Your Wake-Up Call Moment?

**NCGirl** · 01-28-2007, 08:06 PM

Mine was January 2005:

Me and my BF went on a Cruise, it was my Christmas Present to him. I only took my Discover Card as It had the smallest balance, $300ish. When you go on a cruise on Celebrity Cruise Line, once on board the ship, you have to put a CC on file, or a $500 cash deposit for incedentals like drinks, tips etc etc. Well, I went to the service desk to give my CC info and it was rejected

I was so embaressed, I had never had a CC rejected! I called the CC company and they told me that they had lowered my CC limit to $500 as my debt to income ratio was too high. Well, I had told BF to leave all his CC's at home cause this trip was on ME!! so he did!!

I had only brought $300 cash with me and BF had brought a couple hundred. So, all our money went to the cash deposit and we had NONE to spend when we got to the different islands. Lets just say what should have been a great 10 day cruise turned out to bust.

It was horrible on one hand, however, on the other, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. It was my turning point, my wake up call that my debts were getting out of line. Since that time, I've payed down over 60% of my debts, no longer use any credit cards, traded in my newer SUV for an older reliable Toyota that gets good gas milage and just generally got my spending under control. I am now Officially Frugal and Proud of It

**FrugalMomof3** · 01-28-2007, 08:22 PM

Wow wake up call? Hummm I would have to say when I got laid off from my part-time work-at-home job but even before than I was frugal but this time I really had to be, while the money brought home wasn't alot maybe $600-$800 per month it was something that wasn't there any longer and we have to make it.

We had to think of ways to cut costs and not use Cc's, we refinanced the house, got our income tax back and paid off all our CC's last year (1/06) now I cant say we didnt use our CC's anymore but the reality sunk in about how are we going to make even the minimum payment this month since my $600+ went towards CC payments and some bills every month.

We managed and as of today 1/28/2007 I can say once again we are credit debt free, only debt we have is the mortgage and normal monthly bills and it feels great, I vow to use CASH only and start getting into the Dave Ramsey's envelope system (DH got me it for Xmas). I even heard DH tell me he wants to "shred some of his CC's" YES that was a shocker but I am soooo proud of him.

I guess ever since paying off the CC's last year 2006 I didnt want to worry about not being able to make even the min. payments on our credit cards and I when I did use my card after paying them off I payed them in full each month, DH on the other hand used his but I am proud that this year with our income tax refund we were able to pay off all the CC's and still have some leftover.

I dont want to owe people money, I dont want to pay interest rates on something I am probably buying that I dont need (Besides my home), I am tired of paying for the privilege I want to have for me and pay interest to myself, If I dont have the cash to pay for it, then it can wait.

**kaykwilts** · 01-28-2007, 08:57 PM

Good for you for getting your spending habits under control. You are on your way to building wealth.

**Mom23boys** · 01-28-2007, 09:23 PM

What a wake up call! Sometimes it takes something embarrassing to wake us up. I hate that yours happened the way it did, but just look at your "bright" future because of the result.

You are doing great getting rid of your debt!!

**tigo** · 01-29-2007, 08:52 AM

My wake up call came a few years ago. I married a man with a ton of debts and over $20k owed in back childsupport. I couldn't believe he hadn't paid in years and we focused on getting that caught up (only took a year). Flash foward to 2006- a tiger doesn't change his stripes and husband decides monogamy isn't his style. Now I am in the process of a divorce, raising the kids without any help from anyone and I know we would be doing so much better if I wasn't paying $400 a month on credit cards.

**kabin63** · 01-29-2007, 10:07 AM

I don't think I had a "wakeup call" moment so much as I was just getting tired of debt, phone calls, and not being able to buy things we needed when we needed them.

**Bethany** · 01-29-2007, 10:52 AM

I had a teacher who said that you learn best when there is an emotion attached to the learning and that embarrasment was the best emotion to learn with. For example, if your teacher embarreses you by calling on you in class when you're not paying attention, you will learn what is taught that day best. I always remembered that and I think he may have been right. Your wake-up moment is a chance for all of us to think about our own situations! Thanks for sharing. I think I've had a series of wake-up moments and I'm now officially a frugal gal!

**mom2hancj** · 01-29-2007, 11:10 AM

I think mine came last week on this board LOL. I had been a little frugal and wanting to cut back etc. But when I read the finanacially naked thread and tried to reply...realizing I had no clue what was going out and that our debt was as high as it was. That was my wake up call and my road to budgeting and getting out of debt. Now my tinkering with being frugal will have lots more purpose!

