As this year comes to an end and I am entering my third year of not only being a homeowner but also being an empty nester. I know it seems to be glamorous but my empty nesting came with death and a pandemic. So as things ease up I am working hard to not only adjust to the new life of not having my immediate family anymore, being a homeowner, new location at work, and overall life. I have been taking time to rest, work on myself, and a lot of getting answers to questions from my past.
Working on getting better myself included working on my budgeting. Although I currently don't make enough I work hard to make ends meet all the while saving to help to pay for my education and pay down debt. I am working hard to get my debt and spending in control. This is something that has been a struggle in the past where if I was down retail therapy was the solution. That ended up with me having three loans (payday) that I took out and I am still paying on them. This makes it super hard for me to keep up with all my other bills.
What I am doing to fix my budgeting issue
I am thankful that I have a job that has great benefits. I recently took my daughter off my health insurance, she is still on my eye and dental and she is eligible to get medical coverage another way. I am grateful because this reduces my benefits and I will be receiving almost an estimated $150 extra a month that is almost like giving myself a raise (since I haven't received a raise in almost three years. I also started using my HSA for the other things that I can use it for such as personal hygiene items and skincare items saving me a ton on my grocery bill. This is one of the ways that I am saving as much money as I can.
Working more to making Budgeting easier
I am also working a part-time job. I would love to be able to stay home on the weekends and make ends meet but with my site struggling and my online boutique making random sales. I can't depend on that income right now so I currently work 7 days a week to make ends meet. This is what is saving me right now.
I say all this to help you understand where I am now I am going to tell you what I am doing to get in a better place.
What is my plan to attack my debt with budgeting
- I am putting it all out there with my debt. I made a post about my debt but since then I have inherited the family home so now my debt has doubled. I have over $100K of debt !!!! Its amazing that I can post that and be ok. I will be getting copies of my credit reports the beginning of the year and doing the snowball method to help me get my debt down.
- I will be setting up my most basic budget that will cover the housing, car, food and gas. This way I can see where the rest of my money is going. I will also be tracking my expenses in the month of Dec. to see where my money is going as well.
- I will be consulting with someone that is better at money than me. This is a dear friend that has volunteered their knowledge to help me figure out what I am doing wrong because I know something is not correct. I am really excited to bring my bills to my friend show my income and say help me. This will be happening sooner than later.
- I will be cutting the cord … its time and I need stronger internet service and cutting the cord is how thats going to happen. I have a work around for almost everything at this point. I am excited about that cause I know it will be saving me at least $50/month or $600/yearly.
- I will be intentional with my spending and not let my emotions lead me down the wrong path. Including apps that give me advances, buy now pay later (unless its for a project on the house), and payday loans. Things I have done in the past when I was going through major depression. Therapy has been helping with my triggers and I haven't done that in over a year. I am proud of myself.
- My auto draft has gotten out of control so much so my money is being moved to a different account till I can get my auto draft under control and figure out what is suppose to get taken out. This is a headache yes but I need to get this issue fixed.
- Work my part time job every weekend. I have no choice in this. The next two weeks will help me get back on track somewhat but I will have to go without until then. Its fine I am use to struggle but what's the most important is getting back on track and if everything goes right I will be ok.
This is what I am doing to get back on track and I will be taking you all with me on Youtube. As I go on this journey of getting my debt back on track.
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