money

Day 292: Out of Debt!

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Three and a half years ago I moved from the east coast to the west coast with no job, no friends, and no place to live. It was equally brave and foolish. I thought I had a few years of work under my belt and I should be able to easily find a job, but wasn’t easy at all.

For the first year I lived in Los Angeles, I had a series of part time jobs and internships, and I cut down my expenses to the bare minimum. I slept on the floor and my apartment had no furniture. I bought a desk to work and a chair from Ikea. Other than that I dipped into my savings to pay my rent and I put everything else on a credit card – groceries, gas, insurance. I racked up quite a lot of debt even by cutting my expenses to only the necessities. Living is expensive.

I began racking up debt on my one credit card. It made me nervous, so I opened another card with 0 interest for the first 18 months. I thought I would be able to get a job and pay it off easy without having to pay any interest. It took me about a year to get a temp job which gave me forty hours a week and by that time I was several thousand dollars in the hole.

Having a temp job guaranteed me a steady income, but it only paid minimum wage. I only allowed myself a certain amount of groceries in order to stay under budget. Health insurance was incredibly expensive, but at least I had it. Any time there was a holiday or a half day, I got off work, but I also didn’t get paid. If I wanted to visit home, I had to to leave without pay. I wasn’t racking up additional debt, but I couldn’t save any money or pay off any debt either. It continued to rack up with all the interest since I could only pay the bare minimum. Then I had to do major repair on my car and racked up thousands of  more dollars. I was definitely on the borderline of panic every time I looked at my balances.

Meanwhile I continued working my terrible, low paying job. I didn’t have the courage to quit because I was terrified I wouldn’t get any other opportunities, but eventually I had to go. I couldn’t stay forever or I would be there forever with no opportunities forward. Even though I was afraid, I left. The terror of staying there for a long time outweighed my fear of being unemployed. I was jobless for another month.

Eventually I got another temp gig, which paid more and I got some overtime. (The people were nice too.) Then I got hired full time, and got a promotion, and I could start paying off my pile of credit card debt. I paid off a bit and then I started paying off more and more this year. Yesterday I paid off the last of it.  My savings are on the small side, but I should be able to save a whole lot by the end of the year, and I’ll no longer have this particular anxiety hanging over my head. There’s a freedom to not having any debt. So now I just need to work towards the freedom of becoming financially independent.

Two out of Five down.

Until tomorrow.

73 days to go.

Day 123: Monthly Check in Pt. 4

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Time for my fourth monthly check-in. Everything sort of fell by the wayside since I got my promotion. Not only did I start a new job and have to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing, but several people were out of the office for various reasons and it was A LOT of extra work. My schedule has just been work, sleep, eat, repeat. It’s terrible.

  1. Work on my Novel – Like I said, everything fell to the wayside so I haven’t worked on my book at all. But I have several days over the Thanksgiving holiday to work on it and get back on track.
  2. Ballet – I went a few times at the beginning of the month, but then fell off since I was working a lot of overtime. Classes are cancelled for the weekend, but I’m aiming to be back on track next week. Hopefully….
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – This is actually going pretty well! With my promotion, I have a higher salary, but I’ve also been working a ton of overtime so I have more money than anticipated. Good for the holidays too. 🙂
  5. In a relationship – Still Bumbling. Since I started working more, it’s been harder to date. It didn’t really pan out earlier, but I know I have to keep trying. I often wonder if I’ll ever meet someone, but that’s another thought for another day.

So there’s my fourth monthly check-in. I feel a little discouraged since I feel like I haven’t done much since last month. I have to remember things take time and I can’t get everything done all at once. It’s only been four months and I’ve already accomplished a few things. I have eight more months to get everything done.  Plus, as they say, you have to plant the seeds for the trees to grow in the future.

Until tomorrow.

 

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 69: Happy October!

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Eek! It seems like I was just doing one of these at the beginning of September. It positively flew by and now we’re here – October 1.

I know we just had a monthly check-in, but there is an update!

