Debt Crunch – Work Today – Invest for Tomorrow
Debt and Hope - Today at work, we made a trip to Portland to visit the dentist. Growing up in Maine doesn’t mean I know how to get around Portland very well – my directions using Yahoo Maps did NOT work. We survived (actually ended up an hour late) and made it back with 15 minutes to spare so, all in all, it was worth the trip.
The wind coming of the Old Port in Portland was biting cold. I was stunned to see people out in the freezing cold (around 0 with the wind, I believe) especially standing outside the soup kitchen. Living in Maine, we probably see less people hanging around outside than in warmer states because being outside all day is near impossible during the winter months BUT today, we saw people milling around – dropping things off and picking up supplies for other places.
I thought of how incredibly hard it must be to be working your way out of a situation of homelessness. I thought of how hard it is for me to be hopeful about my own life at times then I wondered how I would be under such circumstances. I would want to spend my days in the library if I had no where else to go – I would read and read in between trying to change my circumstances.
Then again, I have a friend that was talking about her husband being out of work for another 6 weeks at least due to a back injury and not having the funds to pay their loans and bills. An emergency fund.
The only real buffer to keep me from losing my home and vehicle will be that emergency fund because I am the only income – if I were to be out of work… how would we live?
Not out in the cold – two little boys. That is my motivation to do this right. Therein lies my hope that I will be able to provide for them – work today, invest for tomorrow.
How ’bout you – what motivates you to get those debts GONE and save for the future?
Tam
Tags: debt, emergency fund, loan, maine, money, savings
