Money is a funny thing. It seems to be concrete but it is not. Most people know about fluctuating rates of exchange and interest, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I mean is that the amount of money that you have is affected by the attention they pay to it. If you ignore your money and don't think about your purchases, it will be gone very quickly. You might not seem to be spending that much. You might not come home with any major items. Nonetheless, whether you buy a new TV, or you fritter it away one small thing at a time, it will all disappear before you know it. Until I looked at a debt to income ratio, I had no idea that I had been continually plummeting into debt for the last several years. The thought never crossed my mind. I have gotten a home improvement loan, I had spent thousands of dollars on a state-of-the-art home entertainment system, I had taken a few expensive vacations, and put one kid through college. I knew that I was making debt payments that were higher than I wanted, but I had no idea how far it had gone.

If I hadn't looked at that income to debt ratio, I never would've really realized it. On the surface, it seemed like I was still making enough money to live the good life, but the debt to income ratio showed me the truth. The truth was that my debt to income ratio had grown so dramatically in the last few years that I no longer had the money to support my lifestyle. I needed to eliminate some of that debt!

It took me hours to put all the numbers into a debt consolidation calculator. I had never calculated debt to income ratios before. When I did, however, I was both shocked and relieved. I was shocked to see further confirmation of my high debt to income ratio, but I was relieved to find out that it was possible to dig my way out of debt. All was not lost. My financial future was still salvageable. I got a debt consolidation mortgage loan, decreased the amount of money that I spent on entertainment, and shifted my priorities around. By the time I was done, I had a plan that would shift my debt to income ratio within 18 months. I have not been in serious debt since them. I have learned to keep an eye on my debt to income ratio.