Credit card debt is the bane of my existence
For a little over a month now, I’ve been back to work on a contractual basis with a great staffing agency here in San Diego. I originally looked to them for work when I first moved to California but ended up taking a few other jobs with other companies. Well after 5 weeks of not working and watching my bank account slowly shrivel up and die, I called up Brian (my recruiter) and explained my situation. Lo and behold, he had me working by the end of that very week!
Being a contract employee means not getting certain perks (thankfully I have health insurance via Rachel’s work), and alas when you’re in a situation like mine it means taking a pay cut from what you’re used to just to get a paycheck at all. I get a decent wage for what I do, but it’s nowhere near the average household income for this city. If it weren’t for my girlfriend, I couldn’t even afford to pay the rent!
To make matters worse, I recently sat down and analyzed my financial situation. Things are going well save for one major problem: my credit card debt keeps going up and up. I won’t say how far in debt I am suffice to say it’s around the national average. For the longest time I didn’t even know how it’d gotten so high. I know I’ve bought lots of toys for myself, and the higher cost of living in southern California certainly hasn’t helped the balance. But after doing the math I’ve discovered that in the last year alone I’ve been charged over $1000 in interest. If I were to pay only the minimum due on the card every month I figure it would take about 39.7 years to pay off my balance in full; to cut that down to a more reasonable 5 years I would need to not rack up any more charges AND pay an amount equal to that of my monthly car payment. That means I’d need close to a $5000 raise just to meet that mark and maintain my lifestyle.
Now before you start giving me tips on saving money, keep in mind that I already don’t go to the bar or out to dinner unless it’s a special occasion and haven’t even been to the zoo since I moved here because I can’t afford to. I’ve grown accustomed to the cardboard-like taste of microwaveable food, and there’s a whole shelf in the pantry dedicated to Ramen noodles and tuna fish.
I know my situation isn’t any different than that of millions of other Americans, but I wish it weren’t so. I know I need to go back to school and figure out what I want to do with my life, but I hate that my primary motivation for doing so is money. What happened to the days when people worked to pay for the things they want (like a house, a car, or a Hawaiian vacation) rather than the things they need (like food and a roof over your head)?
June 6th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Depressing, huh? Gone are the days where you could have a single family income. Now people are struggling with BOTH parents working in your typical middle class family. We’re probably the first generation where the majority of us won’t do as well as our parents financially. As the national average credit card debt climbs..leaving many people wondering how the hell do you come up with money to put down on a house anymore….ESPECIALLY here in southern California. As much as I would love to settle down here that means living in a cramped apartment style condo starting the upper $200,000′s…or live the middle of nowhere like Campo….or the very much hated (by me and most people anyway) east county….even then it’s not a guarantee. When a lot of people are struggling just to get by on your basic necessities (clothing, food, shelter), gas prices rising, a failing health insurance system that leaves 46.6 million Americans uninsured it can be depressing outlook. Guess you just have to focus on the possibilities that at some point it won’t be such a struggle to get by. Just have to finish up school, try to be lucky enough get that stable good paying job that you can tolerate and hopefully enjoy, boil those roman noodles, and eat that tuna and peanut butter in the meantime.