Blog #14 Debt
A few weeks ago I wrote about how on my way down to Albany my car ran out of oil and broke down. Thankfully, I made it out of that situation but it was foreshadowing.
Last week on my way to work my car began rattling, shaking and making strange noises like it had never before. I started freaking out. I don't know anything about cars but from the noise it was making I thought it was going to blow up.
I pulled over on the side of Roe highway and all I could think or say was "FUCK, FUCK, FUCK" I had no lie gotten rid of roadside assistance like 2 months prior and had ignored a text saying my car was due for a service.
I remember always driving past people broken down on the side of the highway and thinking. I would absolutely hate to be in their shoes. Well, it was finally my turn. I was pulled over on the side of the road and had absolutely no idea what to do. The first thing I did end up doing was calling my work and explaining I was gonna be late. I then opened the bonnet and quickly closed it realising that I was fooling myself thinking I could actually do anything there. It looked fine to me but then again I'm not sure how it's supposed to look.
I then just started calling anyone who would pick up. And asking them what to do I really didn't know what to do. Thankfully I was only 6km from work. Eventually, I just sent it and drove the car to work despite cringing at the awful sounds it was making. I made it to work.
I did not trust the car to bring me home that night. I live half an hour from where I work and no way was I going to get stranded on the highway again. I called my mechanic and got the car towed. I was for the rest of the week and weekend without a car. Thankfully I had only one more day of work that week.
The really painful bit was the cost of repairing the car. It came to $1400, as someone who just admitted to not being able to afford RAC roadside I'm sure you could tell how financially prepared I was for this. It soon became clear that my legitimately best option was to get a loan from the bank, fix the car, repay my other debts and then just focus on the one debt.
One of my first posts was about Zip Pay & Afterpay. I unfortunately did not listen to my own advice and had around $2500 in debt to them. This made getting the bank loan the best course of action. Now I just have one debt and I'm trying to keep it that way.
I mentioned in my last post my plans to travel and work abroad after attending the Oasis concerts. This is going to cost me quite a lot of money and I'm already in debt. I recently got my RSA and am excited once I graduate to begin bartending and making as much money as I can.
I'm honestly surprised that I was approved for a loan but also grateful. Once you become an adult you suddenly become eligible for so many types of debt and so many people are so keen to sign you up for it. I remember a few months ago I went into a Commbank as my app was giving me troubles. After the guy fixed my app he then started asking if I had thought about getting a mortgage. I just laughed in his face. No fucking way. I'm nowhere near where you would have to be financially to do that and could not uphold that commitment at all. Yet he was ready. After I explained that I was not there at all he hit me with the "You'd be surprised" line.
I'm really glad that I do have the ability to quickly have thousands of dollars put into my account if needed, it's good that there are some "safety nets" but it's also scary. I cannot tell you how many times I thought to myself well what if I made it a $5k loan and spent the rest on X, Y, Z...
I'm glad I've kept it to just the $4k. When I was in high school I had crazy good financial discipline. The past 4 years I have unlearned that discipline. Over the next 9 or so months though I really have to re-learn it. I need to repay this debt and begin to save for my travels. It's a daunting task but it's also kinda nice to have something I can absolutely lock in on. All I have to do now is graduate and keep expenses low.
Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts below!
