[rick888]

I was 25K in credit card debt when I got out of school. I moved back in with my parents and pretty much didn't do anything outside of working and sleeping for a year, and paid it off I am still debt free (this was 5 years ago).

It takes self control and discipline, which most people don't have.

[Cadsby]

It's easy to be judgmental. What would you have done if you didn't have parents to mooch off of for a year? What if you had a family to support?

It's easy to tell yourself you succeeded all due to "self control" and "discipline". But the truth is like many judgmental types, you had considerable practical/emotional support as well.

[jerf]

"What would you have done if you didn't have parents to mooch off of for a year? What if you had a family to support?"

What if a cow comes stomping into your front room and demands that you feed her shredded hundred dollar bills until she's full enough to tap dance her way to victory in the upcoming school competition?

Hypothetical aren't arguments, they're just anchorless questions. You have to look around yourself, figure out what to do, and do it. It may take extreme measures and you may encounter setbacks, but you can't let hypotheticals stop you. What do you have, right now? You don't have to worry about the hypothetical things happening to other people. How can you leverage it? Can you move somewhere that has more stuff? Do you need to declare bankruptcy? Do you need to find a private charity to help you out? Sometimes drastic action is called for.

Very few of us are handed life on a silver platter, and a goodly number of those people get the silver platter yanked at some time during their life. We all got problems. Solve them to the best of your abilities, or don't. I'm not guaranteeing success, because nobody's guaranteed success, but if you just give up on self control and discipline you're guaranteeing failure.

[Cadsby]

The difference is my hypothetical is a realistic one many people face. Yours is just pure fantasy with no connection to reality.

Yes personal motivation and attitude to succeed are large factors, ones we should encourage, but the empirical evidence heavily suggest your personal circumstances and level of support are equally as important, if not more so.

I'm a little tired of people with multiple advantges largely ignoring them in favor of the "I'm so great and awesome and all you need to do is be like me" mentality.

[rick888]

"It's easy to be judgmental. What would you have done if you didn't have parents to mooch off of for a year? What if you had a family to support?"

The thing is, If I have a family, it means I'm already making enough to support them. This is the self-control and discipline I was talking about. Too many people decide to have kids and don't do anything to prepare (IE: save money, etc).

If I didn't have family, I would still be fine. I would have gotten a cheap apartment and paid it off in two years.

"But the truth is like many judgmental types, you had considerable practical/emotional support as well."

Really? I didn't know "judgmental types" and "practical/emotional support" went hand-in-hand.

This is why unsuccessful people stay unsuccessful. They pass good advice off as "judgmental".

[nostrademons]

ViolentAcres actually had a good post about this a couple years ago:

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/32/drastic-measures/

Part of the problem is that when you're in debt, you get stressed, and when you're stressed, you tend to get tunnel vision and not see all of the possible alternatives. But the alternatives are out there. There are immigrant families that come here with nothing, sleep on sacks of rice in the back room of their workplace. There's the approach in the story above of going homeless and showering in the gym. There's roommates. You can live out of your car, if you have one.