Being resourceful for money when debt is off the table

In hindsight, I am so glad I was unable to access debt or credit during my struggling years. At the time I wished I could, I thought it would make my life easier. I see now it would have set a trap that would have been very difficult to get out of.

It forced me to be resourceful. Because I couldn’t just charge something to a credit card, I had to come up with other solutions. When you’re having trouble feeding yourself, there is no way you could hold back on charging the card. But without the card, I was left to figure out other ways.

• I would go to the public library and use their computer. I would spend hours a day at the library. It essentially became my office.
• We got very creative with our food. Sometimes using frozen burger patty would be cheaper than ground beef, to make a casserole or something, for example. We would just break apart the frozen patty. A box of patties would supply enough beef for many dinners.
• “Fun” activities were often “free” activities. Going to the park. Public swimming pool.
• When my first son was 3, we were so broke we couldn’t afford Christmas presents. We made a bunch for him. He was 3, so it didn’t matter as much. The tree was still filled with gifts to unwrap. He was happy and we were happy. In another universe we might have charged a credit card with gifts that we couldn’t afford.
• I can recall being depressed during a summer long holiday weekend that we were basically trapped in the city, unable to travel or do anything fun. And it was hot as hell. But it was necessary to hunker down.
• Every expense I took on for the business had to be saved for and paid for with cash money. This meant some things took longer. “It takes money to make money” is a true adage, but if you don’t have any you make the most of what you’ve got.
• Since I had no access to “easy” debt money, my mind was always spinning with ways to create money. Products I could create to sell. Gigs I could book that weren’t as exciting of venues. Basically do things I didn’t particularly want to do or weren’t part of the big dream, but would still push me along my path.
• When I did generate money, a penny saved was a penny earned. I prided myself on how cheap and low ego I could be.

Things began to change and improve. As they did, I was grateful we could press on. I could reinvest the money into myself and the business instead of servicing past debt. The snowball really started rolling.