Lack of money is the root of all evil
-George Bernard Shaw.
One of those feel good stories on The Today Show was about Women in Red Racers-a debt reduction support group. As with all of these groups, Women in Red Racers works on one basic assumption, you actually have enough money to pay off your debts-you just need to manage that money better. The debt collectors who call and harass you also work under the assumption that you have recently won the lotto and therefore paying them a few hundred dollars to get caught up will not be a problem at all.
I have always been a big fan of Debt Calculators. But have often been depressed by the fact that it will take me somewhere around 800 years to pay off my debt at my current level of payments. I know I could cut out movies and get rid of the high speed Internet and stop eating out. Well, I could. I’m one of saps with the tens of thousands of dollars of debt and no end in sight.
If Bill Gates is reading this please find the Donate button on the side bar and give me a hand. Thanks.
Once your debt goes to a collection agency there is a chance to pay it off in one lump sum, again assuming you have a lump sum laying around. Since Collection Agencies buy debts for pennies on the dollar, anything they get is a win for them. Of course, you don’t want to let it get that far. A simple first step is to pay your bills on time-even the minimum. Once you start missing payments it gets bad fast-the late fees, over limit fees, and general pain-the-ass fees start to add up. It is a loosing battle.
Saving a few dollars here and there will only help if you use those few dollars to pay down your debts. If you have a regular income you can whip up a budget and try to live by it. My income changes all the time and I never know if I will have any money at all. This is why I am looking into new career options.
Paying off debt is not impossible, though it may seem that way at times. The woman in the Women in Red Racers story going from $57, 000 in debt down to $38,000 in debt is good, but still a long way to go. Again, it’s all possible if you have enough money. I’m sure there is an affirmation about money somewhere-I always have more than enough money. Repeat until true.
It’s hopeless. I knew that already. But now you’ve depressed me by re-calling it to my attention.
On the bright side, none of my credit cards are maxed out yet. My theory is to use the credit cards to buy more powerball tickets.
It could happen.
That’s why it’s not legal for us to buy lotto tickets with credit cards.
That’s about the only thing we pay cash for now.
Well, hopeless may be a slight overstatement-after all, The Country is Trillion of Dollars in Debt and the United States us doing just fine, right?
I mortgaged my house to play the Lotto, now I’m homeless.
I was just so sure I would win!
Last time I got really excited about the Powerball it was up around 350 million dollars and it was so easy to think about spending all that money. It was really a downer when I didn’t win.