June 2016 update--it's been a while!

I can't believe I last blogged here in March and that I had only ONE post that month! If nothing else, that's a sign of how stressed I have been over the last several months.

I had a job I loved (and now greatly miss) and great coworkers, a close friend in town, and my son and our dogs. But, beyond that my son and I both weren't feeling too satisfied with our lives. We were on the tightest budget we'd been on in a long time--made worse by the negative impact of benefits and a raise (more in a minute), and we just didn't really like where we were living.

Money was tight.
Moods were low.
We needed a change.

Despite working hard earlier in the year and late last year to stick to a spending fast, it didn't help our budgets this winter and spring as I got hit with the flu for the second year in a row, followed by severe asthma, then severe seasonal allergies. Add to the mix a second virus that was quite flu-like.

I was a mess. And when you feel like a mess, a lot of your promises to yourself go out the window.

I dumped my spending fast in place of convenience.

I didn't calculate the financial cost of taking a raise and more hours compared to the cost of the benefits that would come with those hours compared to getting a second part time job instead. I didn't calculate the cost of no longer qualifying for a reduced cost energy program or an employer sponsored health plan versus a state sponsored plan.

I didn't calculate a lot of things.

As a result, we became even more broke than we were before.

I could say I just give up and let the world roll me over, but instead, I decided, along with my son, to make some huge changes in our lives.

First of which was that we moved...not only did we move many, many miles away, but we moved in with a relative. This alone will save us several hundred dollars in expenses. We are paying him rent, but it's significantly less than what we would pay if we stayed in our old town, even if we had moved into something smaller or into a less well to do neighborhood.

Second, I did get a new job that pays more and has the opportunity for bonuses, on average an extra $500 per month. I started last week and while it's been slow to start and a steep learning curve, I think I'm going to enjoy the job. Unfortunately, it will require a lot more driving so we'll see how that impacts my budget due to gas consumption.

Third, I started a new business with a friend. Our immediate goals are to build our audience, but by the end of August, we hope to be turning a profit, even if it's small. Long-range, however, we believe we can earn a tidy sum while helping others. You can check it out HERE.

Fourth, I had an article published on the blog And Then We Saved! I didn't get paid for the article, but it's still a great accomplishment considering how widely read that blog is! Of course, the article was about how I planned to make my spending fast work! As noted above, my plans didn't exactly go as expected, but for the period of time that I was on track, I managed to pay off a tiny bit of debt, pay my expenses, and feel like I was on the right track.

Fifth, I have recommitted to my spending fast! I already did well last week by not going to the nearby coffee shop when doing training at my new job's headquarters and I didn't stop at Starbucks on my way to or from training either. And, I've been looking ahead to this coming week. I know I will need to get gas and buy some groceries, but otherwise I plan to make do without.

This coming week, instead of spending money I plan to:

• Catch up on reading (check out my reading blog HERE)
• Work on my new business with my business partner (check it out HERE)
• Walk my dogs more often, bringing my son along 
• Study for my new job
• Plan for the following week

Overall, I feel like we are back on track and living with my relative is a critical part of the process of not only getting back on track, but staying there. My goal is to set aside as much money as possible over these next few months, building up my emergency savings fund, and to pay off some small, lingering debts. My hope is that I can pay off enough small debts to eliminate them AND to see my credit score rise.

I even have a plan for when I feel like I need a reward or a treat for doing well--I have Starbucks gift card credit thanks to Swagbucks and also a free drink from taking part in Starbucks's rewards program (using built up gift card credit!). At the moment, I am just shy of enough credit for two grande Americanos, but by Wednesday I should have two drinks covered. I'll save them up for a time when I'm really feeling that urge to splurge!

Dave Ramsey suggests $1,000 in an emergency fund, but my goal will be to have $2,000 in an emergency fund by September 1st. It will be tight, but I think I can do it!

Financial Peace Planner Accountability Check In #2 - Reframing my money fears

I struggled a lot this past week. It was highly emotional with some personal drama, work drama, and just things not going according to plan (what's that saying about life happening when you are busy making other plans?).

As a result, I had a really tough time sticking to my no spending, no soda goals. I also had a difficult time with the goals I set previously for the week according to the principles laid out in Chapter 1 of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Planner.

