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I’ve been called cheap, a penny pincher and tight pretty much all my life and it’s never bothered me because I know that I’m not a cheap person.

To me a cheap person always goes out of their way to find either a “hook up,” generic products (which they try to pass off as authentic) or unwilling to INVEST in something that will eventually pay off.

I will certainly try to find the best deal but only when finding that deal isn’t going to be too much of a hassle or time consuming.

I am however ALWAYS willing to spend money on something that has the potential to either teach me something or return some type of a profit.

So instead of being cheap I call myself financially responsible.

Being financially responsible means having the ability to determine the difference between a NEED and a WANT, which I have found that people can’t do, ESPECIALLY WOMEN.

When I was younger I was very, very wasteful when it came to money.

For example, I had almost every single pair of Air Jordan’s that came out and I even paid extra to get them before their release date.

This was extremely wasteful, especially considering the fact that I hardly ever wear them now.

One of the events in my life that caused me to become financially responsible was the birth of my daughter.

I know that her mother is wasteful so I have to show her how to save and manage money because if not she is going to fall into the category of a present day indentured servant.

The definition of an indentured servant is a person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance which to me sounds a lot like CREDIT!

Last year my goal was to get completely out of debt and after years worth of hard work I was able to accomplish debt, which which I thought that I would be able to keep forever.

Naive thinking I know but it was worth a shot and I was able to keep that goal until my car broke down which brought me back into the revolving cycle of being an indentured servant.Think about this scenario:

You go to school, get a degree and credit debt.

You get a nice job where you’re able to pay down some of your debt, which gives you a higher credit score.

With this increasing credit score you have the ability to go buy things that you don’t have the money for at the time but you’re told that you don’t have to make a payment on something for a year at no interest.

So now you have a house full of items that you didn’t have to pay for right away, debt from school and you’re working a job (that you probably dislike) to make the monthly payments that are low compared but that will probably last you forever.

You my friend have become an indentured servant and don’t even realize it.

As your pay increases so does your comfort level as well as your lifestyle.

You’re not working for yourself anymore, your working for the people that you owe money to and the older you get the more credit (house mortgage, boats, cars, etc) that you accumulate.

The worst part about this scenario is this is the norm for most people my age.

We’re a society that lives on credit because we’re never taught how money works.

I know that I have the ability to get back to having zero debt but it’s going to take a lot of hard work on my part but I must get this done before I move to Atlanta.

Being financially responsible will help me to achieve this goal once again.

Like I stated above, me being financially responsible is to pad my bank account and to help my daughter and her kids in the long run.