A finance professional who wound up in credit card debt after 'doom spending' explains how she got out of the red and changed her money mindset

• Despite a coagulated financial background, Alejandra Rojas recovered herself successful five-figure in installments paper debt.
• It forced her to reevaluate her narration pinch money, which was affecting her spending habits.
• She's now debt-free and runs a financial acquisition company. She specializes successful money trauma.

Alejandra Rojas was raised by 2 accountants successful Cali, Colombia and helped them pinch bookkeeping to gain an allowance.

"I would play pinch invoices arsenic a kid alternatively of dolls," she told Business Insider.

She understood basal money principles from a young property and continued her financial acquisition arsenic a assemblage student.

"I graduated arsenic a finance professional, truthful I knew each strategy successful nan book connected really to save, really to get retired of debt," said Rojas.

But those skills didn't construe successful nan existent world. After landing a occupation arsenic a financial serviceman successful Washington DC, she started spending much than she was earning and recovered herself successful a $10,000 hole.

"I sewage into in installments paper indebtedness from mindless spending — what you would now telephone 'doom spending,'" said Rojas. "I was a young master successful DC. There were a batch of things to spell to. There were a batch of happy hours."

Accumulating indebtedness arsenic a finance master was confusing.

"If I person spent nan past decade studying and increasing up knowing astir money, why americium I acting this way? It was this misalignment betwixt what I knew I had to beryllium doing and what I was really doing," said Rojas, who besides recalls emotion shame and guilt. It held her backmost from talking to anyone astir her finances. "It's not easy to say, 'Well, I americium successful this magnitude of debt, and I don't cognize really to get retired of it.' There is simply a batch of judgement that comes pinch it."

Rojas wanted to understand her situation. She recalls Googling thing like, "Why do finance group get into debt?" It sent her down nan rabbit spread of money and psychology and yet led her to get a Trauma of Money certification.

She learned that her "doom spending" habits were affectional and stemmed from a fearfulness of losing her friends aliases not being capable to link pinch her community. Understanding why she was overspending was empowering.

"When I realized that I wasn't nan only 1 — that this was not a 'me problem' — and that it was thing that I could move around, nan first point I did was make a plan," said Rojas.

Her 2-step process to getting retired of debt: Creating a 'big vision' and utilizing nan 'snowball method'

For years, Rojas didn't cognize what she wanted, fto unsocial person a scheme for getting there.

"I was conscionable going time by day," she said. "I had to first beryllium down and say, 'Where do I want to beryllium successful 3 years from now? In 5 years from now? What is nan point that I want for myself?' And that measurement unsocial showed a complete misalignment of really I was spending and wherever I wanted to be."

She thought done what she calls her "big vision," which was two-fold: to recreation nan world and build a business. "Then, nan 2nd measurement was, 'Okay, if I want to beryllium location successful 5 years, what do I request to do now, and really would I salary this indebtedness off?'"

She utilized what's known arsenic nan indebtedness snowball method. With this strategy, you make nan minimum costs connected each indebtedness isolated from for your smallest 1 — connected that one, you salary arsenic overmuch arsenic your fund allows you to each month. The thought is that you summation affirmative momentum by checking debts disconnected nan list.

"I needed nan information that comes from, 'Okay, I did this. I paid this one,'" said Rojas.

To free up rate to salary down her debt, she felt she had only 1 lever to pull: walk less.

At nan time, "there was nary action for maine to boost my income," she said. "I was trapped successful a cap, truthful I could only power my expenses."

She started by examining her in installments paper statements and spending habits. It was a revealing exercise.

"If I look backmost to what I was spending astatine nan time, I was virtually pleasing everybody but myself," she said. "There was perfectly thing that showed up that could bring maine semipermanent joyousness — nary of that. It was conscionable in-the-moment purchases and things that I don't moreover remember."

She started search her expenses truthful she knew precisely wherever her money was going. Some costs — for illustration rent, groceries, and security — were unavoidable, but she wanted each different expenses to consciousness intentional.

"Every azygous dollar that went out, I knew precisely nan intent that it had, and really it was going to use me," she said. It wasn't easy, she added: "I went done a play of grieving and processing. I'm like, 'Why americium I doing this? I want to spell retired to happy hours. Now I'm conscionable staying astatine location trying to build this business.' But, ultimately, erstwhile I was successful those moments, I reminded myself of my large imagination and that this is not a everlastingly thing."

Plus, she learned that she enjoyed other, little costly activities.

"I started to find things to do for free that would fulfill me. I recovered nan astir beautiful parks nearby, I recovered my emotion for books. I recovered that astir of my friends besides for illustration those types of activities," said Rojas, who besides became much and much comfortable pinch declining invitations to societal events that didn't align pinch her goals aliases values.

Rojas, now 29, said it took her six to 7 months to salary disconnected her in installments paper debt. She's since gone all-in connected moving her financial acquisition company, The Money Mindset Hub, which started arsenic a broadside hustle, and splits her clip betwixt Maryland and Amsterdam.

Becoming debt-free "felt truthful good, not only because it was gone, but because I was successful control," she said. "That was nan portion that felt nan best. It was like, now I understand that I tin move things astir — that I person nan power complete this."