To steal from Hemingway, sort of, I got into debt two ways: full speed ahead and then significantly faster than that. I got out of debt the same way Mike Campbell went bankrupt: “gradually and then suddenly”.

Basically, I was the sucker who enjoyed the “free” credit cards handed out in the student unions at universities. This was combined with an “I can’t be broke; I still have checks left” attitude and student loans. That combination would eventually put me around 100,000 dollars in debt with no Ph.D. (long story that) and no Porsche. I didn’t even have a decent watch. (Although I did get a good laptop so all was not lost.)

Part of my reason for going to Japan, besides taking a break from academia, was to get some cash and pay off some credit card debt.

About the time I was thinking about proposing to She Who Must Be Obeyed (then known as She Who Would Eventually Be Obeyed) I started making token payments on my student loans. They didn’t even cover the accruing interest, but I did it to establish the habit of sending regular payments. At this time, I still didn’t know how much I owed and denial played games with my math abilities. I told She Who Would Eventually Be Obeyed what I thought the number was and, surprisingly, she stayed around.

It turns out I was only off by 25,000 dollars or so. When I told She Who Would Eventually Be Obeyed what the real number was she had a much stronger reaction. Because we were already engaged at that point, she could have called off the engagement and sued me for lying. (Side Note: Japanese can also have marriages annulled if they find out their partners lied about such important things.) I pointed out that I didn’t have anything worth suing for and that being stupid was not the same thing as lying. (To this day she still doesn’t quite agree with that assessment.)

A year or so after I started the token micro-payments, I started a debt-snowball to get rid of my credit card debt and get my entire debt down to just my student loan. My financial illiteracy created and printed a payment plan that paid off everything in under ten years and would have worked great except I forgot to account for interest. I scribbled corrections on that printout and then kept it as a reminder to pay attention and figure out what the hell I was doing. (And also to print out an actual debt amortization schedule.)

Once I got to having only the student loan, I started throwing every loose yen I could at the debt, and also managed to start some actual savings. The loan number slowly crept down and I celebrated every time it crossed a 10,000 milestone. Early on, I to got the point where I could completely pay off my credit cards every month. I’m pleased to say I haven’t rolled over any credit card debt to a second month in 10 years.

Then, after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, I noticed that our total net worth, as pathetic as it was on a single salary (plus lots of part-time jobs), was actually bigger than the total amount still owed. The constant earthquakes and the constant threat that we might have to move suddenly (and leave my job behind) told me it was time to get rid of the debt completely.  I closed out some CDs, drained the piggy bank (not a joke, but a long story) and sent it all in. For one glorious month, my debt handler Sallie Mae owed me money (that they eventually just disappeared as “fees”.)

Since then, we rolled most of the old loan payment into savings (well at least until last year when we did some traveling, both expected and unexpected). Even nearly three years later, it is still very odd not having to worry about making a payment and dealing with creditors. I admit I still hold my breath every time a clerk runs a credit card approval during a purchase.

Surprisingly, suddenly having  this odd little thing called “cash” around didn’t start burning a hole in my pocket like I feared it would. I did decide to share the wealth a bit buy buying knives and some other goods from new makers and artisans and I also helped out an old friend. Other than that, we’ve been saving and it’s surprisingly relaxing.