Come on in!
Posted by Christi | Filed under Christi
Hello! Thanks for stopping by! Come in, take off your shoes. Would you like a tour of my life?
I know that at first glance, it looks like I’ve got it all together. I’m married, we own a house, and with the exception of a car loan and mortgage, we are debt free. I had a full-scholarship to university and I am in my dream career.
But if you really look closely, you’ll see all of the imperfections, scratches, dents, and holes.
After cruising through high school, I was given a full scholarship to university. I went from Advanced Placement to Academic Probation in one year. As a result, I lost my full scholarship; $20 000 vanished in front of my eyes. See, that’s where the debt began. I took out my first Slurpee, or rather, Student Line of Credit at the age of 18 and the debt spiral started.
I’ve lived on my own since the age of 20. I had no concept of money management. I actually remember saying to myself “I’m just going to live on credit cards for a whole month, live like a queen!” When I pulled my crown out of my rear end, I realized I messed up. It was time to fess up.
Would you like a drink? I sure would. Don’t mind if I pour myself a glass of wine…
Since I knew spending for the sake of spending wasn’t the best idea, I found a way to justify it; I had low-interest staff rates on loans and credit cards. That’s right, I had staff rates. You know why? During university I worked for financial institutions and credit card companies. AND I STILL MANAGED TO RACK UP OVER $50 000 OF CONSUMER DEBT.
Is it getting too hot in here? Let me turn down the heat a little.
Oh, have I introduced you to my husband, Alex? I’ll always remember the day I knew he loved me; it was the day we consolidated our debt together. We recently got married and sold our condo. You know how we had to buy that condo? On a 40 year amortization with 0% down. It was our little secret. He was just beginning his career in IT, and I had to work 3 part-time jobs while going to university just to keep all of the bills up-to-date. We were lucky that the market improved enough to sell our condo for a profit, which provided us most of the down payment for our new home on a much more reasonable amortization. But our new home requires some major renovations. You’ll have to excuse the mess.
Speaking of renovations, we recently renovated our financial situation. You remember that $50,000 of consumer debt that we had? For the last 2 years we worked our butts off and paid 25% of our net income towards our debt. We recently paid off all of our lines of credit, consolidation loans, and credit cards. Just the car loan left. I love the new look and feel!
Today, I look around and realize how drastically my life has changed. I am a wife. We own a house. We have emergency savings, home renovation savings, and retirement savings. But I’m not perfect, nor do I strive to be. I still have money struggles, temptations, and urges. I still want to go out for dinner instead of cooking on weeknights, I want shiny new gadgets, I want to buy books instead of going to the library and I want to constantly buy new things to make my house look nice.
Through these conversations I hope to offer you a unique perspective. In my career, I am someone that helps people create healthy money habits and I have to practice what I preach. But in my personal life, I am someone who still finds it tough to stick to a budget. Let’s face it; we’re all here for the same reason. I am learning just as much as the next guy. What you can look forward to in my blogs are real stories about living on a budget, and how I got myself back on track. I’ll share my journey with renovating a house without credit (is that even possible?), and anything else life decides to throw my way.
So I hope you’ll stay awhile. It would be nice to get to know you!
- Christi (@ChristiPosner)
Christi Posner is a Credit Counsellor for the Credit Counselling Society, a non-profit, charitable organization. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Christi is a newlywed, a new homeowner, and with the exception of car loans and a mortgage, she is newly debt-free. Her goal is not merely to survive, but to financially thrive; and to do so with some passion, empathy, humour, and a smile.
April 21, 2012 at 9:03 am
Getting out of that kind of debt in such a short time is an amazing accomplishment. And the life lessons learned along the way may have been tough at the time, but must feel like gifts now. An interesting read, I look forward to future posts.
April 21, 2012 at 9:23 am
You’re right Maureen, there were some major life lessons learned. It feels good to be where I am now but I’m still very tempted to spend like I used to! Eg. My bike got stolen last year (what am I, 10?), so I want a new bike. NOW. But I have to actually stop spending my money first so that I can save up for it. What a concept! Still hard not to give myself that instant gratification and pay it back later.
