So I don’t claim to understand everything about Economics…

Here’s what I do know – even though I want one…  Bailouts are a bad idea….

 

Whathadhappened was.. 

When I was 17 my dad co-signed on a “Junior Loan” for me from his credit union so I could get a car….

 

Then, when I was 18, the credit card offers came flooding in… My parents warned me about credit cards, I didn’t listen… Add to that a few years of wild spending and living outside my means…  I was thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars in debt…

 

My mom, with the best of intentions, bailed me out….. every last penny… paid off…. 

 

I, with another stern warning from my parents, and a lack of self control, quickly ran up my debt (and then some) again….

 

Then one night at sevenoseven Dan Burgoyne preached on “radical amputation”, how if something is causing you to sin, you need to be radical, and cut it out of your life…. to not just band-aid your sin, but to cut it out…

 

I knew my overspending money I didn’t have was a sin… so that next Sunday I cut up all of my credit cards, laid them at the altar, and haven’t used credit since (with the exception of my Ballysmembership which was a huge interest rate to finance through Ballys)

That was in May of 2004…

 

When I moved to Florida in September of 2004 with I think over $20,000 in debt, I signed up for a credit repayment program that took my insane interest rates and cut them all down to under 10% with no late fees or anything

 

I’ve been paying $350 a month since then…. just for my credit cards…

 

There have been a few mini-bailouts from my parents when I wasn’t working or was just short of making my bills for a month… and amazing provision from God, and generosity of my friends….

 

But I celebrate every time a credit card statement comes in…. most of my cards are paid off, and the ones that aren’t will be soon…

 

Another bailout would not have taught me responsibility…

 

I live within my means…I buy what I need…. and if I want it, I have to count the cost and make the sacrifice…. Sometimes I get stuck without what I need, because I got something I wanted… 

 

I have not been able to go on some trips, or to the movies, or out to dinner sometimes, but when I do go, or get to do these things, I make sure to enjoy it !

 

I still mismanage my money sometimes… I forget when stuff is due, or when it is going to be taken out of my bank account,  and I even cried a few months ago when money was tight and wished I could just put gas on a credit card….

 

But the credit card debt season of my life is almost over with life lessons learned and self-control gained, and a bailout couldn’t have offered me that….

 

Even though, to be honest…  I think I’ve learned my lessons, so a bailout at this point is more than welcome…. and I really want to be bailed out from my tax debt since they considered me a business and I was so not a business… but that’s another blog for another day….