My first card

I still remember my first credit card... it was a citibank card and I was at COS and they had there little card table set up, and I was snared. It wasn't even hard for them. I was only 19-20 I had an apartment with a friend, that I couldn't afford so my husband-to-be (as it turned out) was paying for it.

So of course I could get a card, and did you know they gave me a $2000 dollar limit. I mean me, I was bringing home maybe $200 a month! I was excited and of course, I put it away for emergencies, like shoes, and pizza. But no worries cause every time I got to my max limit, you know those nice people raised my credit limit, so I wouldn't have to worry. But that doesn't really end there because after I got married, I still found myself enamored by credit cards. I felt grown up, like I was officially an adult. I would be at the mall and see those credit card tables with free items, and I would plow people over just to get in and fill it out.

Soon, the debt was very high. We were losing control, and several years later as we stood in bankruptcy court worried that someone was going to show up, that credit card card had grown to over $20,000... yes there are 5 digits there... I really did hate to see that go, but maybe it is more about failure than it is loyalty. Maybe if I can hold on a little more then I could fix this mess I made.

But that was a long time ago, and unfortunately not the last of my financial mistakes, and now we are on track for greener pastures.