23 and Drowning in Debt Launch!

Hi!  For those who don't know me, my name is James.  Let me tell you a little about myself  Five years ago I turned the magical age of eighteen and once I turned the great and wonderful age I applied for my first credit card.  That one credit card led to another, which led to another, which lead to another, and that's right it lead to another.


After a few short years of living away from home with what seemed like an endless supply of money, I had managed to rack up almost $15,000 in credit card debt with no way to pay it back.  I worked several jobs as well attended college full time and I managed to pay back just over $1,500, leaving me with $13,207 worth of credit card debt once I graduated college.  Six short months after graduation my student loans came due and I found myself with a whopping $55,303 worth of debt to pay back.


I have continued to pay on all my debts for the year that I have been out of college and a few weeks ago I hit my breaking point.  I realized that if I continued to make the payments the way that I have been, then I would be in debt for the rest of my life.  I'm only 23 years old and the thought of having all this debt follow me around with no end in site really scared me.  I bought some personal finance books and started reading up on some of the strategies that can be used to get out of debt.  I know that it wont be an easy task to accomplish and that it will take a lot of will power to manage it but somehow, someway I am going to dig myself out of the hole that I have gotten in.


This blog will be my story.  This blog will be what keeps me on track.  This blog will force me to make the tough choices that I need to.  I. Will. Be. Debt. Free.