my crazy life

Bringing Debt Into a Marriage (P.S. I’m Hitched!)

by  • 

Well, It’s official.

I’m married : ).

And it’s awesome. : ) : ) : )

Yes, that was three smileys in a row on a blog.

It’s a strange feeling…sometimes it feels strange, but I’d say 99% of the time, everything feels the same with my now wife, which is great, because we are both very happy.

The past few months have been pretty crazy, lots of wedding planning, moving, living in my Mom’s basement, etc. But now I’m settling in with my wife in Portland, and we just love it.

I honestly thought, when I started this blog back in January of 2007, that there was no way in heck I would be getting married anytime this side of 30 (I’m 27 now).

What, you didn’t think so either? Ha.

Bringing Debt Into Marriage

My wife brought very little debt into our marriage, she had a little chunk of credit card debt that we paid off a few months ago. She is now completely debt free.

As for me…I still have a ways to go, but I’m making great progress. The amount I owe my mother is in the 90K range, and continuing to decline each month. I may be able to pay her off in full by the end of the year, that’s the goal at least.

My car is paid off, all tax debts resolved, no credit card debt. I still have about 32K left on my student loans, but those are pretty low interest rates, and while I may pay them off this year, I may just leave them alone.

The good news about my debt issues, is that my now wife was with me through all of them. She used to come hang out with me when I was living in my office. She would wash her hands with cold water after my heat got shut off in the house I had to short sale.

So none of my debts were a surprise to her. We didn’t start dating until I had really turned things around a bit, but it was still pretty touch and go even when we first started dating.

I think bringing any amount of debt into a marriage CAN work, but only if you both are clear on how much and what the plan is for paying it off. Communication is the key.

Mrs. Debt Kid?

I asked my wife to do a guest post here, so hopefully in the next week or so you’ll get some words from her perspective on my journey (and hers with me) over the last few years.

Thanks again for being such awesome readers!

Share Button
  • Moving to Portland, OR
  • Meet Jessica W: $15,278 in debt
    • http://triptoemily.blogspot.com Shannon

      OK…I’ve been reading this blog for awhile, and apparently I miss what it is you do for a living that you could even contemplate paying off 90K of debt in 5 months. PLUS think about paying off your student loans of 32K. Seriously, how are you going to do that??? Because inquiring minds want to know and duplicate the results!! LOL

    • http://www.debtkid.com debt kid

      Paying off the debt would be using savings I’ve accumulated over the past year. I run a small software development company (that’s growing!).

    • http://www.debtvigilante.com Debt Vigilante

      I recently got married (3 months ago). We both have student loan debt. I have about 70k she has about 34k, luckily I have a master’s degree and a good job and she is in graduate school and will have a REALLY good job. We will be able to get the debt knocked off pretty quickly when she gets out of school, but adding another person’s debt can be scary. It is important for husband and wife to come together on money issues. A huge cause of divorce, is money issues. Being financially transparent and having the same views on money as one another are so vitally important.

    • justme

      DK
      CONGRATS to both of you. :-)

    • http://Www.freeyourfinance.posterous.com FYF

      DK,

      Mate, as someone who has been following you for a very long while (pre office days) I am so proud of you. Your hard work, dedication and never giving up attitude is an inspiration to me! Onwards to better things!

      I just wished you would post more =)

    • http://www.debtkid.com debt kid

      Thanks FYF!

      There really is something to be said about determination. I’m not where I want to be yet, but gosh darn it, my life is good…and quite normal for the most part!

    • bp

      Congratulations!!! I knew you when you were sleeping on your office floor. It seems like such a short time ago although it probably seems like a long, arduous journey to you. You have come such a long way in growing as a human being and as a man and, though I don’t know you, I’m so very proud of you. You are a testament of the best that can be done when we find ourselves at the bottom of ourselves. May your future with your wife be as bright as the sun and may God richly and abundantly bless you!

    • Andrew

      Congratulations!
      that 90k figure seems so small compared to what it used to be! it’s funny how the momentum can make the same number look so different!

    • http://www.abundatrade.com Tracy

      Hey congrads on getting married. Good job on chipping away at all that debt. It may continue to take time but you are still going pull it off. Hard work always pays off.

    • Deana

      CONGRATULATIONS!! On both your wedding and success with your business/debt demolition! I’ve been following your journey for a while now, (i’m in a similar debt position to you and also self-employed) and can’t tell you how grateful I am to you for inspiring and motivating me during the darkest days of my own ongoing journey to financial freedom.

      Ever since you first mentioned your then friend/new wife I had a feeling she might be your soulmate, and i’m so happy for you both! You deserve it – you’ve came such a long way and i’m so very proud of you. Look forward to your new wifes’ guest post! :)

    • http://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/ Nicole

      What a sweet post. Congratulations!

    • http://www.moneyedup.com/ Moneyedup

      Congratulations! I’ m looking forward to the guest appearance from Mrs. Debt Kid. The best advice I can give you is to be as honest as possible about your finances with your wife. She has been with you all of the way and has stood by you through thick and thin. You need to work together so that you aren’t living beyond your means in order to meet her expectations. At the same time, it is important for you two to have separate accounts for your own personal spending if you feel that having a joint account to pay the bills is all you need together. Best of luck!

    • Jeramy Williams

      Congrats!! I totally agree, marriage can be tough enough as it is, so being on the same page when it comes to dealing with debt issues is critical.

    • http://www.checkadvantage.com/ KC the Great

      One thing that sucks about debt and marriage. The cost of the wedding. My wife and I didn’t have a ton of it, but it started a bad cycle.

      Most people of marrying age are in their mid to late 20s or early 30s and have built up some debt. It’s pretty normal to bring some into a marriage, as long as everyone is aware of what’s going on with money matters.

      If you’re thinking about getting married – look for ways to save cash instead of swiping the credit card without thinking twice.

    • Agnes

      Good for you! Congratulations, very nice post too.

    • http://www.bankaim.com Bankaim

      Very cool stuff! I am in the process of getting hitched to! In 21 days I will be proposing to my girlfriend in Ireland and she has no idea! Just got the ring and am excited. Anyways love your blog!

    • http://www.youngandthrifty.ca youngandthrifty

      Congratulations! =)

    • Leah

      Congratulations and may I just say, you are AWESOME!

    • http://www.debtkid.com debt kid

      Thanks Leah! I try…. : )

    • Doug Z

      What if you did short sales on your homes that took years but the balance that went unpaid was called a future callable debt for twenty years. Bank of America would not sign off on my short sales unless that little item was included in the documents. If those balances are called by a debt collector is my new wife to be responsible. My lawyers says now but news stories tell of debt collectors going for blood any way they can when they buy this kind of paper. I would have to call off the wedding if I was exposing her to loosing her 401k and mutual funds account.

    • D. Hump

      Doug Z et. al

      I was looking for awswers related the same thing you mention in third, fourth and fifth sentence. I have a lot of credit card debt and co-signing debt for my kids college loans and I wanted to get some validated info about my new wife to be’s exposure to my debts if I would default on them or die. We will probably have a combined mortgage by then, but she does have a 401k and savings that blood hungry collectors could go after if its legal. Were you able to find any other good resources for information.
      My new wife to be knows about the debt, so that is on the table, but I told her I would calm her nerves by getting better info.
      Don