Have to start somewhere, I guess

So, I'm going to start this blog with a little background information.

This is my current state of affairs (if you will):

As you can see...I'm not doing too badly. After 5 years of being in the U.S. military, I've managed to pay off all of the debt that I had when I came into the service. At the time, that included about $8K on a car loan that I had co-signed for, but never driven (long story...but the punchline is, I got stuck with the bill). It also included about $6K in credit card debt, $4K in student loans and another $9K for the car I actually owned.

All of that debt is gone, and subsequently replaced by ENTIRELY NEW DEBT.

*sigh*

So, I feel like I'm back where I started. Why am I back where I started? 3 words for you..."I got married." Marriage = debt, as far as I can tell. The balance on my USAA mastercard? That was the wedding and the honeymoon. The disney cruise was wonderful, but I'm going to be paying for it for quite awhile.

After the car wreck that totaled out my newly paid off '99 Saturn (I had the title in my hands for 2 whole months before the accident), my wife and I decided to consolidate down to one car...but as hers was unsuitable for me and our future children (none on the way, just planning ahead), we traded our cars in for a brand new '06 Ford Escape. Hence the ridiculously large car loan.

Although I didn't want to buy a new car fresh off the lot, I've been trying to rationalize the purchase by reminding myself that I'm going to have this car until the wheels fall off, so at least I'll know that I got my money's worth out of it.

Our "one car" plan was going well for about a year...until Elissa got promoted at work, and decided to go back to school full-time. At that point, she decided that she would need her own car, as juggling the one vehicle was too stressful.

*sigh*

So, we went out and bought a second vehicle, using the MBNA mastercard. Why buy a car with a credit card, you ask? Well...why not? On a car over 6 years old, no one would give us a better interest rate than 9.99%, so we put it on the card and at least got the "rewards points" from the purchase.

Still...I made my last payment on my student loan today...so that's something to celebrate. I'm going to take that $60 per month and add it to my "car fund" at Emigrant Direct so that when little things like oil changes and insurance come due, I'll have money available to pay for it without affecting my regular monthly budget. Eventually, the "car fund" will be a place to put money for a replacement vehicle 10 or 15 years down the road, when my Ford eventually craps out on me...but for now, I'll be happy if I can get it up and running enough to cover basic maintenance.