I’ve never been REALLY in trouble financially. I mean, there are months when my bank balance is lower than it should be, but all in all, I’ve always been pretty happy with my finances. I was just really worried when I got out of college because I had a small amount of credit card debt. Fortunately I never had to take out a student loan because my parents did a good job planning for my education.

About six months after graduating college, I realized that I was wasting a lot of my pay on credit card interest. I was in a minimum wage paying job at that point and had to come up with a good plan to eliminate whatever debt I had. It was then that I learned about the concept of the “debt snowball.”

You see, I used to just pay my credit card minimum payment, which fluctuated month-to-month. However, after reading several articles, I learned that if I just dedicate a set amount of money every month to paying off debt and never change that amount, eventually my debt will be paid off quicker than I could ever imagine.

It literally took me only 9 months to wipe out my credit card debt. I also learned how to live a more frugal lifestyle to prevent this from happening again. I don’t use any sort of budget and am very laid back with my finances. But I still am very aware of what I’m spending each month and adjust accordingly. I would say that I’m happier now than ever before.