As of January 11th, I've gone only 6 days without soda and 7 days without unplanned spending. Granted, most of the unplanned spending was much LESS than it would have been had I not recommitted to my financial goals when I started this blog. Instead of just saying, "Screw it!" and going overboard at the grocery store, the cafeteria at work, or buying take away coffee, I really limited the coffees, made smarter choices at the grocery store, and only used the cafeteria at work on one day when I overslept and didn't have the time to make a lunch for work.

Over the last few days though, I've been making my lunches the night before when I have to work, setting up my coffee making station the night before, and setting out breakfast items the night before.

I wasn't able to save any money or pay off any debt in the first 11 days of January, but my earnings so far this month are a bit ahead of usual (which is a VERY GOOD THING!). I hope that will continue for the remainder of the month. I have been working hard on my Etsy shop and sold more coloring pages so far this month than I had at the same time last month also (check it out HERE).

Today, however, I will be putting another $50 towards my debt which will leave me with a mere $15 left to pay off a traffic ticket to the city! I cannot wait for that debt to be GONE!

This past week, I did join a couple of "kickstart" type of challenges for the new year that I hope will make a difference in my income and thus my ability to pay off debt and build savings. The challenge I am most excited about is Gina Horkey's "Kickstart Your Writing Biz" -- Gina is a freelance writer who teaches others to build freelance writing careers and thus financial freedom. I've worked through the first two exercises and am working on the third. Gina also teaches people how to build VA (virtual assistant) careers. Both freelance writing and being a VA can bring in supplemental income for anyone working to pay off debt or increase savings (or both). (check out Gina's site HERE)

As a reminder, here are Dave Ramsey's Seven Financial Baby Steps -- I am working on #1 and #2 now:

Dave Ramsey's Seven Financial Baby Steps:

1. Save $1,000 in an emergency fund. 
2. Pay off all of your debt except for a mortgage by using the debt snowball.
3. Complete your emergency fun by saving three to six months of expenses.
4. Fully fund your pre-tax retirements savings.
5. Save for your kids' college.
6. Pay off your home early.
7. Build wealth and give like crazy.

Chapter One of the Financial Peace Planner ends with two tasks, one of which is taking stock of your money fears. My top five money fears are (you can also read them in THIS post):

My top five money fears: 
ONE: I won't be able to fix my financial situation. 
TWO: There will never be enough money. 
THREE: My son will be stuck taking care of my financial needs later in life. 
FOUR: I'll lose my home due to lack of money to pay the rent. 
FIVE: My debt will grow instead of shrink.

In an effort to reframe my mindset and set myself up for success, here is how I have been thinking about these fears:
ONE: I won't be able to fix my financial situation. 

• REFRAMED: I AM actively taking steps to fix my financial situation. I WILL succeed.

TWO: There will never be enough money.

• REFRAMED: I AM actively building a financial foundation so that I will ALWAYS have enough money.

THREE: My son will be stuck taking care of my financial needs later in life.

• REFRAMED: I am teaching my son through my example and through being open with this process so that we both can build strong financial futures. Neither of us will need to be depending on others (including each other).

FOUR: I'll lose my home due to lack of money to pay the rent

• REFRAMED: At the moment, money is tight. However, I will NOT lose my home. Immediately, I can adjust my budget, sell things I don't need, provide services others will pay for, or if I am really stuck, I can seek community assistance. I have plenty of options. My home is safe. 

FIVE: My debt will grow instead of shrink.

• REFRAMED: My debt WILL shrink because I am taking active steps to get it under control and pay it down. I WILL have a ZERO debt balance.

I can't say that this is an easy process -- many things that are worth doing are not easy. I believe this is one of those things where my success will be directly related to the effort I put in.

How about you? What are your money fears and how are you reframing them to set yourself up for success?

Interested in following Dave Ramsey's plan? 

You can buy your own copy of The Financial Peace Planner HERE.

***This post may contain affiliate links.*** 

Financial Peace Planner Accountability Check-In Chapter 1

 

Last week, I posted about Chapter 1 of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Planner (read about it HERE). Well, today I thought I should check in.

Last week, I wrote out my top five money fears and then some goals for the week. The money fears were not really a problem, but the goals? Um, yeah, I didn't do so great at two of them--two out of four isn't terrible is it???