**Ani** · 01-29-2007, 12:49 PM

My main wake-up call was when my dad challenged hubby and I to sit down last year and track our spending for a month. Wow. It was embarrassing beyond belief to realize that we made as much money as we did, but ended up spending most of it on stuff that didn't matter. Thankfully we didn't have much in the way of debt etc, but we also didn't have any savings, any future plans for ourselves financially etc.

That is what helped me to trim our budget, and use the excess for savings and for things that will help us build a strong financial future. We are still not extremely frugal, but I'm proud of the distance that we've come.

**AmyMCGS** · 01-29-2007, 01:21 PM

I was never in major debt... I just had my college loans and one credit card... but I changed my financial ways a lot when DH and I got married. When DH and I got married, he set to work immediately paying those off, as well as his own student loans. We had all our college loans paid off in five years, while most of our friends took the full ten years or more. Anyways, when I married DH was when I started really learning how to handle money and how to invest. I have learned so much from my DH.

Now the only debt we have is our mortgage. We use CC's, but pay them off monthly, and earn rewards points in the process.

I had another smaller wake-up call when my DD was born 3, almost 4, years ago, I stopped working full-time. That's when I really had to look at myself and my spending habits. At that time I was a Longaberger Basket fanatic... I bought at least one a month. I still think they're wonderful, but wow... think about the $$ I spent on those! The last basket I bought was a month after my DD was born. That was around the time the reality of having a baby (a preemie, no less!) and a drastic reduction in income really hit me. It was also right around that time that I found FV... and I have learned so much here!

**danni** · 01-29-2007, 02:56 PM

I got really serious about it when I left my 2nd dh. I was working full time and had 4 kids, he disappeared so I didn't get any support. A few weeks after he moved out bills started coming in, a month later I totalled it up and it was over $10,000. Because we were married I was responsible too and because he had vanished everyone wanted money from me.

**sunshine** · 01-29-2007, 06:32 PM

Dh had been sick for a while. . . no income, awaiting disabliity payments. . . .

We'd continued to live like we had 2 incomes, even though we had NO income from dh for 6 months.

I sat down and paid the bills --- and had less than $12 for gas and groceries for 2 weeks. We had to borrow from my parents and I swore "NEVER AGAIN"

**Sundae** · 01-29-2007, 08:06 PM

Mine was 20 + years ago, divorced first DH and we split the CC, but I did not take my name off the ones he took, he went crazy and bought alot of toys, debt collectors started calling me, well it did all work out though and he owed up to it, paid them off and canceld the cards.

Then not to long ago DH applied for a store card to get an extra 20% of that currant purchase and was turned down, I really had a good laugh at that one for he is worth several million, but has no credit. He does not have a CC in his name and to my knowledge never has.

**frugalfoster** · 01-29-2007, 08:15 PM

My wake up call came when I woke up one morning with a herniated disc in my neck that left me with a right arm that was imobilized. Up to that time my earning power had never been in jeopardy so I never really thought about tomorrow. It's really something when tomorrow comes and you have not prepared yourself for such a thing happening. Still.....now that I am healed...I have to continually remind myself that it could happen again, and to not go back to old bad habits....It's a constant battle!!!!

**dcompton** · 01-29-2007, 09:56 PM

Like someone else said, I was mostly just tired of the debt. It was never large -- at least after I got the car substantially paid down, but it was wearisome and never seemed to go away. So I focused on it, and by last summer the end was in sight.

Then in July all the health stuff started. Ovarian cancer and chemo and a diagnoses of (thankfully) mild diabetes. That was an alarming financial time. Would I be able to work through chemo? How well would the insurance (thank God I had insurance) come through? How tolerant would they be at work when I was out for long stretches because my shift is very difficult to fill when I'm not there.... Tons of worries. I honestly hardly worried about the disease at all, but the potential financial disaster was a huge worry.

It all turned out well. I was able to work about half the time during chemo, and even though I was also out almost two months after the surgery, I still had enough leave (barely) to cover it, so I continued getting paychecks. My co-wrkers were great, and the insurance has paid without a quibble. And the cancer is in remission, doc is very happy about the outcome. So it's all come up roses.

BUT -- I am very conscious that it can recur, and if it should do it soon, I would be high and dry without much accrued leave so the income would evaporate, and I would be hit for a much bigger deductible (this insurance is a little weird in how it works). So I've become very focused on, yes, paying off that last card, but most of all, building a hefty emergency fund. ASAP. To me, that is the most absolutely essential thing right now. I should have figured that out a long time ago, but I just drifted on. At least I've started now.