Pre-midlife crisis

I am having a crisis right now.

I am an avid Dave Ramsey fan. Sure, I think he can be preachy and sure, I only mostly follow his preachings. But the man knows what he's talking about.

But something hits me as I sit here watching episode 10/52 that I have DVR'd right now (amazing how they build up when you go on vacation for a few weeks). It hits me that I have more debt than 99% of the people calling into his show.

True, not a single penny of it is credit card debt. And not a single penny of it is car debt. I drive a piece of crap car and we payed off DH's truck several years ago.

So where is my debt coming from?

Student loans. Lots. And. Lots. Eight years of school. Let's just say when people talk about how much debt the average veterinarian is graduating with today, and how massive that amount is? Well, I have about 1.5 times that amount.

And this is frustrating to me. I wish someone had introduced me to Dave Ramsey before I ever stepped foot into college. Would it have changed what I did? I'm not sure. When I first moved to college, I was doing anything I could to get away from my divorcing parents. So I got out of the state. And really, finances aside, that was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. But it accrued some debt. Nothing compared to what I accrued during vet school, however.

So here I sit in a job that I don't even really like, not even sure if I went into the right field (upsetting in and of itself because this is what I've wanted to do since I was 8), and the only way I can get rid of the debt faster would be to die or become permanently disabled. Yeah, not an option.

If someone had introduced me to Dave earlier, I probably would have still become a vet. But maybe I would have delayed it a few years. Maybe I would have gained residency, which would have been very easy to do considering I probably would have qualified at the time of entering vet school anyway. Maybe I would have taken the full-time position at the zoo and saved up some money. Between savings and being a resident, maybe I could have done school without any debt.

Or maybe I would have done the same thing, but I would have been more frugal about spending during school so I wouldn't have had to use my checks each semester to catch me up because I'd spent all the money I was supposed to use for other things.

Now the best thing I can do is try to convince DH that we really need to tighten up our budget. Sure, it won't be fun for 4 years. But I'm only 26, DH is just about to turn 31. So we'll be 30 and 35. Really, not that old. Plenty of time to live still. And our kids won't be anywhere near college, so we'll have plenty of time to save up for that. Retirement will be a little behind but we'll suddenly have all this income to put towards catching up. And then I can decide whether this still really isn't where I want to be, and look into a career change while DH looks into being a SAHD for a few years.

If we can do that, we'll be okay. We'll be great in a few more years. But one thing's for sure: I'm going to make damn sure my kids know how to budget long before they get to college so they won't end up in this same situation. Because feeling overwhelmed by debt? IT SUCKS.