Last fall, things got really tough. I lost my dream corporate job in the summer of 2022. Then my contract job took a big pay cut. Then that job ended for a full-time position in February 2023. Finally, I landed a 20-hour-a-week job starting in March 2023.
My finances were in a state of chaos and extreme distress. Things came to a head last fall when I was at risk of not being able to pay our car insurance, gymnastics car payments, etc.
Some of you may know this phase of my life, which was full of ups and downs. And what I did…
the date
As with each of my children, I agreed to help the gymnast get back on his feet after high school (or school) by paying some of his bills for 6 months. In his case, those bills were his car payments and car insurance. He moved to Texas as soon as he turned 18, and that was the start of the 6-month countdown.
But I ran out of money and couldn’t pay the bills for about two months. So I made the hard decision to tell him. I waited as long as I could. I probably waited longer than I should have. Because he didn’t know.
decision
Fortunately, he listened to me and made great financial decisions. Without a doubt, he sent me money not only to pay off his car payments, but also to catch up on what he had missed and cover the entire family car insurance bill. He didn’t bat an eyelid. He didn’t blame me. He didn’t wait to be asked. He just did it.
I was so amazed and proud, I told him I would return the favor.
Fast forward to now
The gymnast kept refusing my offer to pay him back. I knew he was stressed out because of the heavy burden of his car payments and insurance. (He had been in three car accidents and was covering those too.)
But now we were able to refinance the car and get the interest rate down to a reasonable rate. Our insurance premiums have also gone down with the next loan renewal. He has a lofty goal of paying off the car loan in full in the next six months, which is very achievable. And now I have a steady, full-time income again.
So I decided to help him in another way that I hope will give him some relief and motivation to achieve his goal of paying off his car payments. I will be paying his share of the family car insurance policy from August (yes, last month) through December. That is why the child contribution was much less than the budgeted amount last month.
This total will be a little more than he paid off last year, so it’s just a different way of paying off his debt than I planned to cover. I hope this helps him get a lot closer to being debt free. With a nice, reliable car to help him through these younger years!
The post Paying Off Gymnast’s Debt was originally published on Blogging Away Debt.
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