If you are interested in quitting your job, the first thing you need to do is to be debt free. Only then, you will have the option I had - to walk away from a job when it is time to move on. My family is not wealthy, and I wasn't born rich. My paternal grandfather passed away suddenly when my father was ten years old and left nothing to his pregnant wife and five children. My father, being the second oldest of 5 children, had to try to take care of his mother and siblings along with his older brother. My father often tells me those difficult days when all of them had to share little food.
Because of those days, my father has always been frugal. He provided all life's necessities when my brother and I were growing up. My mother managed the finance and took care of us at home. My brother and I were never put in daycare. We learned to save our money when we were little kids.
That all changed when I went away for college. On the first day of college orientation, I passed by one table after another of credit card promoters. They offered me free t-shirts or free mugs just for filling out an application. They told me how convenient it was to have a card for buying schools supplies and paying tuition. I said, why not? I saw other students buying nice brand new things with their credit cards, and I did it, too. Why not? I would get a good job when I graduate, and then I would pay it all back.
I attended college on state grants, so I never had to apply for a student loan. However, by the time I graduated, I was at least over $80,000 in credit card debt. I had about 10 credit cards and many of them maxed out. I was only able to make minimum payments on most of them. I was worried. I always had a job, but I couldn't keep up with the high interest rate. I thought about filing for bankruptcy. Other people were doing it, but I couldn't. That seemed wrong to me. Besides, my credit would be ruined for at least 10 years. I looked into credit counseling for debt consolidation. I hesitated for a while because I knew that I would have to stop using credit cards. I wasn't sure if I could do that, but I had to try. After a payment plan was worked out, and I agreed not to use credit cards anymore, I was finally making progress on paying off my debt.
I was working in Silicon Valley for start-up companies during those years. I made decent money, but I rented a room with other housemates. I often cooked at home. I had a modest car. I always visited local libraries for entertainment material. I almost never went out clubbing or drinking. Luckily, I wasn't interested in that type of activities to begin with. I often had a part time job on the side. In the evenings and weekends I would work as an event photographer, sales associate at Macy's, or caretaker for someone with physical disability. I signed up to participate in user studies with Yahoo!, served as a mock juror for research, evaluated new skin care products, etc. to earn extra money in order to make extra payments on top of the regular monthly payment. I became debt free after about five years. I do use one credit card now, but I never use it to pay for anything that I can't pay off on the monthly due date.
Credit Counseling is a free service. You just need to make that first call and talk to a counselor about your debt and determination to pay it off. Secondly, you need to kill the temptation of buying things that are not necessities and spend the money that you don't have. Believe me, being able to tell your overly demanding boss that you don't need the shitty job is much, MUCH, more satisfying than having that flat screen TV. By the way, I have never bought a TV in my entire life so far. People are always giving away their fully functional TV.
No comments:
Post a Comment