  1. Become a Novelist
  2. Ballet
  3. Promotion
  4. Credit Card debt
  5. In a relationship

That’s right! There was a job open and I was waffling about applying for awhile, but I did and I got it. It’s a bit too soon to celebrate since we’re still discussing salary, but I think it’s just they’ll give me what I ask for or they’ll keep it the same. There’s not a danger that I would turn down the job or that they’ll un-offer the job to me. 🙂

Hooray! What good news for the start of the month. Of all the goals I’m slacking on the most I think Ballet is the one I’m having the hardest time with, so I want to make October my ballet month. I’ll do my very best to get back on track this month and I’ve made a few adjustments to my schedule, so it should be easier (ahem…should be…but we’ll see how that goes.

Perhaps in a few months I’ll be able to cross off one more of these. Nothing happening yet! Just wishful, positive thinking.

Until tomorrow.

Day 47: A Half Week in Review

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Soooo….I did a half week in Finance. Not what I wanted to do, but good enough. I like these week long challenges and this is the first in a series (next one will start on Monday!). Perhaps I’ll make them rotating challenges so that I’m constantly working on the things I want to be working on. It’s definitely a good way to keep myself accountable!

I noticed I have spent less money since the beginning of the month, which is good! I’ve been keeping an eye on everything I’m spending and have made a conscious effort to spend less on food and random cups of coffee. (Yay me!) It’s only September 9th, but that means a third of the month is almost done!

I haven’t been tempted to buy much recently, although I may need to take a peek in a bookstore soon. 🙂 The main lesson which helped me is Time vs. Stuff. Buying less stuff or rather buying stuff that is of equal value to the time I spent earning what it costs will help me cut out extraneous purchases from my life. Honestly there’s not a whole lot of things I would happily spend ten or twenty hours working towards. I really think I’d much rather spend time working towards experiences than things (not really news to anyone….) but it’s hard to remember sometimes.

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.

Day 43: The Dreaded Credit

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Ugh. So I was dumb and dug myself into a hole of credit card debt when I was unemployed. Basically I put everything which wasn’t rent on a credit card. Which is dumb! But also, what else am I supposed to do when I don’t know where my next paycheck is coming from.

Thankfully, I found a full-time job which I mostly like and offers me sweet health benefits and a steady paycheck! That means it’s time to start digging myself out of the trouble I got myself into. And I’ve been steadily working on it. I’m almost done paying off my lowest balance credit card and should be done by the end of the month. (Yay!)

It’s been hard, but I’m so excited to get to 0. I keep an excel chart (of course) of how much I pay off each month and if I hit it then I get to mark it green and if I don’t then I mark it red. It’s a little bit like crossing of a to-do list, which gives me the little bit of reward I need to be happy. 🙂

Then it’s on to the next one! Hopefully I’ll be able to pay off more of it if I get an increase and a promotion, but I’m not counting on it. It’ll be so exciting to be free of debt. Yay for financial freedom!

Until tomorrow.

Day 42: Expense Tracking

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Now that I’ve written down all my goals, it’s time to track what I spend money on each month. I like to use excel because I find it helpful to physically input everything I spend rather than pulling information directly from my bank account. Here’s a sample of my Budget Spreadsheet for your viewing pleasure.

Basically I input everything that goes in and out, where the money came from (Checking, Credit or Cash) and place it into a category, so I know how much I’m spending on things. I use the following categories, but of course everyone’s lives are different so you’ll have different spending buckets.

Necessities: The big stuff. Rent, water, power, gas. Stuff that I have to spend money on to get to work, have a place to live and eat.

Entertainment: This is anything I do for fun from art classes to going to see a movie.

Food: Grocery bills are counted under necessities, but Food is any extra food I buy out and about that I don’t absolutely need. I’ll admit this bucket has been taking more and more of my paycheck as I’ve settled into my job from being a contractor for awhile.

Shopping: Anything I buy which falls under the clothing/skincare/gifts basket.

Exercise: I could put this under entertainment since you don’t have to spend money to exercise, but I think it falls between an extraneous cost (yoga is NOT cheap) and a necessity (My health is important to me.)

Travel: Blah. This also eats up a large chunk of my paycheck when I do buy things for travel (hotels, airfare!!! or a rental car). I don’t use it often, but I like to have it separate.

I suppose I could break it out into more categories, but this works for me. It allows me to see if I’ve overspent each month and what most of my money is going to (Food! Eek!). Some months are better than others. I suppose the next step would be to track my spending habits over several months to see what my long term patterns are. I’ll work on that.

