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[–] DonnaLuscious 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I'm currently in mine. I got a credit card, bought a new camera with it thinking "well it's just $500, I can pay that off" but then a few weeks later my computer crashed and I had to buy a new one. So there's another $1300 on it. THEN I made the horrible mistake of getting a retail credit card for some instant savings baloney. After that I just got careless, going out to eat regularly and not really thinking that $8 at a fast food place here, $40 on a date there, or a $3 snack at a gas station here would add up. I hit around $4K credit card debt and have $6K (thankfully not any more than that) in student loans.

My solution was to treat myself like someone who didn't deserve a credit card, because quite frankly I don't. I cut up my cards and buckled down on my extraneous spending. Now as soon as each pay check comes in I IMMEDIATELY pay as much as I can feasibly muster on the cards and still have grocery/gas/etc money. I'm down to about $2300 on those cards. It'll be a rewarding day later this week when I can get that number back down below $2K.

The APR on both is a little high (I mean they were my first 2 cards) so I want to get them paid off quickly. I guess I had this idea that I had to spend money to build credit, but I sort of deluded myself and went overboard. I like getting new things :(

I was warned credit cards are slippery slope. I guess I did what a lot of Americans do and blinded myself to how deep I was actually getting. We have this culture of living beyond our means and even though I logically know better, I still fell into it.

TL;DR I got some credit cards and used them irresponsibly. But I'm working on it!

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[–] King-Calf [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Sounds like a bunch of the same shit I did. I was working two jobs that barely paid the bills and going to school (College) at the same time. I also had a girlfriend that required us to do normal relationship shit like go on dates and pretty much do anything that required money. I was also taking care of my friend who had a difficult time holding onto a job and had a problem with alcohol. I remember using checks to buy groceries with the hopes that they wouldn't cash them in until my paycheck hit my bank account. I eventually got evicted from my apartment and had a fuck ton of overdraft fees and credit card debt. Luckily I managed to turn that around. It took a while though.