My top five money fears as laid out last week:
ONE: I won't be able to fix my financial situation. 
TWO: There will never be enough money. 
THREE: My son will be stuck taking care of my financial needs later in life. 
FOUR: I'll lose my home due to lack of money to pay the rent. 
FIVE: My debt will grow instead of shrink.

Well, I know I can avoid these money fears turning into reality if I am proactive EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. One way I'm doing this is by publicly posting some stats on a daily basis. I started on January 1st and you can see the stats in the sidebar to the right. But, here's a little screenshot as of January 3, 2016:

I am actually feeling incredibly proud of the days without soda and without unplanned spending! I even went to the grocery store and walked right past two of the spots where I would normally grab a soda and a cheap loaf of garlic bread--two of my grocery store temptations.

By tracking my goals and being focused on my desired end results, I'm at a much higher likelihood of success. I even earned an unexpected $20 on Sunday for a rush editing job! That little bit of extra income helped to bolster my determination to meet my goals.

The goals I set for last week: 
SPIRITUAL: Do yoga Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and focus on my breathing and clearing my mind. 
PHYSICAL: Exercise daily beyond yoga -- a walk or bicycling. 
MENTAL: Read a business, personal development, and social or political article every day. 
RELATIONAL: More hugs for my son and putting down whatever is in my hands and focusing on him when he has something that he wants to talk about.

I basically didn't do any yoga or bicycling, although I did get in a two mile walk. I also managed to read every single day, though not necessarily articles. Instead, I read books (you can read about my reading HERE).

This week:
My money fears haven't changed, but the grip they have over me has eased up a lot. My goals, however, are in flux. As I discussed in my reading post, reading more is a top priority. Reading is both spiritual and mental for me. And, connecting with my son is something that will always be essential. Physically, I probably won't get a lot of bicycling in this week, but I will be doing a lot of walking as we are house sitting a puppy and she needs LOTS of exercise. Walking is ideal and we have a great two mile loop. I also joined a walking and running club that meets three days per week. I plan to start with them next week.

I anticipate a good week. How about you?

Working Through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Planner - Chapter ONE

I am very slowly working my way through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Planner. I made a halfhearted attempt some time ago, but utterly failed. This time feels different though. I hope that blogging about it will keep me on track.

Have you worked through The Financial Peace Planner? What helped you get through it? What was difficult? Any tips to share?

One of my struggles with the book is that some parts are quite religious. I am not religious. So, I'll have to make some adjustments as a result.

Anyhow, I've read chapter one,  "Call Me Weird--Just Don't Call Me Broke," several times over the last few days and each time I feel a pit of despair begin to open up in my stomach. Ugh! A significant part of this chapter is about determining just how deep in the hole you are and some of the habits that got you there.

It can be difficult to face such truths. 

I've reminded myself several times lately that there is hope. If so many others can have success with Dave Ramsey's plan, I can too.

I CAN turn around my money story.

Dave Ramsey's plan of attack involves seven crucial steps, but not all at once! The book breaks them down into manageable chunks to help you succeed--of course, time will tell if I actually DO succeed with this (I'm working on my mindset to shift from "hope to succeed" to "will succeed"!).

Dave Ramsey's Seven Financial Baby Steps:

1. Save $1,000 in an emergency fund. 
2. Pay off all of your debt except for a mortgage by using the debt snowball.
3. Complete your emergency fun by saving three to six months of expenses.
4. Fully fund your pre-tax retirements savings.
5. Save for your kids' college.
6. Pay off your home early.
7. Build wealth and give like crazy.

I don't have a house -- we rent -- so paying off a home early will be more like, buying a home free and clear so I have no mortgage to begin with! Of course, I have to get through steps 1 through 5 first, right???

Chapter One ends with two tasks: taking stock of your money fears and setting some goals.

Here are my top five money fears: 
ONE: I won't be able to fix my financial situation. 
TWO: There will never be enough money. 
THREE: My son will be stuck taking care of my financial needs later in life. 
FOUR: I'll lose my home due to lack of money to pay the rent. 
FIVE: My debt will grow instead of shrink.

I'm determined to NOT allow any of those fears turn into reality!

The other task is to set some goals for the week in four areas: spiritual, physical, mental, and relational.

