Thursday, March 07, 2013

Not so Magnificent Obsession

I like to think of myself as a fairly easy-going person, but I will admit to being obsessed about one or two
things.

I was divorced many years ago, when my children were seven and nine years old.  Consequently, I spent a lot of years living paycheck to paycheck, subsidized by child support.  I got by pretty well at first, and then in the 80's, during Reagan's era of prosperity for Republicans, I nearly went under.  I maxed out my credit cards and paid the minimum amounts until my kids were grown.  My friendly banker ok'd loans to consolidate my debts several times over the years, always after some catastrophic event that I couldn't pay for, such as my septic tank caving in and creating a sink hole in my front yard, or my front porch falling off the house, due to settling.  At those times, I tried to pay off all debts with those loans.  

Eventually, I managed to get completely out of debt, thanks to the sale of my house, and since then, I have become obsessed with paying off my one credit card within a month, and never carrying a balance of more than $300  for more than three months, when I might have larger expenses, such as Christmas.

The obsession has exended to include monthly bills.  I pay each bill electronically the day I receive it, and if for some reason, I let it wait another day, I fret about it until the bill is paid. I've learned to live with it. 

Do you have any obsessions that you'd like to cure? Or, any that you have managed to overcome? Let's hear about them.

Stay tuned.

 

24 comments:

Linda said...

Oh my, I could write a book on this one. My husband is very obsessive compulsive. I know I have a maximum of 30 minutes to leave something out on the dining table before he removes it. Never walk away from your glass or it will be gone when you get back. Leave the table to go to the bathroom & your plate will be in the dishwasher, unless you've thought to tell him not to touch it. He's even worse about laundry. He washes constantly & there's only two of us. He gets anxious when I leave the house so he gets on our bank site & watches where I use my debit card to keep up with me. The only thing that's saved our marriage is how nice he is about it. He doesn't mean any harm. We've been at this for 50 years. Guess it's no time for a divorce now. He's a sweetie, just obsessive compulsive as hell.

Olga said...

Paying off your debt...isn't that unAmerican?
Actually, I am the same way. I think it is because my 1st husband never openned a credit card bill and shrieked, "Oh, we owe 1200 dollars!" No. It was, "Yes! we have $300 left to spend!"

kenju said...

I would love to be able to pay every bill the day it comes, but I am not always fortunate enough to be able to do that.

I am much like Linda's husband when it comes to dishes, to my husband's dismay....lol

Anonymous said...
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Galla Creek said...

I enjoyed the little picture of how your life was and how it is. I want to pay off bills the day they arrive. At one time I tried to wait until the day before they were due.
Then you could earn a little interest on money in the bank, but now it will only show a 12 cent earn every 3 months so I just pay the bills as they come!

Hughes ap Williams said...

Linda's comment reminded me of my grandmother. You would have your teacup in your hand, taking a sip, and your saucer would disappear into the sink.

Playing a hand of Scrabble or canasta better not take you more than about 30-seconds or she would be demanding to look at your cards or your tiles so that she could "help you" since you were obviously having problems.

We have always paid our one credit card in full every month, but I thought of it as smart, not obsessive.
-S.G.

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