. Let me tell you, buying cars with bad credit is NOT an easy thing to do. The dealers kind of all have an attitude and the banks… well, that’s a whole ‘nother story.
I was able though, to get my local bank to provide a loan for me at a decent rate. They wouldn’t finance it for as long as I wanted, so my payments were about $100 more than I was planning to pay. I did manage though and it’s just about paid off as well.
So, once the two vehicles are paid off, I’m left with $15,000.00 in credit card bills. By paying more than the minimum monthly payments, I’ve calculated that I’ll be able to have them paid off fairly quick… two years max.
After that – I won’t have any more debt. My house was given to me and my wife by my in-laws. That has probably been the biggest blessing of my life because I don’t think we would have made it (or made it with as little stress as we have) if we had a big mortgage payment to worry about for the last few years.
The economy has been rough on a lot of people, I’m just very thankful that I haven’t had to deal with the stresses that many are going through. When I look at the amount of debt that I have, I feel a little overwhelmed sometimes. I suppose that I should count my blessings because there are a lot of people that don’t have the luxury of having a paid off home. Many are losing their homes in fact.