I wish...

That I had listened to my Dad about credit card debt. If I had, I would have an extra $1500 a month, AFTER all my bills. This is a lot of money to me, I'm not a baller okay, I make 40k a year, which is actually pretty good in my area as far as cost of living etc. But anyway, instead when I was 19, 20, and 21 I buried myself in credit card debt. I had gotten a lot of it paid down, then my house was flooded during a terrible storm (I'm talking the water got up to 4 feet in my house), and although I had flood insurance, we decided we wanted to make some upgrades. We thought they were reasonable and within our budget, however when you get screwed over three times in a row by contracters, suddenly, I'm in over my head and I'm just hoping to get it fixed enough to live there. So, unfortunately I relied on my credit cards. I've been beating myself over the head about this for a year and a half now. BUT, I'm also (reluctantly) excited because although I'm already tired of "cracking down" and budgeting (why has no one ever mentioned how mentally/emotionally exhausting this is?), I should have my credit cards paid off by end of next July. It's so close, yet so far. (that's 9k paid off in the next 7 months, whoo hoo!) And why am I reluctantly exited? Because I'm worried something major will go wrong, and I won't get to my goal. I don't think I'm generally a negative person, it's just a fact about my life, something will pop up at the absolute worst time and ruin any plans I've made (see bove about flood). So, mainly I'm really worried my dad is going to get fired from his job. You'd think I'd be more concerned about getting laid off from mine, I can't really explain what I do, but it'd be about like being a nurse and getting laid off, it's just the least likely position to be eliminated with our company, in fact, we've hired 4 people in the last 6 months. Anyway, so my Dad, he's a collections rep, and do you know how hard it is to collect on medical debt right now? No one gives a damn, they're trying to pay their utilities and feed their kids, and I really don't blame them. Except...if my dad gets fired, around where we live, the kind of job he can work is few and far between for an old man with major back problems (he can't stand for more than 30 minutes at a time, well there goes all the fast food joints and Wal-Mart!) and a very complicated work history (I don't want to go into detail) so I'll be paying his mortgage...and his utilities....and whatever else he needs. I know that this situation is certainly nothing out of the ordinary right now, with the economy (taking care of your parents I mean) and all. I know I'm not alone, but I also know I'm the minority. Why could I not have been born into a family with parents that could take care of themselves? Or at least learned from their obvious and atrocious mistakes? Jeez. Oh well, I'm trying to stay positive...At least I can take care of him if I have too...right?