The trickery of debt

Debt is a very tricky thing. It some times is elusive. You often wonder how the number became so large and how you are going to pay it off. I did some research for myself this past weekend on how much debt my wife and I had. My findings, a little more than what I thought we had. It was not a large number difference between what I had found and what I had thought, but it reminded me that I always have to stay on top of it.

If I am going to have goals on beating debt, I have to remember to follow my game plan. Some times I want to stray from that game plan because I want some instant gratification. (I know, a nerd wanting instant gratification?) It is true. Sometimes I just want to go out and buy things. I am not talking about clothing. I want to go out and purchase tools. I want to purchase tools that are going to help me build cool things. I want to one day build furniture and other neat little trinkets for my house. I have always been interested in working with wood and woodworking tools. I get a thrill out of building something with my hands. I have not been able to build anything recently, so I have had the itch to build. I have to keep myself out of Lowe's and Home Depot so I am not tempted to buy these tools. I do need to go to one of these stores because my toilet is running continually and I need to get a piece that will help stop the running.

I do have enough self-discipline to get in and out of one of those stores to purchase this piece. However, I may just want to look at the tools and dream. I believe it is ok to dream; just as long as you know you cannot have it right now. Delaying that instant gratification so that one day you can be debt free and working or doing those few things you love to do. One of my hobbies will be woodworking. I envision having my own little shop set up inside my garage and having one of my son's out there helping me. (That is if the good Lord blesses me with a son in the future.)

Yet, I still find debt to be deceitful. You think you have paid off a good chunk of it, only to find out that a large part of that went to paying the interest on the debt and not very much on principal. This is why debt can be so tricky. You may have paid $12,000 towards your debt, but only be down $7,000. What happened to the other $5,000? Well, that was all applied to the interest you owed on the debt(s). Getting out of debt is a MARATHON. If you try to sprint the first mile, you will tire and not have enough energy to finish the last 25.2 miles. Remember to pace yourself. Getting into debt was easy, getting out of it is the hard part.

Have you ever read the story of the tortoise and the hare? The tortoise wins EVERY time! So be the tortoise today. Slow and steady will win you this race. Stop letting debt trick you. Make your game plan and follow it! Have a path. Make it a path to success! Only YOU control your destiny! Only YOU stand in your way of becoming debt free!