At one point in my life, I was riding on the wave of technology. I was up-to-speed on the latest-and-greatest and updated my tech just about every three years.
But that was over five years ago.
These days, I'm using a Power Mac G4 as my desktop, a Power Book G4 as my laptop, and an iPhone 3Gs as my phone.
As you can see, everything except for my iPhone has been obsolete for at least four years. Also, everything except for my iPhone has been a hand-me-down.
My desktop is running along just fine and does everything I need it to do. I haven't used the desktop as my primary computer in a couple years ... it exists primarily to house my digital music catalog. My laptop, however, is dying a slow death and seriously needs to be replaced.
Which is where I find myself today. I'm very picky about my tech. As you can see, I've made my bed with Apple. I know exactly what I want and need in a new laptop. The problem is that I can't afford to buy it outright, I can't get financing through Apple, and I can't add any more credit through my current cards.
I know how I got into this predicament. I was in a relationship in which we racked up a lot of debt. Some of it was solely mine. Some of it was solely his. Most of it was ours shared. But I've ended up being the one left holding the tab on the vast majority of it. I've enrolled in a Debt Reduction Plan to get the interest rates back down to a manageable 9.25% (from a criminal 28.99%) on each of my two credit cards. Even with that, it's going to take me almost five years to pay off what is owed. That's left me in a bind in many areas of my life (i.e. selling the current condo and buying something in an area I want to live, saving money, replacing older things with newer things, et cetera).
But back to the tech issue. I have no choice but to ride the back of my laptop (and then desktop) until I'm in a financial place to get what I need to replace the laptop.
It's just irritating that I'm left in this position ... a position that I am not solely responsible for being in.
1 comment:
I think if you look at the bigger picture you'll realize that you're not the only one who was left with large amounts of debt after that relationship.
Your ex is carrying close to 80k in school loan debt which will ballon to over 100k by the time he finishes grad school (and if memory serves him correctly he helped in the paying down of your school debt while you two were together and none of his school debt you will be helping with).
Your first car was also bought and paid off jointly and he's asked for no money in return for that or share of the tax break you received for donating it.
He took over and has paid off the agreed upon joint credit cards you both held closing them out for good.
I also believe your ex sat down with you and personally showed you the full balance and status of now single finances and how to pay them (something he did for both of you for years after you called it quits) before separating them and made sure you were both fully aware and agreed to everything.
He also worked for the better part of two years TWO full time jobs while attending college and all of that extra money was deposited into your joint account and used by both of you with no questions asked.
He made it clear he was willing to help financially above what was agreed to if you needed help because he fully understood the debt was incurred equally and he bares equal responsibility for it, help which you've yet to asked for yet felt inclined to blog about.
If you're going to cry a 'woo is me story' while painting your ex like he left you high and dry with mountains of debt while he's sitting pretty debt free, you should make sure you have all the facts before running your mouth.
Tuffie
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