When I retired, I closed out my 401K and paid off my house, a couple of my credit cards, and purchased those things that were actually needed so that I could stop the whinning. I even managed to get some work done on my home!
I get a pension and I do have health insurance. For that, I'm very thankful for. I know that I'm going to need another job and that I may have to work for the next couple of years to pay off my $18,000 of debt that I've managed to accumulate over the last few years because I was so depressed and unhappy working at a place that wasn't a healthy place to work for me and others.
But I know that it will be better but I need to face my financial fears first so I chose to read & do all the exercises in Suze Orman's book: The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. One thing she asked me to do was figure out what my credit card finance charges were & I was suprized to discovered that my 6.5% rate had been raised to 11.99% - all my credit cards except for the one where I transferred my balance to had been raised! My lowest is 10.99% now (it used to be 9.9%).
I've been keeping track daily of my spending and having to acknowledge where my money goes to. It's really frightening to live is such fear to not want to know when not knowing keeps me where I am - in debt.
I'm retired now and on a fixed income and yet, I know that I will get myself out of debt quickly. Luckily, I don't need to go to a financial management company and have them work with my debtors to work out a payment plan. I can do this on my own! And if I can't, then well, I'll turn to them!
I'm not going to allow myself to listen to any negative self-talk that will keep me from reaching my goal. If those folks who are $100,000 in debt are willing to sit down and bite the bullet so can I.
You know what the funny thing is - when I finally acknowledged that I've always been in debt and that working on getting out of debt was going to be hard for me because I was going to continue living in debt - no change in life style for the next few years. However, I would have a plan in place. I feel kinda stupid - I mean, if I've always been in debt (house, car, insurances, credit cards, loansl) then what is the big deal about stepping back, acknowledging what my fears are and then doing something about it.
Being in debt and afraid to face my fears isn't going to be a reason for my overeating any more! There are ways to get out of debt - I just have to find the one that will work for me!
Marcia