Hope, and I’m not just talking about Obama!

I just got back from my third DA meeting tonight. During the meeting, some of the other members shared some of their stories and they were so inspiring… I’m so glad I made the 30 minute drive to the meeting! One person I found particularly inspiring shared that she had been in debt to the tune of $67,000 when she started DA–some of the debt was credit cards, some health bills and some back taxes. Wow, I cannot even imagine! Today, 1.5 years later, she’s paid off $27K. Incredible!! These stories came at the right time. I spent the good part of my long weekend traveling to Chicago to meet with an admissions person at Northwestern to learn about a graduate program I’m interested in. The cost of the 15-month program is A LOT, and the thought of getting out of debt and then being able to afford this program is overwhelming. The stories I heard tonight remind me that I really can get out of debt and work toward my dreams–that is what DA is all about! The first step is to stop incurring more debt. One day at a time.

Spending as a compulsion

Wow, I am way behind in blogging! I hope to get caught up in the next week or so–I need to post October and November results. Watch for those!

When it comes to my credit card elimination plan, the most significant step I have taken in the past couple of months is looking into Debtors Anonymous. I decided that I really needed external help several weeks ago after I found myself in Target, not wanting to leave until I found something “fun” to buy on top of the cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc. I was just sort of wandering the store aimlessly looking for that one thing that would get the adrenoline pumping. I didn’t NEED anything, I hadn’t seen anything that had caught my attention while shopping for the necessities. But there I was, wasting my time, looking for the one thing that would satisfy this craving in me. All of a sudden, I stopped and realized that this was SICK, I wasn’t just shopping, I was being COMPELLED to buy something I didn’t need. And I was able to get to the checkout and get out of there. So anyway, that is when I decided I needed to check out Debtors Anonymous.

I’ve been to just two meetings so far. The first meeting was about five weeks ago, and the second meeting was last Tuesday. I had never been to a 12-step meeting before, but I introduced myself in the obligatory way, “Hello, my name is Credit Card Hell Girl, and I’m a chronic debtor and compulsive spender.” Looking around, I was expecting to see a bunch of women dressed to the nines and drowning in credit card debt from their shopping sprees. I was surprised to find mostly middle aged women, all pretty average fashion-wise. (LOL!) From that first meeting, I gathered that some of them had hoarding tendencies, others just made bad money decisions and still others have been chronically underemployed. “Sobriety” for members of Debtors Anonymous is no longer using credit cards–not too surprising. I believe after you have attended five meetings, you meet with a “pressure relief group” that helps you set up a monthly budget, etc. Eventually, you are assigned a sponsor, just like in AA. I guess what I learned at that first meeting was kind of scary (i.e, do I really want to be “sober”?), because it took me about a month to make it back to the second meeting. But I’ve decided I need to do this. I know I have issues that need to be dealt with. Regulars in the group told me that the program really works. Tuesday evenings, you’ll know where I’ll be. In the meantime, I am writing down every penny that I spend.