Hello, my name is Broke, well Fat and Broke, and I’m an addict

Two of the hardest pieces of information to reveal about yourself are a) your weight and b) your debtload.  Well, this is not saying that everyone has this problem, but if your fat or heavily in debt, you know what I’m talking about.  I’ve still got a lot of debt to shed and a lot of weight to lose, but the first step in fixing things is admitting that you have a problem.  The second step is talking to someone about it.  I’ve been very afraid to talk about this with anyone, which includes my wife, my friends and my family.  Yesterday, I took a step in the right direction.  I talked with my father about this.  In the grand scheme of things, my dad may be one of the closest friends I’ve ever had.  Sometimes, I think I should combine him and my mom because I have confided in both of them many times and while I used to talk with my mom about money, I now talk about that topic with my dad.  Well, as a result of the conversation, my father offered to help.  No, he’s not going to pay off all of my debt, but he has offered to help me with the consolidation of debt, to avoid higher interest fees and to keep my monthly payments more manageable.  I could have turned down this offer and showed my pride in wanting to do it on my own, but just like with diet, sometimes you just need help and I would be lying if I said that I did not need help.

What does this mean?

Well, it means that I can pay off several credit cards in full, get my credit back in order, and start working towards my cash only system.  Sometimes, the cash just wasn’t there to make the transition. This way, it will be.  After I pay off those cards, I plan on examining my remaining debt (except for student loans) and then I will attack that debt with some sort of modified snowball approach.  I think I am beyond the mental rewards and it’s time to keep finance charges at an all-time low.  I will make the most of 0% offers and then pay them off as the approach their deadlines. I will keep my fixed, low-interest credit cards and will focus on them once the more variable cards are out of the way.  This will help me budget much more efficiently.

Maybe this is the only true bail-out because I actually plan on paying him back.  Dad, I can’t thank you enough.

- broke

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