You need to get sorted before you leave home because then you're really screwed. I've lived by myself for 10 years. I refuse to have a credit card because I can't handle one. I had one 10 years ago but cut it up. I use my sisters to buy stuff online because I make sure I pay it back ASAP before she gets charged interest.
When I moved 7 years ago I was within a week of having my car repossessed and having to declare bankruptcy - I was 23, **** scared but refused to have all I'd work damn hard for to be taken away and be left with nothing. When I moved I had nothing - no furniture, just my clothes and some pots and pans. Over the past 7 years I've furnished my house, paid for all my study, paid off my car and almost all my other debts.
For 3 years after I moved I did not have a social life. I went to work and I came home. I paid the rent, the bills, food and petrol. No movies, no dvds, no meals out, no clubbing - I sat on the couch by myself (with the dogs) for 3 years - I read a lot. I refuse to have things I don't need. I evaluate things in terms of 'will I die if I don't have it?'.
For the past 10 years I have worked multiple jobs - mostly 2 jobs at a time, last year I was working 4 jobs but I'm currently down to 3 jobs. I've done everything from cleaning to Avon, sometimes working 17 hours a day, 7 days a week. I do what I have to to keep a roof over my head.
I've finally got to the stage that I'm comfortable. I don't panic anymore about which bill can I string out the longest before they send final demand letters. I can usually get everything paid now before it's due. Mind you I'm about to start studying again furthering my massage skills so it could be a different story next week.
I just think there are lots more people way worse off then me - I don't have a mortgage for starters considering the average house price in the area I live is between $400-$500 000. Forking out half a million dollars for a house would give me a coronary (and I'd have to work 10 jobs or start selling drugs or do something else illegal or immoral to pay for it
).
My sister and I are very much the same, we have slogged our guts out for everything we have for 1 reason. We grew up with nothing. My mother raised my 2 sisters and I by herself on a pension - everything we had was hand-me-downs or from St Vincent de Paul, no car (Mum can't drive), we didn't even get the phone connected until I was in high school. We grew up in the crappiest house in town which was demolished after I moved out 7 years ago (that's how bad it was). So, when you grow up with nothing and work damn hard for what you have, you'll be damned if anyone will take it away from you. So my sister and I have an incredible drive to succeed and keep what we have. Our other sister should have been born a boy - she'd be quite happy to live in a tent (no housework - her words not mine).
