How Debt and Overeating Are Alike in My life

            Why is it so hard to stay out of debt in American society? Let me rephrase that: “I find it difficult to eliminate debt from my life and then keep it from returning.” My premise is that other people also struggle, informed by viewing one too many pie charts/graphs.

             I was free of all debt in 2009. Graduate school and a family emergency reintroduced it, but I escaped debt again in 2011. Perhaps the lack of debt itself emboldened me. I became impatient to do the things I had postponed. I wanted to go on a vacation and actually travel last summer. Afterwards, I cleared the debt again. Then I convinced myself I needed a few things for my new house. Between that and stuff for my son who is studying overseas travel for seven months and more debt ensued. But the big hit was when my car failed to pass inspection. I guess I could have driven it for awhile longer, lived a little dangerously with an expired sticker. I definitely could have replaced it for a car similar to it, rather than for a all-but new hybrid.

            The truth is, I knew for close to a year that the 1996 Corolla was not long for the world. I had heard the words “exhaust system,” and “catalytic converter more than once,” but I still denied the reality of coming doom, crossed my fingers, and spent funds the ways I wanted rather than saving for a car—like on that vacation, on other travel, on an upgrade to smart phones, on items for my house, and on a “shiny” Christmas/house blessing party. Actually, the real reason for the party was to share my joy about this house, but as I was planning the party, it rapidly became about impressing people. I could have kept the party simpler, kept the vacation simpler, waited another year to travel, waited on the smart phones, or purchased a more used, cheaper car.

            Given my track record, getting out of debt is not that hard. It’s staying that way that’s hard, as hard as it is to say no.