Debt eats at your ability to build wealth over time. It steals your hard-earned income and causes you not to be able to do things like invest, not to be able to do things like pay cash for emergencies.
My goal was to only pay bills. I didn't want to buy anything extra, but I knew things always come up, like my son needing something for school. I told myself ahead of time that I could "break the freeze" for absolute necessities only. Over the 30 days, copays for doctor's appointments and prescription costs were the only unexpected purchases I made.
Looking back, it's easy to spot the moments where things could have gone differently. At the time, each financial decision felt justified, and sometimes even smart! Whether it was driven by optimism, pressure, or a belief that I could "figure it out later," I made choices that seemed reasonable in the moment but were costly over time. What surprised me most wasn't just the money lost, but how similar the underlying mistakes were.
At the beginning of the year, I looked more closely at one particular statement than I had before. I was shocked by the number of transactions I didn't recognize. They turned out to be subscriptions. My 17-year-old daughter told me that she'd been offered a special deal at the Verizon store: access to Apple Music for up to six people for $10 a month. She was desperate to take advantage of the promotion and said the streaming service had an amazing selection of songs.
You can't put $2,500 away right now because you got 86,000 freaking dollars in debt sucking the bone marrow out of your life. The key phrase is 'focused investing.' That only happens after the debt is gone. $2,500 per month represents exactly 15% of a $200,000 annual income. Right now, that $2,500 is not available because it's already being consumed by debt service.
