I was really stupid with money. Basically I was working part time and I was making enough to go to school and buy a few things. Eventually I was really annoyed with the lack of free time I had because I was either working or at school. I then decided to work less. Went from 12 hours a week to 3, but I didn't change my spending habits. Also I was helping my sister survive because she felt through hard time
By the time the semester end I was $4K in credit card debt. I thought I could just work it off, but they wouldn't give me more hours at work. I then quit and got another job, but I had to quit it because of my neck injury. I eventually found another job and was working full time there, but I made the idiotic decision to go back to school ( it was my last year) instead of paying the debt. When I was at school I couldn't find a job and I was using the amount I saved during summer to pay the minimum on the credit card, while still using it.
So by the time I graduate I was $12K- $15 in debt. My dumb ass thought I would find a job right away in graphic design to pay it off. I was making money by jumping from call center to call center. Basically I was only doing the training and left as soon as the training was over. There is a lot of call center in Montreal and I had years of experience so I always got hired. I hated call center with a passion, but I couldn't work there because I have throat issues ( I guess it has to do with my neck injury, poor posture etc)
Eventually, I ended up having a boring desk job and was working full time until it got too hard for my body to be sit all day long ( when you don't take proper care of your already injured body, things always get worse). I ended up staying at that job, but working part time. My sister was paying me back, but I was still using my card like an idiot. She ended up giving me about $7-10k in one year, my credit card went from $15k to $12K.
I eventually got let go from where I was working, because they only wanted full time workers. I then decided to go back to school to learn something that could. Took out a $2K student loan and went too school, until I realize the program was far too demanding for my lazy ass. I stopped going to class, but used my student loan to keep up my lifestyle.
When the student loan money ended, I went back to jumping from call center to call centers. While I was jumping from call centers to call center, I did some research on how to deal with the debt and ended filling for debt consolidation. The $15K debt got dropped to $9K and I have been paying it monthly for the past 2 years.
Unfortunately, I was dumb to go back to school again, get in a program that I like, but couldn't handle physically ( my body kept getting worse over time) and ended leaving again while using my student loan, another $2K to pay my $9K debt. When the student loan ran out, my sister told me to apply for social services because I have a hard time finding a job or keeping it, because my injuries are just getting worse.
Now that was two years ago. Almost everything goes in paying my debt in my student loan, I was never a big spender, but I was spending more than I had, which is something I finally learned to stop doing. I have been working with the social services to find a job that I could actually do, but so far no luck. I wish I had been more obsess with my recovery when I got injured than 7 years later. I don't know if I will fully recover or not, but I'm doing my best to keep at it.