this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2024
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United States | News & Politics
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Oh man, it happens without you knowing it. I got caught in that once. Between my wife and I we were making close to $200k and we couldn't survive two months without a paycheck. Mortgage, car payments, school loans, credit cards payments and taxes for start. Then you want to make yourself feel better because your job and traffic to and from work are sucking the life right out of you, so you start buying shit and decorating so you can have a sanctuary, all the while you are strengthening the chains around your neck.
A slave with a nice car and house is still a slave. They just are less aware of it...until they want to quit and realize that they can't.
Huh, being raised poor I hardly ever buy anything for myself. I generally fill out my I-9's with zero dependents so that I get more tax taken out throughout the year and get a little back at tax season. We buy used cars rather than paying interest on car payments. Never had school loans because I knew I wouldn't make enough in the real world to pay for it. Never had debt on a credit card other than a few periods of unemployment, but paying those off when possible was always a priority.
Never had much support from my parents, and I'm naturally good with numbers and statistics, so I tend to think in terms of value gained for purchases.
But I also could pack everything I own onto a pick-up truck and drive off with it, still wear clothes I bought at my frist job at Sears almost 20 years ago.
Just accepted from an early age I was going to be poor, and really leaned into it.
So was I. My wife and I grew up poor. Imagine then what happens when you go from celebrating a $200 bank account balance to $200k/yr in two years. We got caught up in the typical life of endless debt that was suburbia during the dot-com boom. After I lost my dot-com job (technically the company stopped existing) and we realized how trapped we were, we got our senses back and we haven't had new debt since. If I can't buy it cash, then I can't afford it.
Yeah it can be a hard lesson to learn, glad you are able to grow and overcome!