The goals I've set for this week are: 
SPIRITUAL: Do yoga Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and focus on my breathing and clearing my mind. 
PHYSICAL: Exercise daily beyond yoga -- a walk or bicycling. 
MENTAL: Read a business, personal development, and social or political article every day. 
RELATIONAL: More hugs for my son and putting down whatever is in my hands and focusing on him when he has something that he wants to talk about.

Interested in following Dave Ramsey's plan? You can buy your own copy of The Financial Peace Planner HERE.

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DEBT TRACKING:
Original total: $110,000
Paid off yesterday: $0
New total: $109,940 

***SET ASIDE TOWARDS MY CITY TRAFFIC TICKET DEBT: $13 -- $47 to go to pay it off!***

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Check out these other great posts:

• The Exceptional Value of a Penny
• When Debt Gets You Down
• 8 Rules to Minimize Food Waste at Home

 **This post may contain affiliate links.

Paying off debt one penny at a time

5:30am & rudely woken up, literally & figuratively...

Literally, a car alarm began to blare outside my bedroom....my own car alarm.

Figuratively, my money "problem" wasn't going anywhere unless I seriously ramp up my efforts, even if only a penny at a time.

I can't shake an image I saw on a debt payoff blog a few weeks ago. The writer had paid off her student loans by chipping away constantly at her debt, sometimes even with payments of just a penny at a time. The picture was a snapshot of her payments over the course of a month. Some payments were less than a dollar, even as little as a single penny! But, the whole point was that she was simply diligent about chipping away at her debt at every opportunity, and ultimately she managed to get totally debt free, and a lot faster than she had expected.

I have been despairing for months -- no, years -- over my dismal financial situation. I have felt crushed by it, especially this past year. I am living a bizarre paradox where I am both doing better and worse than ever before in my life, and upon waking this morning to my car alarm, I realized I am about to fall off my financial tightrope if I don't make big changes NOW, even if it's only a penny at a time.

I've got one of the best jobs I've ever had with full benefits, super flexible hours, and room to grow.

Yet, I'm in worse financial shape than ever. 

Here's what I do NOT have:

• credit card debt
• a car loan
• a mortgage

Here's what I DO have:

• student loan debt
• medical/healthcare debt
• a car that is about to fall apart, and that I can't afford despite NO car payments (think gas, insurance, maintenance)
• a small debt to my city due to two tickets and a registration error (Since writing this, I have PAID OFF this debt IN FULL!)

My crazy ridiculous amount of debt comes out to a HUGE $110,000. That figure makes my heart race and my palms sweat.

$110,000 makes me want to hide under the covers and cry. 

It makes me want to give up. It makes me feel hopeless.

But, the thing is, I'm a single mom. I can't afford to give up or feel hopeless. I can't afford to do that to myself or to my son. I owe it to both of us to find a way out of this, even if that means paying off my debt and improving our situation one penny at a time.

Today, in my efforts towards financial stability, I will be:

• Revisiting Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Planner
• Paying $50 towards the debt to my city ($115 remaining to pay this tiny debt off! Update: I paid it off IN FULL!)
• Paying a few bills
• Meal planning
• Grocery shopping based on sales and my meal plan
• Telling my boss that I won't be attending our annual holiday work party as doing so would cost at least $40 between the white elephant gift, a potluck dish, and transportation to get to and from

Stay tuned as I'll be sprucing this blog up and writing a new post EVERY DAY as often as I can to track my journey from $110,000 in the hole to $110,000 above ground.

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If you are familiar with Dave Ramsey, you have probably heard of his cash envelope budgeting system. I have tried it in the past and found it to be boring and a chore. Ugh!

I want my money story to be FUN and EXCITING! 

So, I decided to create my own money envelopes. They are covered in hearts because I want to LOVE my money. I created these envelopes to feature a spot to write in categories, a spot to write a money mantra, and a spot to write three priorities for my money in that category. My goal is to use the mantra and priorities to help me stay motivated and on track and to prevent dipping into one envelope or another when I'm low in one area of my budget. I also created these to double as coloring pages!

You can get your cash budget envelopes HERE. 

Love them? Save 33% on your own cash budget envelopes in my Etsy shop with coupon code PENNIES. You'll receive a near instant download PDF of the envelope to copy, print, color, and use. Print as many copies as you need, and if one gets damaged, just print another one!

 Please note, posts on this blog may contain affiliate links.
This post is also linked up at A Little R & R Link Party found HERE.