It wasn’t one big splurge like a boat or a car that pushed our next Twitter Tuesday Profile into nearly $30,000 worth of credit card debt. It was small, menial purchases put on plastic that piled up over time. While this single 30-year-old research assistant in Washington DC prefers to remain anonymous, they are very open about their personal finances on their blog, MeWithoutDebt.com and through their Twitter account, @MeWithoutDebt.
OODC: How did you get started blogging and tweeting?
@MeWithoutDebt: Near end of July this year, I realized that I need to do something drastic about reducing my slowly accumulating huge debt. I have been meaning to pay it off the debt for more than a year and half. However, I remember about debt when the credit card bill comes and the debt completely escapes my mind rest of time (when I am spending). In order to focus on my debt payment as well as share my experiences with others, I started blogging and tweeting.
OODC: Your blog allows people to follow you getting out of debt. How much debt do you have and how did you accumulate it?
@MeWithoutDebt: I started with around 27.5 K in credit card debt in end of July and now (mid September) I have 25.5 K in credit card debt. Most of debt were slowly accumulated over 3 years. I have not spent on anything major but small expenses here and there adds up in credit card and gradually balloons up with the help of compound interest rate.
OODC: Do you know how much you’ve reduced your spending since you started making this a priority?
@MeWithoutDebt: I have reduced around $30 a day by drastically reducing eating or going out, buying less items, cutting off unnecessary items from my life (such as cable, magazines) etc.
OODC: What are some of the best ways you’ve found to cut spending?
@MeWithoutDebt: I found the best way to reduce debt is, recognize that you have debt, do complete inventory of what are you spending on, cancel (or stop) anything that you don’t absolutely need (either materially or emotionally), and most importantly to be “disciplined” and “honest” about your financial health
OODC: What do you hope people get out of your Tweets and blog posts?
@MeWithoutDebt: Foremost, blogging and tweeting is keeping me disciplined financially. Now, I have to explain my financial actions in writing (thus needs to be logical) to myself and whoever is following my blogs and tweets. I also hope a few people can learn from my debt reducing adventure and apply it to their own circumstance.
Want to be considered for an upcoming Twitter Tuesday Profile? Just tweet me!