Posted on February 2, 2008 at 12:15 am     I  declared war on debt in Dec. 2006. Like others, I toiled away at my factory job thinking my job sucked. Then myplaced of employment announced they were moving to Mexico. "Great!" I thought. So I  started a 2 year degree in computer networking at ITT tech. We've all seen the commercials. I worked full time, went to school at night and aged 5 years in 2.I had four kids at home and a stay at home wife to care for our wonderful children. I graduated. Thing was, my job still hadn't moved to Mexico. Then I learned something. During my "tenure" at Itt, I hammered awayat my debt and realized it wasn't my job that sucked, it was giving all my pay to the banks in the form of interest for crapI bought in the past. It  was my stinking mortgage draining my  income and credit card bills doing the same, and now, I had 13 thousand more to pay in student loans( not bad though for a school that cost 34 grand, thank God for grants.) My job then delayed closing till 2010. I could either start my new career in the It industry or keep my 43000 dollar a year job, and work all the overtime I could, and emerge from this a debt free man, or nearly so.That's when I declared war. My wife always budgeted the money, and did a fine job, but I announced I would be doing it from now on. I diverted all 401k contributions into the aftertax so i could withdraw it without penalty, but still get the 50% match. I know some say this is not the way to go but my mortgage was down to 25 grand and from there I calculated I could pay it off by june of 2009. Imagine, no mortgage! One place i knew we could save was on groceries, so I began shopping at sav-a-lot and Aldi's. I brought our grocery bill down to 70 dollars a week.No eating out for us, sorry about everyones luck. Then I got stingy on the heat bill. Electric portable oil filled heaters. One for each bedroom at night and the rest of the house sits cold. Since I'm the first one up in the morning I drag them out to the living room and kitchen so when the family gets up the living areas are warm. The only bill I added was a membership at the YMCAand bought I the works. $85 a month plus 15 here and there for activities. The Y is our main source of fun and we're all much healthier to boot. It's been 14 months since I declared war and I've reduced my credit card debt from $19000.00 to $16000.00 but my interest is only 4.9, 2.9 and one is 0%. My mortgage is down to $15,000. I only drive vehicles that cost under $3000. I worked all the overtime and made $54000.00 last year. I pay every bill as soon as it comes in. Iam a tunnel-visioned ,debt free obsessed NAZI! I do it allbecause I love my family and have a vision of us living a higher standard of living.  But that dream can not happen  when we are burdened with debt. I still attend classes to keep my degree fresh for the day when i finally get the boot. my severence pay will be $10,000 after taxes and I intend for this money to wrap up any remaining debt.    The jist of my post is that anyone can do this. You do not need to be smart, only persistent. Hell I grew up in a trailer park and my parents divorced before I could remember. Neither of them made it past 8th grade and I have no idea where they are now. Enough of sob stories.. When I read about couples bringing in $100,000 a year, 2 kids and they can't get a handle on their debt Iam truly puzzled. I remember visiting  my sister in Arizona the week that tsunami occured.She married well and they own a house on a golf course. I noticed the neighboring homes seemed unoccupied and I asked where they were. She said these were their winter homes and were visiting there summer homes! I realized that day thereis a  standard of living in this world far beyond what I ever imagined or could really comprehend.  My only goal is to own what I have, and stay out of Scottsdale!

Posted on February 2, 2008 at 8:42 am Congratulations on your "War" since it seems you are the victor. Here's a quote I thought you would like: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”The speaker is Calvin Coolidge, one of the best educated of all US presidents.

Posted on February 5, 2008 at 10:00 am I second the congratulations. It's good to hear a success story like that. My situation definitely isn't parallel to yours, but I can take some inspiration from it.

Posted on February 13, 2008 at 11:50 pm I have to agree with the other replies.  In order to win the war on debt, first you have to recognize that it actually is a war, and then you have to make a formal declaration to actually win the war.