Money Madness in the Beginning

My money story really starts at 15. At 15, I got my first job. The going minimum wage was $5.15/hr and I thought I was doing good when I was offered $5.25/hr. I jumped in at 20 hours a week and saved for my first car. Now you’d think I’d pay cash for it. Well I sort of did. My family friend let me put a few hundred down and make monthly payments for the balance. Ohhhh the consumer debt keep creeping from there. After I graduated from High School, I found full time work at Walmart. I started going to community college on my own and began alternating between full time work and full time classes. I never stopped working full time to go to school. I worked every weekend and took all my classes during the week on my off days and before/after my shift at Walmart. I took a few terms off here and there to earn more money by working more hours, but as they say “when the wallet grows, so do the needs”. By the time I was 19 I had a maxed out credit card, had rent and utilities due, and was living pay check to pay check. I eventually landed a “good job” in Banking making $8/hr. After some honest talks with my now husband, he convinced me to call the company and see what I could do. I called them and they offered to freeze the line, reduce the payments, and have closed when I paid it off completely. I stopped going to school around this time and focused on building a career in banking. You’d think this is where I started on “the right path”. It’s not. It’s only going to get messier from here.