Once upon a time I was young and foolish and I ran up a lot of credit card debt. Nights out with the guys, car stereo, speakers, gas, food, you name it. The worst part is that I don’t have anything to show for it – not even the car stereo because I traded in that car for a newer, faster, shinier car. But that’s another story.

One of the fun things about becoming an NCO is the realization that not only do you have to start rating and leading young troops, but you actually become a mentor for them. I realized I needed to start leading by example. And slowly but surely I changed my ways.

Getting out of debt is easy – in principle

It’s not hard to get out of debt… at least the mechanics of it. Spend less than you earn, pay extra on your loans, don’t take on new debt, etc.

But the mental change and breaking the habits… that’s where it can be more difficult. It takes a lot of work and one little slip up can cost you months in interest payments.

So I came up with my own little plan and started chipping away at my credit card loans, and over the last couple years am almost finished with them all.

I wish there was a secret I could share, but the above methods are what I used. I guess the only thing I did that would be close to a secret is transfer my credit card balance to a zero percent balance transfer credit card. With these you need to open a new credit card and you can transfer your balance from another card to a 0% interest rate. It cost me 3% to transfer my balance, but at the old rate of 21%, I saved 18% interest. That was a HUGE blessing and saved me months of payments. Instead of over 20% of my monthly payment going straight to the credit card company and only 80% of my payment going to reduce the debt, I had 100% of the payment going to eliminate the credit card debt. I think it must have saved me at least $2000 (yeah, I had a lot of debt!).

So there is no magic bullet. Stop using your credit cards, spend only the money you have, and pay extra. If you have a lot of debt like I did, then it might take awhile. But it’s worth it. I sleep better at night and my credit score is improving. Not much more you can ask for!

P.S. The Jarhead is out of town for a few months, if you catch my meaning. He will try to pop his head in from time to time if he is able, but for now, I’ve agreed to drop by every so often and share some thoughts about the world. Send your positive thoughts out that way – those boys in the mountains need our support.

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