It’s Time to Declare War on My Debt
I owe 70,000 dollars. This debt is tearing me apart from the inside, and I’ve decided it’s time to take back my life.
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Fourteen years ago, when I was eighteen (gosh, I’m getting old), I was recruited to the army. In Israel, where I live, army service is mandatory for the first three years, and then you can stay if you want and get an average salary. While on compulsory service you’re paid a monthly wage, roughly the equivalent of a hundred dollars. That was what I needed to deal with for thirty-six months. Thirty-six hundred dollars. Take a moment to think about that.
My parents, God bless their heart, are not rich. They never were. Growing up, I always heard talk about loans, lack of money, and sometimes even fights about the amount of money spent on buying food. Naturally, my parents did not have either time or energy to explain to me how money works.
One day, I got a credit card. The amount of credit it contained was way more significant than what I was making from my army salaries. I got excited and believed I would be able to do more with it that I ever could do with just cash from my wages. Big mistake. Credit swipes are eventually paid. We all know it as adult people. I guess, younger me refused to accept that. Suddenly I could purchase things. I was OK.
When the next month arrived, and the monthly payment of my credit card had put me in overdraft, I didn’t flinch. I had credit on my checking account as well.
A few months of that reckless behavior resulted in me taking a loan to cover the expenses. It didn’t stop there.
“A hundred wagon loads of thoughts will not pay a single ounce of debt.” — Italian Proverb
For several more years, I was always sure I would be OK when I started working in my field of Computer Science and continued being adventurous about my financial endeavors.
My degree was way longer than I anticipated. Two years longer. Then, when I started working in the field, it wasn’t a software development job but rather a QA student job. That was not so different than the salaries I was paid while working as a cashier or shift manager, only slightly higher.
During the last five years, when I realized this behavior couldn’t go on if I want to lead a healthy life, I was learning a lot about making money online. My debt was quite high by that point, but I managed to keep it where it was or even lower it a bit. My financial situation made me resent the day job concept. People work all day long for a salary that someone else pays them according to a false estimation of their time’s worth. Why false? Because time is priceless and no salary estimation can change that. For me, that was even farther from the truth because all of my salaries was going towards my monthly debt payments. To this day, I still live with my parents.
To this day, they still don’t know.
“Interest on debts grow without rain.” — Yiddish Proverb
That is why I am so committed to breaking the cycle. I had read books and took courses and even made my course on Udemy that made me a bit of money. No way near enough to sustain me and allow me to quit my job. It was more like a few meals than anything.
If there is one thing my debt did do for me, was allowing me to discover my writing skill. I have started writing more often when I felt the worst about my debt. I started writing stories when I wanted to get away. I wanted to create different worlds that do not include constant worrying about how to end the month.
A few weeks the chance I was waiting for arrived. I got a raise. I’m currently working in High-Tech after I had finished my degree. This raise helps me cover all of my monthly expenses but still don’t allow me to make a severe dent in my debt.
That’s when I discovered Medium. As a writer, it was fascinating to me that Medium is a platform that helps reward writers for what they love. I immediately fell in love.
I still didn’t make any money on Medium, but I plan to write here more often. It is incredible to me that all I have to do is make the best piece I can and be rewarded based on user engagement with it.
I’m still working. I’m still covering my expenses with my day job salary. But I have decided to declare war on my debt. Any income I gain from Medium will go straight towards paying my debt. I will wage war against it by writing from my heart.
And for that — I will always be immensely grateful to Medium and you.
“Never spend your money before you have it.” — Thomas Jefferson
Thank you so much for reading! Are you in debt too? Got tips to get out of debt? Don’t hesitate to start a conversation! I would love your opinion about this.
Oren Cohen is a Software Development Engineer, Gamer, Geek, and Writer. He is writing in all sorts of topics on Medium, though his passion lies with Fantasy and Video Games.
