Even the worst way to look at my financial issues, I think getting over Melinda and moving on and behaving myself in that area is like 10 steps forward, not 1. so more like 10 steps forward, 2 steps back. The issues I had I think are far worse than wasting $3000. Money is only money. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. If you win the lottery and then waste it all, you are no worse off than you were before you won the lottery. So being in debt a few thousand is not that big a deal in my opinion since it is pretty easy to get out of that debt.
As someone who's family is "of money", let me explain to you what
compounding interest is.
So you have a loan for $3000: I'm going to assume this is an unsecured personal loan with no collateral, but
somehow you have good enough credit to get a 9% monthly interest rate. So, every month you owe $270 dollars. But let's say that groceries and rent don't leave you with enough to pay that for one month. So now you owe $3270. Next month rolls around, and you assume you still owe $270. But, gasp! You actually owe $294.33 now, because that 9% interest rate is calculated from the
total debt, not from the initial loan. You don't have enough to pay that, so now you owe $3564.33. Which means that you're now going to be paying $320.79 per month without making a dent in your actual loan. Miss another month? Now you owe $3885.12, are paying $349.66 per month, and are entering the realm of defaulting on your loan: to translate that, that means
the bank gets to come and take your shit to repay the loan. The whole thing, not just the interest. They'll impound the valuable stuff first, so that means your fancy toys, like a computer, cell phone, nice stereo system: if your bankers are real pieces of shit, they'll run up late and handling fees on you until they can justifiably take your car or put a lien on your house (that means they own part of your house until you pay them back). Hint: bankers are almost always bloodthirsty pieces of shit.
And
all of this is ignoring late fees or the fact that I honestly believe that with your history you aren't
ever getting a loan under 15%. Let's do the math on that one right now, shall we? (once again, disregarding late fees):
Month 1: $3000, $450 monthly.
Month 2: $3450, $517.50 monthly.
Month 3: $3967.50, $595.13 monthly.
Are you seeing what happens here? Once you start falling behind, it becomes increasingly hard to keep up with the interest, which puts you deeper in the hole, until the bank comes and takes your shit to get the money they've invested in you back.
Here's a dirty secret about money: it's not just money. It's the food you eat, it's the car you drive to work, it's the roof over your head. And when you start treating it lightly, it fucks you in the ass and leaves you hungry, rained on, and using the old Marathon Express.