Let me share a woeful tale of a time in my mid-20’s. I was drowning. Literally could not catch my breath with all of the bills I had coming in. A commercial caught my ear one day – a pay day loan.

Due to my desperation, all I heard was “relief – a chance to finally breath” so I called the number and was quickly approved for the full amount $10,000 and the monthly payment was $350.

I can’t believe I did that but I did.

And so I took that money and paid off the smaller bills I had coming in. It created some margin in my “budget” but after moving back to the Midwest and having new bills, I was struggling again. (Do you see the behavior pattern here, folks?)

The company gave me grace periods due to temporary hardship. After awhile I stopped trying pay them anything. I had the non-stop calls.

I was getting things under control with some other debts.

But this one hung over my head like a dark cloud.

And I still couldn’t make that $350 payment regularly. OH OH OH! Did I mention that the payment was the minimum??? Did I also mention that the interest rate was something stupid high, like up in the mid-high 20s??

Yep. I was literally making no headway on this loan.

Time went by and I got engaged and the real money talks began. We realized that the BEST OPTION for us would be to get a private loan from our credit union to PAY OFF this crazy payday loan.

Freedom!

No more calls.

No more harassment.

No more shame about a choice I made in a desperate moment.

Are you stuck in an impossible situation? Do you feel desperate to do whatever it takes to feel that relief, to catch your breath?

5 Steps to Catching Your Breath

1. Sit down, gather all the bills, and face it. (Ignoring it today won’t make it better tomorrow.)
2. Write down your income for this week. Take out what you NEED for groceries (basic, cheap food), gas, utilities/housing. That’s it! No you don’t NEED anything else so stop browsing at Target.
3. Now would be a great time to cancel the extra stuff – Netflix, Hulu, that expensive cell phone plan (affordable, good plans do exist out there), and the monthly box of goodies that comes. C’mon you can do it! For a little while, I promise.
4. Whatever you have leftover after you pay those basics (and if you already have emergency money set aside), THEN you can look at the debts and decide which to pay.
5. This one is key! Go get your butt in a personal finance class so you can learn HOW to handle all of the debt you owe. If you’ve already taken one, go take it again. Get around people who are also doing the hard work to get out of debt. Community is powerful!

I’m here to help!

If you’d like me to help you set up a budget or make an action plan, shoot me an email at heather@thedebtfreemama.com.

I’d love to chat!