$15k. The day I paid that off (around age 26), I cried.

$40K after DH lost job and was unemployed for a 14 monte!

I knew a bunch of people would come in this thread to lecture and pat themselves on the back.

$25k in grad school. Paid it off in a year when I got a job.

$3000. Paid it off within two months. Had an awesome vacation. No regrets.

Around $5,000 in my early twenties, paid it off in a year or two before starting grad school.

$4000 for a furniture set once; hated it, so we paid it off

Coming out of grad school I had about $3,500 hanging over my head for about 1.5 years. Once I got rid of it I went cash only for about 8 years. Now we charge everything every month for the points (about $2,500) and pay it off in full every month.

refusal to delay gratification

I really hate that term. Just admit you live beyond your means or you simply cannot afford your wants.

Never had any credit card debt. It's slavery unless you can make it work for you instead of against you. If we don't have the money, we don't buy. Period.

We went up to $50K while I was laid off and my husband was stuck in a lousy partnership where the other partners weren't pulling their weight so he wasn't getting a draw. Paid it off once I started working again and he switched firms. Moved it around amongst a couple different cards and didn't end up paying a lot of interest on it.

Anonymous wrote:Zero. I buy within my means, and pay off my credit card in full, each and every month.

I still have about 20k in student loans, however. But that's the only extend of any debt I've owed.

+1 $0, pay balances in full every month. No student loans, though. Rent, so no debt in mortgage. No car loans or any other kind of loans. Live within your means.

The only meaningful reason I can see having debt is for a mortgage or unexpected medical expenses.

I think we were up to around $15K through a variety of bad decisions and refusal to delay gratification. Oh, that and my husband saw nothing wrong with just charging things and not telling me he didn't have the money to cover it (but that's another story) It took a couple of years to pay off, and a lot of hard budgeting work.

Ultimately we had about 5K left and refinanced the house- we managed to cut it to a 15 year mortgage (from 20), reduce monthly payment, and take out enough for some home repairs and pay off debt. That was a great feeling. We've never gone above $100 since, and that's been paid off quickly (within 1-2 months).

It gets up to 45k when I am crushed, but it business stuff. So it gets payoff on time. It might be more useful to ask what percentage of your take home pay.

Zero. I buy within my means, and pay off my credit card in full, each and every month.

I still have about 20k in student loans, however. But that's the only extend of any debt I've owed.

And how long did it take you to pay off that debt?