What? No credit Card?

You must have an emergency credit card. If your car breaks down, if there is a leaky roof, if you need something that is an emergency you must have a credit card to bail yourself out.

Okay, you have money in the bank?

Then you must have a credit card for the pure sake of a FICO score. It's ultra important to spend a little each month and pay it off at the end so that you are considered a "good creditor".

This is exactly how I was taught. And, I was taught minimally about anything. As a child, I knew that bankruptcy meant you were poor and that credit cards were how you can get yourself out of trouble. My parents made me get a check book alongside my first job as a teen (not as a child...I started working at 9 with a paper route, but I rarely saved money) and taught me how to balance a checkbook.

When I graduated high school, they sat me down and told me to sign on the dotted line for my college student loans. Then assisted me in getting a credit card--which they helped me pay on when they could. This was all so I could build my credit score.

They separated my freshman year, and I was left to figure out college. One option was to go into the military and get a GI BILL like my parents. But instead, I charged my tuition, got more student loans and continued the rest of the way through college.

C fared better than I did. His grandfather gifted him money upon graduation and helped pay off his debt--to which he wasn't very good about paying on. He used his money gift to help me through college, to live off in graduate school and to help pay for our wedding. The rest we charged.


Upon graduation, I learned--astonishingly--I was in $50,000 student loan debt and a few thousand in the credit card debt. No problem. I was a college graduate now. A part of the elite group. I'll get a job and pay it all off.

Neither C nor I could find employment. But we hadn't planned or discussed work. He applied for a few P.H.D programs (one--late) and I guess we assumed he'd get in and I'd find a job then. When he didn't get in, his temporary job's boss found him one. But that fell through. So, we lived off credit and my $8.00/hour job while we figured it all out.

A few weeks later we packed our bags--and moved in with my mom. Yep, elite all right. We were a part of the elite group of kids who moved back in with their parents AFTER college graduation.

Within a week C was hired and we saved to put a down payment on a rental. We moved out 6 weeks after we moved in. We were grown ups now!

Fast-forward through 11 years of marriage and 4 kids later and you get 2 grown-ups with $36,000 in credit card debt, $30,000 in student loans and $155, 000 in mortgage. Yup, we were normal.

We liked being normal. Normal meant eating out, fancy cars, and a fun vacations to Disney World. But, on that Disney vacation we stayed with a friend overnight who mentioned two words that changed our lives: Dave Ramsey. As she discussed being debt-free and how she lived by his rules, we looked around at her house, at her things and saw pure happiness in her life.

When we came home, fighting the whole way home, mind you, we decided normal wasn't working for us anymore. It wasn't fun; especially, when creditors are knocking on your door. So, we signed ourselves up for financial peace.