Kanyeing

Nahhhhh, nahhhhh, nah, nah
Wait til I get my money right......
Nahhhhh, nahhhhh, nah, nah
Then you can't tell me nothing, right?

Yall know I've been tryna get my life together and shit for like the last...... when did I start this blog? LOL Anyway, I've been making progress, year over year, and I'm feeling pretty great about those strides, though the mission continues. So next on the list, as of a couple years ago, was to try and salvage the wreckage that was my credit. Admittedly, credit was never even on my radar until I saw how much of grownup life was impacted by it, and even then, it still was never atop my list of priorities. I've always managed to get what I needed - call me resourceful. But then I moved to NYC. Okay, so technically I live in New Jersey but tell that to my rent LOL

Anyway, life here will wear you the fuck out if you don't have your finances in order. I don't care how much money you're making, you HAVE to be fiscally healthy to stay here, especially if you're solely responsible for the bills and God forbid you have mouths to feed. Ever wonder why everybody you know who lives here has a roommate? Bing! Well there you have it.

2002 was the first time I remember having any semblance of what my credit score was. I was leaving my long-term relationship and moving into a complex that required a minimum 630 score, I believe. Granted, I still didn't know my actual score, but I got in so I figure it was at least a 630. I'll tell you one thing; it damn sure wasn't no 630 by the time I moved outta there LOL. This was really my first "on my own" experience and I was a full credit disaster. I couldn't balance a checkbook to save my life so my bank account was in the negative EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH. The credit cards I did have were always maxed out and I even had 2 vehicles repossessed because I couldn't keep up with the payments. It was 4 years of robbing Peter to pay Paul and it only got slightly better after my next move. I BARELY got into my next place - they actually told me my credit score wasn't good enough - but I mean..... what's the point of this sparkling personality if not to finesse a thing or two? LOL

Enter 4 more years of floating payments and all I really learned was that car payments and credit cards were both the devil. I probably shouldn't say "all I really learned" because ridding myself of both those things was the best thing I could have ever done for myself at that time. But my credit was still shitty. By the time I relocated, God was surely not the only one judging me but my landlord took a chance on me anyway. See "sparkling personality" LOL I knew I couldn't continue on that path though. I needed to start taking some steps toward cleaning my credit up. I'm about to sound like a commercial but real talk, credit karma made it super easy for me to learn how credit actually works, to see what was actually on my report, and also to view my credit scores. I did everything I could to remove what shouldn't be there, pay what was legitimately owed and even got a couple credit cards because I mean #reallife and plus borrowing power - when used responsibly - can really positively impact your numbers. When I first got the app, my shit was categorized as "poor" so I NEEDED a positive impact. I spent most of the last 2 years in "fair" condition but it wasn't changing much, and definitely not often, so eventually I stopped checking it. But I was still doing the work - paying my bills on time, keeping my card balances low, watching my spending.... I became a whole new woman!

It had been a while since I last checked the app but both my credit cards increased my credit limit recently so I logged in to check my score. Ok. "Good." Cool.

Wait.... GOOD? It took a minute to register but then it hit me. Yooooooooo! A bitch got good credit! LMAOOOOOOOOO!

Was you sayin' something?
Uh uh, you can't tell me NOTHING!

Come THROUGH 2018! LOL