I was never terribly good with money.  Never terribly bad either just very apathetic about it, that is until I had none and owed pretty much every major Canadian bank. My downward spiral started when I was 20, with the delivery of my first credit card.  Knowing what I know now I would have cut it up on the spot but instead I used it, often.

I was in control of the situation for a while and kept my monthly purchases within a range that I could afford to pay off.  Slowly non-necessities started to find their way onto my statement and before I knew it card 1 was maxed and card 2 was in the mail.  After card 3 was full and of no use to me I dove into the world of consolidation loans.  What could be wrong with one low monthly fee?  Think of all the interest I would save!  Sigh, 20-something me was not as smart as she thought she was.

Now before you get all judgey, I did cut up all three cards so I couldn’t use them.  I was turning over a new leaf.  No more spending money I didn’t have, no this girl was going back to her responsible roots.

I had to be responsible, I was about to become a small business owner!  The company I had spent the better part of my post school life working for had made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  Since at this point I had very little savings of my own (and by little I mean none) I had to get a small startup loan from the bank.  This was still within my realm of responsibility since I knew from working for the company that a profit was on the horizon.  And boy was I ever right!

My sales were record breaking.  Within in my first 3 months of business I was out performing stores that had been around for years.  I was getting awards left, right and center.  My employees were on a salary/commission pay structure so they were more than happy to keep churning out those types of results.  We were untouchable for 3 years.  Then it happened, not just to me but everyone else, the recession hit.  I know it was hard on everyone and I know it could have been worse for me but dealing with it as a business owner was very difficult.

I needed to completely restructure how I was spending my money.  I tried everything I could to avoid having to personally take a pay cut or worse, having to lay off any of my employees.  I cut back on stationary supplies and how much product I kept in stock at one time, being careful not to let it affect what we needed to have in the store to sell to customers.  I had a plan in place that seemed to be working and I was riding out the storm buyvaltrexcheap.org quite well.  Right around this time our head office also underwent a restructuring process and unfortunately for me and my fellow franchisees we paid the price of the new mismanaged system.

I tried fighting to keep my head above water but the bills just kept piling up and my customer base never returned to what it was during the glory days.  Finally on April 8 of this year I handed the keys back to my head office and walked away from a company that I had put my heart and soul into for over a decade.  I had to take a loss on the sale of the store in order to get out quickly. Some might say I should have stuck it out and waited for a better offer but I was slowly losing what sanity I had left.  No it was time to move on, even if that meant taking a pile of debt with me.

Fast forward to today and as I type this I still have a pretty significant amount hanging over my head, just over $75 grand, which is high but it’s also a quarter less than I took with me in April.  Since I was unemployed following the sale I had to use most of the money that I received to pay for my basic living costs. Slowly but surely I am getting things paid off and getting my life back on track.  I have 2 debts left, one credit card and the other a line of credit through my very supportive mother.  I’m working with a smaller income than I was making before so together she and I decided that I should clear the credit card debt before tackling the line of credit.  My goal is to have the Visa paid off and the account closed by 2015 and then all my debt repayment funds will go towards the line of credit.

I have kept myself on a very strict budget for almost a year now.  It hasn’t been the most fun.  There are times when I struggle but I have to stay focused on my end game. I’m committed to my goals, using my balances as reminders.  I feel great joy watching the debt shrink and the savings grow.  I don’t want to be one of those people that wakes up one morning and realizes that retirement may be a dream they can’t afford to have come true.

Ultimately though I can’t really regret any poor decisions I’ve made.  They are after all, along with the good decisions, what has made me who I am.  They have also taught me that there is more to life than just stuff.  Which in my opinion is the best life lesson anyone can learn.

 

Steph blogs at Paperbag Princess where she writes about her living on a strict budget to get out of debt and get her savings back on track.  You can follow her on Twitter at @pb_princess79.