This is my first major Mustachian victory. In the summer of 2012, I finally realized my credit card debt had become an emergency. I went to college in the easy credit days before the Great Recession, when banks were quite literally handing out credit cards on campus. The free money was intoxicating and I spent it with abandon...partying, dining out, clothes, gadgets, you name it. This even continued into my first job, where I found my $32K salary inadequate to maintain the inflated standard of living I became used to.
By the time I woke up, I had close to $9K in credit card debt. I sold $4K worth of stock and made a big dent but did not begin budgeting or really thinking about my spending choices until I discovered MMM and Dave Ramsey. What a wakeup call.
I'm very pleased to say that as of this month, I have ZERO credit card debt. Last fall, I downloaded YNAB, buckled down on budgeting, and paid off the remaining $5K. Now, I'm moving on to my hair-on-fire emergency student loan debt and it feels great. This is how I used to feel when the money was going towards consumables! It's awesome.
