Mission: Home Sweet Home

I’ve never been really good with money.  As a little girl, I spent my money almost as soon as it reached my grubby little hands. 

I won’t forget the first conversation I ever had with my mom about money.  I must have been about 6 or 7 years old and I think I had a grand total of 0.75 to my name.  We were in the grocery store and I asked my mom if I could use my money to buy some candy. (My mom never, ever bought candy, so I usually spent my scarce allowance on that, considering that I was apparently deprived.)  She told me that I could spend my money on whatever I want, because it’s mine.

I suddenly felt like a grown-up.  I got to make the decision about how to spend my money.  Unfortunately, I was a child keen on instant gratification… and junk: candy, cheap little toys, paper (yes, paper), etc.  In the very early years of my childhood, my piggy bank remained empty because the measly few coins I ever received never made it inside.

Fast-forward to age 12.  I had a regular babysitting job that paid $6 for 2 hours every Wednesday night (thought: $6?!  My sisters make $12/hour babysitting now!  Was I ripped off?).  So, where did that $6 go every week?  Well, I can tell you where it did NOT go: into the piggy.

My grandmother began lecturing us kids at an early age.  “Save your money!” she would say, “Then you can afford to go to college!”  Not the smartest thing to say to a kid in middle school.  I always thought, ‘Why on God’s green earth would I SAVE my money just to pay to do MORE homework?!”

As a teenager, my dad advised me to open a Roth IRA – money that will earn compound interest, but you can’t access it until you’re old (old to my teenage self, anyway).  Where’s the fun in that?  Why on earth would I lock away my money for the next 50 years?!

I have an apparent flaw in my personality… I call it the Rebel Tendency.  Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, or any other figure of authority tells me to do something, and I just have to do the opposite.  If they had encouraged me to blow my money on crap, I would have quite the retirement fund built up right now.

My first dose of reality came when I filed my tax returns for my after-school job.  I was 15, and working as a floor girl at a local florist.  According to my W2, I had made over $3,000 that year.  ‘$3000?!?!  Where the heck did it go?!  UGH!  Why did I spend all that money?!’

Wanna know what happened the next year?  Same thing… and the year after that?  I think you get the picture.

Even after I graduated, I didn’t smarten up.  I remember going out to a nice Italian restaurant with my best friend and spending huge amounts of money on a weekly basis.  Why?  We told ourselves that we deserved it for working so hard.  Peh.

I wish I had a time machine – or at least a time portal through which I could reach out my arm and slap my 18-year-old self.

I was no better in college.  I cashed all of my savings bonds to pay for such things as toilet paper, toothpaste, and groceries to feed all of my friends once a week.  I had an on-campus apartment and I decided that I didn’t want to use the cafeteria meals that I had already paid for, so I bought groceries and cooked at home.

By the time I was 20, I had $500 in credit card debt (seemed like a million at the time), a car payment and insurance, student loans, and no job.  I’d left college after one semester for personal reasons, and I was having a difficult time finding a full-time job.  I acquired my car while I worked as a nanny, but when that job ended, the payments got to be too much for me.

It wasn’t long before I fell behind.  Even though I worked very hard at finding another job, the bank doesn’t wait for you to get back on your feet again.  I was on a first-name basis with the lady in the collections department, and I had narrowly escaped losing my car insurance more times than I could count.

I was very fortunate when my aunt and uncle needed a new office manager for their business and they offered me the position.  It was a long commute (from MA to CT) but it was full-time work, and I was finally able to get all my bills caught up.

I was also able to save up for my wedding, which I pulled off for only $3,000.  Believe it or not, it was beautiful.  In the future, I’ll write about how I managed that.

So, by the time I got married, I had $0 in savings, and about $500 in debt (plus my car).

Tune in next time for: TheHoneymoon Years – When $500 Debt Isn’t So Bad Anymore…

Hi, my name is Bekki, and I’m a personal finance blog-aholic.  “Hi Bekki.”

My love affair with all things PF-related began about 18 months ago when my husband and I had a sudden wake-up call about our finances:  We realized that we were in a LOT of debt.

OK, so it’s not like it was news to us or anything.  That was just the point at which our debt came up to bite us in the butt – that moment when you regret every instance of taking on extra debt because it’s finally caught up to you – and it’s dragging you down.  I’m sure many of you who live in the red have had a similar experience.  If you haven’t: you will.  I promise.

I’m writing this blog mostly for myself – to keep me fully engaged in this process of paying off debt.  I read every day about things that other people do to be financially responsible, but I need something to keep track of myself.

This blog is called Mission: Home Sweet Home because our ultimate goal is to own a home of our own.  Depending on how some things go in the next few weeks, that could happen this year, or it may not happen for a while.  No matter what, I need something to help keep me focused.

Over the next week or so, I’m going to share a series of horrific stories about how we got to this position in the first place.  It isn’t pretty, but it’s important to remember all the mistakes of the past to avoid making them again.

I hope that those who read this blog find it at least mildly entertaining and informative.  I’m no expert on money (as you will soon see) but I’m learning.