Shopping and Spending

When your manic, you have absolutely no impulse control. You make poor decisions. People have been known to have affairs, quit their jobs, spend a lot of money, and engage in risky and dangerous behaviors.

My vices are sex and shopping. I charged $10,000 in two or three months in 2007. I didn't spend any money in 2013. And in 2014 I charged $3,000. $3,000 is a lot more manageable than $10,000.

My mother helped me pay off my credit card debt in 2007. I was making around $25,000 per year as an instructional assistant/substitute teacher at the Newark charter school. I was paying a few hundred per month to student loans and to credit card debt. The debt depressed me. I had gone from zero to 60 in such a short amount of time. To go from zero credit card debt to $10,000 was debilitating. And I wasn't making much money at the time.

Despite going into such a deep financial hole seven years ago, my credit now is excellent. I still have credit card debt, which is why I moved back home with my mom. But I've created a budget; the debt will be gone in a year. Then I can afford to move back out on my own.

I know my credit is excellent because I checked my credit on AnnualCreditReport.com. (You get three free credit reports every year; when's the last time you checked your credit?) Also, one of my credit card carriers increased my credit limit to $15,500 from $13,000. I'm glad they did. It lowers my debt-to-credit ratio.

I've learned my lesson and have learned how to manage the mania much better now than I did in 2007. I've learned not to beat myself up about my debt. It's a part of life. However, once my credit card debt is gone at the end of next summer, I'm going to try my hardest not to amass any more credit card debt.

I've also been aggressively paying off my student loan debt. Between my two degrees I had $46,000 in student loan debt. Over the past two years I've paid off two of my three loans. I'm now down to $17,000. I'll be done paying off my last loan in four more years. (I cut my Sallie Mae consolidated loan repayment period down to 10 years from 20 years, saving over $30,000 in interest!) Just around the time I'll be graduating with my social work degree. And thankfully my job does 50% tuition remission. That's free money. So my first two degrees student loan debt won't overlap with the student loans from my third degree. I've planned this out very well. Remember, I'm a planner.