debt

Monthly Check in Pt. 7

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Time for my seventh monthly check-in! Gosh I really do need 30 day challenges to continue blogging. There’s just so much to do and not enough time and not enough will power. Blah blah blah. All the usual excuses. I’ll try to do better.

  1. Work on my Novel – Finished my third edit! (forth edit? – I can’t keep track). I’m letting it rest for the month of February and then I’ll edit it again in March. It’ll all come together…hopefully. In the meantime I’m compiling a list of agents I can query, learning how to write a query letter, writing a TV pilot, and working on a few essays to submit. (Gotta work on that rejection muscle too!)
  2. Ballet – I had to work a bunch over the weekends, so I sort of fell out of going to yoga and ballet, but I’m back at it! I did not do my 30 days of exercise like promised, but I think it was too much too soon. I’ll try to work up to just exercising 4 days a week and then we’ll see.
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – This is going really well! I got my tax return and my bonus, so I was able to pay off a large chunk. I still have debt, but I think I’ll be able to pay it off much sooner than anticipated barring any major expense. I may not have it done by the time this “project” is over, but definitely by the end of the year.
  5. In a relationship – Not bumbling and didn’t go on any dates. I’m thinking of trying to find a club or activity I can do which will introduce me to more people for both friends and dates.

Seven months in and I feel a bit as if I’ve stalled on a few things, but this is why check-ins are good. I can snap myself back into working on the things I want to work on. And it’s important to note that just because I can’t cross everything off, I’m still moving forward. I’m working on my finances and my writing pretty consistently. Exercise is always going to be an issue for me, but I’m working on that too and I’m going more often than I used to. Progress not Perfection.

Until tomorrow.

149 Days to go.

Day 93: Credit Card Debt Life

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Credit-cardsI’ve written about this before, but when I was unemployed I got myself into some pretty deep credit card debt. I know I shouldn’t have, but what was I going to do? My budget was very strict, but still a girl has to eat. Anything that didn’t need to be paid by cash or check, I put on credit cards. It was kind of a desperate time for me, but I found some temporary work and then a full time job and now I’m getting promoted. 🙂

Saving and paying off debt is hard, so every week I have a portion of my paycheck directly deposited into my savings account and another portion directly deposited into an account strictly for paying off my credit cards. I schedule out the money each week from that account, so by the next day it’s gone and paying off those high interest rates. If sometime urgent comes up, I can always cancel it, but I don’t think that’s ever happened.

I also keep an excel doc tallying how much money I’ve saved and how much debt I’ve paid down. It’s not really for anything, but I get a tiny rush every time I see the numbers tick up and down, so it’s its own reward.  It is going to be SUCH a relief when I pay off the first card and then the second. I’ll be able to afford to live on my own and really bump up the amount of money I’m saving in my retirement account and savings account. Maybe I’ll even invest in something, but that’s another goal for another time.

Until tomorrow.

272 days to go.

 

 

 

 

Day 91: Monthly Check in 3

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Time for my third monthly check-in! It’s been three months since I started this self-improvement plan (project?) and I think I’ve done relatively well so far! The holiday season is quickly approaching so it’s best that I come up with a few ways to stick to my goals (next post!)

  1. Work on my Novel – I finished my novel (again!) after cutting out the whole middle section. Now it’s just time to edit again (and again and again and again. Will the editing never stop?) I do think I’ve learned a lot in this process and hopefully my next book will not require so much cutting and rewriting and editing (but it probably will.) I’m hoping by the end of the year I can have a solid book and begin sending query letters to agents.
  2. Ballet – The cycle for the beginning of class started again, so hopefully it’ll stick this time! It’s definitely been a struggle (clearly), but I’m always hoping to do better.
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – Blargh. Still working on this and I will be for quite some time. Hopefully with my promotion I can start paying it off more aggressively (plus that bonus and tax return next year will hopefully help!)
  5. In a relationship – Still Bumbling. I’m not sure if anything is going to work out. Usually I get irritated with people by the third or fourth week and I can feel it happening again. There’s just an expectation with online dating that everyone wants to either just hook up or jump directly into a relationship. And I don’t want either of those things so I feel people are often disappointed.  And I’m resistant to both so we get nowhere in the end.

So there’s my third monthly check-in. Ninety one days in and I’m a little farther along with all my goals except Ballet. Perhaps November will be Ballet month, just like October was meant to be Ballet month.  Eventually I will figure out a way for it to stick!

Until tomorrow.

274 days to go. It’s a lot of time and it’s no time at all, right?

Day 62: Monthly Check-in

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Gah! I’ve sort of neglected this project the past few weeks. It’s been busy! I took a cooking class and a ceramics class and have been going to a whole bunch of events after work. It’s been two months already since I started so it’s time for my second monthly check-in!

  1. Work on my Novel – I cut out the whole middle part of my novel, so that was sort of a set back, but I feel it will be stronger in the end. (And make more sense!) I’ve been working on it pretty steadily, so I’m pretty pleased with my progress here.
  2. Ballet – I haven’t done much here! I had some really special events come up, so I skipped class for the past month. It’s not great, but I’ve planned out my week this week so hopefully I’ll get back on track!
  3. Promotion –  A position opened unexpectedly in my department and I applied! It’s looking good so far, but we’ll see what comes of it. I’m not sure if it’ll be a good decision in the end or not, but I guess we’ll find out. Stay tuned!
  4. Get out of credit card debt – Still chugging away. I think by end the end of the year I should be out of one and then I can start seriously paying off the second. (Ugh!) But hopefully if I do get that promotion, I’ll be able to pay it off more aggressively. 🙂
  5. In a relationship – I joined Bumble. It’s still early stages, but at least I’m making an effort. I don’t want it to take away from my other goals, so I think I’ll limit how much time I spend on Bumble and going on dates. It is a very time consuming thing.

So there’s my second monthly check-in. Sixty two days in and I’m a little farther along with all my goals except Ballet. It’s almost October so perhaps that will be my October goal. I’ll also try to blog more.

Until tomorrow.

Day 44: Side Hustle

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Side Hustle! Everyone should have one in this day and age. Maybe it’s my millennial mind speaking, but I feel like jobs can be touch and go nowadays. It’s nice to have some extra income, but it’s also nice to have an extra stream of income if your job is made unexpectedly obsolete. Or if you decide your boss is terrible or your coworkers are terrible or if your commute is terrible and you just can’t stand them anymore.

I am currently working on two side hustles: this blog and my book. While it’s my dream to be a writer without another job to support myself, I’m a realist and I won’t let myself believe it until I’m well past the mark of success. In the meantime, having a hobby I enjoy is nice and some extra cash wouldn’t hurt too.

Perhaps it’s too transparent to say I want to monetize this blog someday, but it’s true. Even if it’s only a little extra, at the moment I enjoy it and every bit helps. (Doesn’t everyone hope to monetize their blog someday?!?! Perhaps not?)

And of course writing. It’s a lot of work and it may take years for something to come of it. (Or never…) But I think that’s usually the case with a side hustle unless you already have a set of skills which you can apply as a second job (piano teacher, graphic designer etc.) It’s definitely a risk that all my hard work and time will amount to nothing, but that shouldn’t stop me. And if I earn some extra $ on the side to help me pay off my debt and work towards my other financial goals, that works too.

I also have a farfetched plan to make candles, but that’s another story for another day. 🙂

Until tomorrow.