I got myself into a lot of financial mess. I discovered hire purchases and all of that sort of mumbo, so I’ve kind of slipped up. I knew what I could get and I pretty much took advantage of it. All I thought was I could get this right now if I sign this paper. But then I did it so many times, like I’m probably $30k in debt and I’m only 21.

At the pawn shop they have loans and you have to pay it off over four weeks. And then after the third week you can go in for a top-up if you need it. So I went in every third week and got all the top-ups and it just grew and grew and grew, like the repayments were higher every week. I went from paying $30 a week to $70 a week to $100 something a week.

I didn’t think about next week. I thought about next week if I knew that it was gonna be my third payment. Then I’d care about next week. I just thought about today, tonight, tomorrow morning. ‘What are we going to have for dinner and then breakfast?’ not, ‘What are we going to eat next week?’

Now I think about it. Now I think about what I’m going to do next month. You know, next year. My daughter’s five now. I think it was more reality when I saw how big she is. And that’s when it hit, like, 'Shit, five years'. That’s what made me stop. Watching her watch me waste money.

I think it was that I just wanted to give my family big things right then and there and all these people made it happen. But it was only temporary. It wasn’t like I owned it. I was spending money I didn’t have and I’m still spending money I don’t have. But now I’m just working on fixing it.

I paid off one debt in full. It was an internet bill I made like three years ago and they were chasing me for it. They emailed to say they’d waive 50% if I can cover this in this amount of time. So I took it. And I paid it, so that made me feel good. I was a week late but because I had kept in touch with them they let it slide. It was a little weight off my shoulders. But it’s nothing compared to what’s left. I’ve cleared one of probably about 15.

I dream to clear my debt. That's my only dream. Once I've cleaned that, once I make that dream a reality, then I can make up another dream. I don't want to have all these dreams because I have to do it one at a time. If I have too much things going on I'm not going to complete anything.