April 21, 2012 at 9:19 am
Awesome blog! Looking forward to reading many more!
April 21, 2012 at 9:23 am
Thanks Brooke! So happy to have you come along for the ride!!
April 21, 2012 at 9:59 am
Excited to read a fellow Winnipegger here! I am curious about your journey so keep them coming.
April 21, 2012 at 10:05 am
Ah! You’re the one starting the Gail Club, no? I remember seeing your name on Twitter. Us Winnipeggers gotta stick together! Nice to meet you!
April 21, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Hi Christi! Yes, that’s me. We’ll see if I get enough interest, hopefully I’ll get to meet you too then!
April 21, 2012 at 10:07 am
awesome story. I will also be looking forward to reading more and following the future story. i see you are a credit counselor, so I have a question to ask. I have a friend that has $4000 on her line of credit. She needs to fix her van and it will cost 400-500 and doesn’t have the cash to cover it. she wants to know if she should use her credit card or loc to pay for it. She has just started contributing 150/month to pay down the LOC. im wondering if that is what she should do, or should she somehow split that 150 so she can put some into savings. it sounds like she has very little in disposable cash which is what is contributing the problem in the first place. Any thoughts on how she should proceed?
April 21, 2012 at 10:28 am
Hi Crystal, thanks for the comment! It is important for your friend to first create a realistic, balanced budget so that she has a solid plan for paying off those car repairs and becoming debt-free. She is now having to choose between a LOC and CC’s because she didn’t have any savings ready for car repairs. In retrospect, you can see the value in savings now, can’t you! So yes, it is important to save even while paying down debt so that you don’t have to reach for credit the next time an emergency happens. This is one of the biggest contributions to my success in paying off my debt. I invite your friend to challenge herself to find a different way to pay for her car repairs. You mention she has little disposable cash – is there something she can do to change that? Have a garage sale? Sell some things she doesn’t use on kijiji? Try to think outside of the box!
April 21, 2012 at 10:48 am
Welcome Christi! I can relate that money management is an ongoing life lesson. Just as you’re completing one hurdle, another comes up. Looking forward to your future posts!
April 21, 2012 at 11:02 am
Hi Melanie, thanks for the welcome!
April 21, 2012 at 11:22 am
Looking forward to your posts! We are in a similar situation with no consumer debt anymore but still working hard to keep it that way, build savings and pay down the mortgage.
April 21, 2012 at 11:36 am
Great work Marianne! Checking out your blog now, looks fantastic!
April 21, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Awesome first post. I am a 25 year old woman living in Alberta and I can definitely relate. My husband and I purchased our first home three years ago, got married last year and worked our patootie’s off to show up on our wedding day with it paid for in cash (we did it!). We also paid off my car 2 years early last year and are currently 3 months away from paying off my husbands truck 2 1/2 years early. It’s definitely difficult at times having less discretionary spending money, but I feel so at peace with our financial life. While we know people going on fancy vacations (on credit), I much prefer saving the $$ first & then going on vacations… It’s easier to relax on the beach knowing my MasterCard bill is $0.00
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I’m really looking forward to reading your future blog posts. I’m so passionate about personal finances & its nice to be around people who think the same way as I do
April 21, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Wow wow wow Leanne!! What a motivating comment. Looks like you and I have a lot in common. Glad to know I’m not alone on this journey either!
April 23, 2012 at 9:25 am
Great post! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts
April 23, 2012 at 8:45 pm
You rock! Thanks for the sweet comment!