Until tomorrow. Budget away!

 

Day 41: A Week in Finance

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It’s the beginning of September! And it’s time to talk about finances! Personal finance, not like the great big world of Finance (capital F). I do think a good place to start for anything is to write down your goals. I prefer pen and paper because I find it really gets into my brain, but whatever works.

Today I was reading the Refinery29 Budgeting Slideshow and I stumbled across their financial goal tracker. I have a less pretty, less organized version of this, but who doesn’t love a good worksheet, right? So here’s what I have:

Near Term Goals (2 months)

  • Increase savings to 1000
  • Have no more debt on Credit Card 1
  • Buy my black dress!

I think I’m well on my way to these. I have a weekly deduction from my checking account to my savings account and I’ve calculated that I’ll have paid off all of Credit Card 1 by the end of October. Yay me!

Maybe then I can buy that black dress I’ve been eyeing forever.

Short-term Goals (Less than 2 years)

  • Pay off Credit Card 2
  • Save enough to go on a European vacation
  • Have a second stream of income

I’ve calculated it out again and after I pay off Credit Card 1 (which has been quite a struggle), it should take another year to pay off Credit Card 2 if everything continues as it has. That means no raises and no huge emergency purchases. (Fingers crossed!) I’d like to go on a nice vacation without worrying about how much money I’m spending and I’d also like to pay for most of it in cash. And I’m also working on having a second stream of income with this blog and potentially my book. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but every little bit helps! Here’s hoping!

Mid-term Goals (2-10 years)

  • Buy a house
  • Own a horse
  • Go on one super fancy vacation
  • Max out my retirement every year

These are getting sort of out there and they seem kind of hard to imagine given my present circumstances, but a girl can dream, can’t she? .

Long-term Goals (10+ Years)

  • Have a million dollars saved?

Honest 10+ years seems so far off I can’t even imagine who I’ll be or what I’ll want by then. Financial independence is a must though, so that’s what I’m aiming for. A million dollars is a lot, but dreams, right?

So there they are. The big picture. Tomorrow I’ll get into the nitty gritty of all the budgeting goodness.

Until tomorrow.

P.S. I’m not 100% sure I’m labeling these days correctly, but oh well.

 

Day 36: Time vs. Stuff

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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Stuff. How much I have and how much I want. I think it’s easy to want lots of things. All those cute outfits my friends are wearing. All those nice shoes. The bike I see on my way to work. The candles at my friend’s apartment. The cute vases with the little succulents. Sure, it’s nice to have less stuff and less attachments, but what if I really want that accent chair, or really want that dress covered in a lemon print. I won’t be able to wear it many places, but it still makes me happy. Is it worth it?

For awhile I’ve been trending towards buying less, but better quality stuff: dresses which are lined, things which have timeless style, shoes which can be resoled. I’m trying to be less consumeristic, but sometimes it’s really hard. (I really want that lemon dress, you know?) It’s hard in the city where I live and the job where I work. It’s hard in America and it’s hard as a woman.

BUT I found a good system for me. I let myself buy one nice thing a month beyond gas and groceries and rent. Definitely an indulgence still in that it’s not helping me towards my goal of financial freedom, but there’s a cap on what I can buy and I find this is a good system for me.

If I want things, they go into my excel chart – one thing per month. If I decide I want something sooner, I move the other thing out of that month. So, for example, in July I wanted to buy a black, silk dress I’ve been eyeing it for awhile. It’s expensive, but also extremely versatile. And then I happened up the 10 Step Korean Skincare routine. So I moved my dress out of July and into September so I could buy a multitude of skincare products instead. Which means 12 things a year to indulge in.

I’ve found something else which will help me spend less. If I want something nice (my black dress isn’t cheap), I divide how many hours it would take me to work to buy it (after tax!). Do I really want to devote twenty of my working hours to this dress. Maybe. But I definitely don’t want to devote 13 working hours to the lemon dress.

It’s a good tool on top of my one thing per month chart and I think it will help me evaluate my purchases more clearly than I already do. I’ll report back.

(And just so you know not all my purchases are so pricey. October is a mug I want – 1 work hour.)

Until tomorrow.