Five years ago, I had three credit cards, three student loans, one very ill-advised consumer loan, one car with the attendant expenses (I can't remember if I had finished paying the car loan), and one two-bedroom apartment in an inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis that I was renting for $770 a month. Plus, I had My Son! at home! a.k.a. the Human Eating Machine, although his habit of eating with friends at fast food places helped mitigate my grocery bill, albeit at some compromise to nutritious eating on his part.

As of this writing:

I have paid off all three credit cards, which were basically maxed out at the time I bailed from Hellcorp.

I have paid off two of the three student loans. The third loan will be paid off by the end of this year.

The consumer loan was paid off a long time ago. That was the first albatross I flung off my neck.

I sold the car in 2004, when My Son graduated from high school, and moved to Minneapolis so I could live where walking and busing are realistic modes of transportation. I pay $50 a month for an all-you-can-ride 31-day pass at the non-rush hour rate. If I take the bus at rush hour, I add 50 cents to the fare box. That's still less than I was paying for insurance alone. Even if the bus fares go up due to gas prices, it's still cheaper (and far less headache) than owning and maintaining a car.

I live in a nice, spacious-feeling if compact, studio apartment which I rent for $525 a month. Electricity, even subscribing to 100% wind power, still only runs about $20 a month (not including air conditioning, which will certainly add a bit more). One advantage of living in a small space!

I have acquired two additional sources of debt: a small-balance credit card, which I have just paid in full, henceforth to keep at a zero balance, making payments as I use it; and two PLUS loans for My Son, the sum of which is rather larger than I would like, but which will be manageable since I no longer have all the other debt payments to make!

And now that my finances are in order, the next order of business is to subscribe to Internet access at home--something I gave up at the time I bailed from Hellcorp. It's a luxury; there's always the library. But given that I sleep days and work nights, it's not always feasible to rely solely on the library for Internet access. The pressure of working against the clock tends to make it hard for me to compose my thoughts when posting and commenting on posts. And if I want to do any extensive research on a subject, well, there goes the whole hour or two, right there!

I think the convenience of being able to use the Internet in the middle of the night on my nights off, or even in the evening after the library is closed but before I have to leave for work, or while supper is cooking or laundry is washing and drying, will be worth the money--now that I have the money.

Meanwhile, with the financial worries off my mind, I shall now contribute my energies towards manifesting a new and improved president of the United States. ;-) The hell with manifesting a Mercedes Benz. I don't need a Mercedes Benz. I need sane leadership of my country, and sane representation in the wider world. President Obama, FTW!!!