April 23, 2012 at 11:06 am
I can relate to this blog. I have mismanaged our finances for almost 20 years. We also had the nice comfortable looking home with nice things so everyone thought life was great. 3 years ago I had to drop the bombshell on my husband (and 3 sons) that we had over 70,000 in debt not including mortgage, car and trailer payment. We did a consumer proposal, willing gave back our truck and trailer. Kept only our small car for my husband to commute to work. I am happy to say that car is now paid off in full and we have only 2 years left on our consumer proposal payments. I thought I had it all under control until the over spending started again. Next thing I know I am missing mortgage payments. Fast forward to January 18, 2012. We receive letter from our mortgage company advising we are $19,840.00 in arrears. Yes almost $20,000. I knew I had missed a payment here and there but was devasted to learn this amount along with the threat that legal proceedings would be started in 30 days. Talk about a wake up call. To say I have changed my habits is an understatement. We pleaded with the mortgage company to work with us. Since January 19th we have paid $12,330.00 on those arrears. Every day I ask myself how can we manage to pay these huge amounts on our arrears when we couldn’t manage to make our regular bi-weekly payment of $638.00. The answer is discipline, discipline and alot of hard work. We have changed our lives styles drastically and now look for ways to save money by turning off the lights, turning down the heat, planning our meals etc. I am so much happier with myself knowing I am working hard to achieve our goal of catching up our mortgage and to begin our emergency fund, start up our retirement plans again and our planned spending account. If somebody had told me back in January we could be doing this I would not have believed as I truly thought we would lose our home and security. Just goes to show you can do whatever you put your mind to. Thanks for this blog and it helps me remember why we are working so hard and what the rewards will be in the end.
April 23, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Debbie I love that you are willing to share your story with others. You have a pretty powerful voice. You know what resonated with me? When you said “I am so much happier with myself knowing I am working hard to achieve our goal”.. you got it girl! It’s a pretty good feeling!
April 23, 2012 at 1:56 pm
I am confused…
I know Midwest Mom wasn’t able to continue, but I thought Gail was going to have new bloggers apply? The new voice seems to have come out of nowhere, but maybe I missed a post?
April 23, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Hi JJ,
You’re right! Gail was/is having new bloggers apply as per her tweet below:
Gail Vaz-Oxlade @GailVazOxlade
PLS RT: Other Voices change-over in July. Want to blog at http://gvo.com? http://bit.ly/HH1xho send samples to getgvo@gmail.com
Midwest Mom left some big shoes to fill, but I hope you’ll still give me a chance!
April 24, 2012 at 11:08 am
Of Course!
April 24, 2012 at 11:05 am
Great post! I’m looking forward to more.
I am in a similar situation as far as the debt. I am 35, married with 3 kids (ages 10, 8, 4). We have no debt other than our mortgage and 1 car loan (we own the other 2 trucks outright which are used for business).
It wasn’t alway like this though. When I was younger I had student loans and cc debt, brought that with me when I got married. Then hubby and I racked up some debt in the first few years of marriage too. All in all we were about $50,000 in debt. We worked really hard, and paid it all off about 5 yrs ago. We have been doing pretty good ever since. Increasing our net worth, saving for our kids RESP’s, etc.)
As far as the renovation budget (we love to renovate) we always save up the cash first and do things in stages (ie. we renovated our lower level last year, and next on our list is our master bath). So you can do it too!
April 24, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Anita that is so motivating to know that home renovations with cash is possible. I’m not used to waiting for what I want so it’s going to be my own self that I’ll have to battle with! I look forward to your help and feedback as we really start to tackle the home renos. There is so much to do!
April 25, 2012 at 2:20 am
Christi! Welcome to the family!
Sorry I missed your post, exam week took over my life.
BUT IM DONE! (till may)
Anywho, glad to have you here. Your story is one I am certainly interested in!
April 27, 2012 at 11:14 pm
Hi Jess! Thanks for the warm welcome! Funny, my sister’s name is Arianne and my dad’s is Richard so I already feel so comfortable here. Haha!
Congrats on finishing exams. I don’t miss those one bit.
April 25, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Hi Christi,
Great post. Can you tell me what courses you took to become a credit counsellor? I am hoping that I can one day help people with their finances but I am not sure of what education I would need.
Thank you.
April 27, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Hi Susanna,
Personally, I have a Bachelor of Human Ecology with a specialization in Family Economic Health. I have work experience with financial institutions, credit card companies, and crisis counselling. Within my organization, Credit Counsellors become certified through the Accredited Financial Counsellor Canada Program which is administered by the Association for Financial Counselling and Planning Education. Hope that helps!
Christi
April 28, 2012 at 11:28 am
Thank you Christi for the information.