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| But you can give them to the birds and the bees - I want money! |
(Yes, that link takes you to the very strange music video of that very silly song... and that is what is running through my head this morning)
So in July 2012 I wrote a blog about my dedication to, and my 4-step plan for becoming a fiscally responsible individual. When I had these grand ideas of getting switched entirely to cash based finances I worked at a company where I was making a reasonable entry level salary with good benefits. My employer matched a small percentage of my retirement savings and I made enough to cover all of my bills with a little extra left over. It was the perfect time to put my plan into action. And then two months later I was fired... and we all know how that went. Unemployment compensation is not a lot of money, even less if you happen to live in a metro area where the cost of living far exceeds the national average. Luckily my unemployment coincided with taking on a third roommate in my two bedroom apartment and I didn't have to move home to Michigan hanging my head. My common sense of paying for consumables with cash or debit rather than credit quickly flew out the window as my pride led me to last as long as I could without asking for financial help from my family. Granted, I wasn't so pigheaded as to reject help when offered, but I wanted to make it in at least the smallest of ways when I felt like everything else was failing.
Although being unemployed and living off such a shoestring budget sucked big time, it really taught me a lot about what I can manage with and without. So what if lobster tails are only $5 at Safeway? I can get enough pasta and sauce to eat for a week with that money. I learned how to stretch my dollars, how to shop sale items and how to say no to the boozing and shopping and a number of other temptations to run things up on credit. I learned how easy it can be to just quit buying shoes and clothes (particularly when I have so many already). I found a variety of unconventional ways to make money and ways to save money, and some of them I've continued doing, no reason not to be thrifty simply because I have a job.
Fast forward to January 2014... I am working at a job making a significant amount less than my previous job, and I don't have employer contributions to my retirement savings plan, but I finally completely paid off my highest limit/highest interest rate line of credit. I can tell you - it feels amazing! The next step is paying off the other credit cards and starting back in on my retirement savings. And while sure if I stuck to a very strict budget I could reach these goals much more quickly than I otherwise likely will, but I'm not presently in a place where I need to eat ramen noodles every night for dinner. Another year chipping away and I'll be in a much better position than I was before, and on track for some of the more exciting life changes that I will want to prepare some funding for (hint: grad school).
Anyway, here's to being older and wiser and debt free before I'm 30!
Although being unemployed and living off such a shoestring budget sucked big time, it really taught me a lot about what I can manage with and without. So what if lobster tails are only $5 at Safeway? I can get enough pasta and sauce to eat for a week with that money. I learned how to stretch my dollars, how to shop sale items and how to say no to the boozing and shopping and a number of other temptations to run things up on credit. I learned how easy it can be to just quit buying shoes and clothes (particularly when I have so many already). I found a variety of unconventional ways to make money and ways to save money, and some of them I've continued doing, no reason not to be thrifty simply because I have a job.
Fast forward to January 2014... I am working at a job making a significant amount less than my previous job, and I don't have employer contributions to my retirement savings plan, but I finally completely paid off my highest limit/highest interest rate line of credit. I can tell you - it feels amazing! The next step is paying off the other credit cards and starting back in on my retirement savings. And while sure if I stuck to a very strict budget I could reach these goals much more quickly than I otherwise likely will, but I'm not presently in a place where I need to eat ramen noodles every night for dinner. Another year chipping away and I'll be in a much better position than I was before, and on track for some of the more exciting life changes that I will want to prepare some funding for (hint: grad school).
Anyway, here's to being older and wiser and debt free before I'm 30!
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