I found the blog, 20 year challenge via blunt money yesterday and immediately added it to my feed reader. I have never found a blog that I relate to on so many levels. And since I am not good at articulating my thoughts too well in words, finding this blog details nearly all my views and ethics in a better way than I could have. The author also faces many of the financial struggles I have or had faced.
One of the reasons I had to delay getting my degree for so long was because once I dropped out from the first university I attended, I had to pay the tuition that wasn’t covered by scholarship before I could get my transcripts and transfer out. However I paid off over $3,000 making about $6/hour. I also had the usual bills to pay. And I was paying off a debt incurred by my parents on my account. It was a very challenging time. I remember writing out my expenditures in the detail Tread Softly (the author) does and worrying so much about money.
After reading the blog entries on the 20 year challenge, I am now reevaluating my decision to carry a credit card (even though I pay my balance in full). I dislike the credit card industry in general. My husband’s identity was stolen (yet again) and we learned about this a few days back. So now we have to start the letter writing and spend money on postage disputing the information, begging the credit reporting agencies to remove the fraudulent information from his credit report. Its such a giant nuisance and I just want to get out of this dumb system and have both our credit reports permanently frozen. And ensure that every since transaction we conduct is on a cash basis. I know my husband can have his reports frozen for free since his identity has been stolen. But I am wondering if I should shell out the $10/agency fee. Its probably worth the piece of mind. And any property/land purchases in our future is about 5-10 years away.
