Have you ever seen the episode of Friends after Phoebe marries Mike and gets really excited at the prospect that she can now change her name to ANYTHING? (If you haven’t seen it, Phoebe, an eccentric character, changes her name to “Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock” 🙂 ) Her new husband Mike FREAKS out, and retaliates by changing his name to “Crap Bag.” Ah, there is no greater show. Mike was right to be upset. Because the truth is, a name says a lot about a person, a company, and a blog. The three main reasons I changed the name of my blog from Red Two Green to Deeply in Debt are: (1) I wanted a name that better represents who I am, (2) I wanted a name that better represents who my readers are and (3) I wanted a name that clearly identifies the goal of this website — to help my readers deal with big debt.
WHO I AMÂ
I am a lawyer who is married to a dentist. Combined, we have well over half a million dollars in student loan debt. When we graduated from dental and law school we had NO IDEA what on earth to do with our student loan debt. We received a lot of conflicting advice from people who were similarly situated with six figures of student loan debt. And people who did not have debt like we had made us feel like we were totally crazy for taking on that much student loan debt. We felt alone and lost. We created this website to help people who felt alone in their debt to come for simple answers to their complex questions. If you are interested in getting to know us a little better, you can read about our personal story here. I am also interested in getting to know you! Please drop me a comment or feel to reach out by e-mail ANYTIME.
WHO YOU ARE AS A READERÂ
The chances are pretty good if you are visiting this blog that you, like us, have big debt. And most likely from student loans. You might be a lawyer or a doctor or a dentist. Perhaps you earned your Master’s or a PhD. Maybe you are recently graduating with Bachelor’s degree from a seemingly useless major (I studied Sociology. I get it.) and not sure what your next move will be. Wherever you are in life with your student loans, just know that we, like you, are deeply in debt. AND THAT IS OK.
Or, you might not even have student loan debt. Perhaps your debt comes from credit cards or a mortgage. Maybe you have hospital bills or a personal loan. Maybe you feel like you are in way over your head. Wherever your debt comes from, you are not alone and you CAN figure out a plan to deal with your debt.
On this website, you will find simple solutions for big debt. And that is the main reason I changed the name of my blog. I wanted you to know that you are not alone and that there are most definitely solutions for your debt. I’ll explain them in an easy to understand way.
WHAT WE’RE ALL TRYING TO ACCOMPLISHÂ
You probably want solutions for how to deal with your debt. I know I did. I wanted those solutions explained to me in a SIMPLE way. I hope the name “Deeply in Debt” helps readers understands the purpose of this blog a little better than Red Two Green. I previously chose the name Red Two Green because we were in the red (had negative money) there were two of us (hence two) and we wanted to be in the green. I surveyed thousands of readers and non-readers of the blog, and it became VERY apparent that Red Two Green was confusing. That is the opposite of my intent! I don’t want to confuse readers. I want to simplify things for readers. That is the mission of my blog. You might feel like you are deeply in debt, but I will teach you how to swim. I’ve always loved the water anyway.
I’m excited about the name change. I feel like it is a better reflection of our mission. If you’ve been a long time reader of Red Two Green, I know change can be hard at first. Stick around! You might notice a lot of changes around here. But I promise those changes will make this blog BETTER for you. We’ll be getting a lot more personal in addition to helping you with more general personal finance issues.
What do you think of our new name? Have you experienced a name change? What was it like for you? I’d love to hear from you!Â
Hi there! I’m Amber! And welcome to the Deeply in Debt blog where we’re offering simple solutions for big debt.
Yes, your new name is better branding for you!
Thanks Isabella! 🙂
I’m an engineer so I love concise names, I think that Deeply in Debt is better. I am guessing with your focus it won’t be an accurate description of your condition for very long into the future but you will be a great resource for others as a couple that fought a real dragon of debt and slayed it! Back in the day college was pretty cheap and outside of MD’s nobody ran up big loans but this is a different world now and you are going to be uniquely qualified to help a whole lot of GenX and Millenials and whatever comes next!
Thanks for the kind words Steve!
Hi Amber, I’ve been reading your blog for a while, thank you for writing and sharing. I started on the PSLF track originally and recently decided to get out of it as quickly as possible instead because I really don’t want to be confined to a full-time promise for 10 years. I have a masters in social work and so I think my debt to income ratio is relatively similar to yours. Between my husband and I both going to grad school, doing internships, taking maternity leaves, and paying for full-time childcare off and on over the years, we are just now having our first taste of two incomes and minimal childcare expenses (now that our kids are starting school). Maybe I’ll coin it DIMCs instead of DINKs 😉 We are putting one whole paycheck toward my loans, except for the months in the summer when we have to pay for full-time care for our kiddos. Other than that, we’re plowing ahead. I enjoy your story and celebrate your accomplishments with you, so I wanted you to know you have another person cheering you on.
I love your new name change and think it’s a great fit!
Marie thank you so much for sharing your story! I love that you guys are putting one whole pay check towards loans, that is awesome! Congrats and good luck on your journey. Thank you so much for your kind words! My favorite part about sharing our journey on this blog is meeting good people like you who are similarly situated. Thank you thank you!