When I was younger and having all kinds of money problems, I ask myself a thousand time how I got myself in this mess. It seemed like one day we were doing fine financially and next we owed everybody. How can it happen so quick?This is a problem that a lot of people are experiencing today. It can be one of most helpless and frustrating situations most of us can find ourselves in. To make matters worse, it seems harder we try to get a handle on our finances deeper in debt we become.
There isn't an answer that covers everybody, naturally, but I believe that in most cases we simply weren't paying close enough attention to details of our finances. We figure that an extra payment here or there won't make a difference, until it's too late.
I know for myself and most of people I have counseled over years, that it wasn't until we took a good hard look at how we got ourselves in debt, that we were able to start working on a way out. This isn't for purpose of placing blame, but is necessary to determine what changes needed to be made and to prevent it from happening again.
I have found that very few people, including myself, have ever been taught even basics of proper money management, either at home or at school. This hit home when I had to teach all three of my kids how to fill out and maintain a check book, after they graduated from high school. I assumed that they would learn this in school. I realize now that I should have been more aware of what they were not learning and accepted responsibility of teaching them fundamentals of handling their money myself. That was my job.