chapter one: i am born.

i am broke.

broke, broke, broke.

broke as a joke.

i have $20.19 in my checking account and my cell phone bill is overdue. take that, at&t. they have crappy customer service, anyway.

no, i wasn’t being seriously flippant about not paying that bill. although i was being serious about at&t’s customer service.

my name is emma jones. okay, that’s not my real name, but a pseudonym is absolutely necessary for this kind of life disclosure (at least for me). i am going to try to keep all identifying details off of this blog, as privacy is paramount in this venture.

but i need to do something to keep me on track. this blog may be just what i need.

see, i’m in debt. a lot of debt. it could be a mortgage on a pretty nice house in some parts of these united states. but i don’t own a house.

no, it’s student loan debt. and some credit card debt. and some debt to my mother. yep, i even owe my saintly mother.

some might say that i am overeducated, but i don’t believe that anyone can ever have too much education. however, some might also say that if you have more education than can comfortably pay for, you’re overeducated. i would digress on that, too, as i wouldn’t trade a single one of my degrees to have a chunk of my debt erased.

i have two bachelor’s degrees, two master’s degrees, and am currently plugging away at a ph.d. no, i’m not incredibly indecisive; all of my degrees are related, and the reason i have two of two different types of degree is because the requirements for the degrees overlapped, and so while it may not seem like i’m very good with money, it made both fiscal and professional sense to pursue the second of each at the same time.

i won’t disclose exactly how much debt i am in at this point; maybe i will later on down the road. that’s just too much to me at this point. i’m easing into this. but i’ll say it again—i am in a lot of debt.

this blog is about my quest to eradicate my debt, avoid further debt, and begin to live the life i continually dream of. don’t get me wrong; my life is pretty great as it is, even with the debt albatross around my neck. i am an incredibly lucky woman. but i’m not where i want to be, and i’m sure a lot of other women out there can relate to my situation. i am holding myself accountable to the internet. oh, yeah, and to my own well-being.