Getting financially stable is FRUSTRATING!

I won’t say that I’m financially *unstable*. But I could always wobble a little bit less. Before I went to Paraguay, I had eliminated my credit card debt and was working on Stage 3 of the Crown Money Map, which is establishing an emergency savings of 3 months expenses and paying off student loans. When I went to Paraguay, I put my loans into deferment, and eventually had to start tapping into my savings to pay off my mortgage when rent wasn’t coming in as timely as it should have been. I had to buy my flight home with my credit card, and I lived on it for a few weeks while I was getting my job back and a paycheck once again.

So here I am once again at Stage 2. Trying to pay off my credit card (singular…one is all you need) and establishing a savings of one month’s expenses. I’m about halfway on both fronts, but I’ve recently decided to stop saving as much and start putting more money to my credit card. I figure I’ll end up paying more in interest than I will get from my savings if I don’t. Additionally, I’m saving for my wedding, and I’ve committed to saving a specific amount each month no matter what. I don’t want to not have enough when the time comes, even if I have to skimp for right now.

For the first time in my life I am actually living from a budget. I developed a spreadsheet using a modified version of Crown’s spending plan (email me if you want it) that keeps track of everything I spend and what type of expense it is. I can play around with percentages to increase one category or another. Or let’s say I know I will need $1400 for home expenses, I can set its percentage to allocate that much, and then I can play with the rest to make sure I have enough for food and car and whatnot. It’s handy.

Now I can get to the frustrating part. I only get paid twice a month, so that means I can only see progress for about 20 minutes twice a month. The two things I’m working on are my savings and my credit card. So twice a month my savings go up a tad, I allocate money towards my credit card. I feel like I’ve been given the green light to go and make some progress, but it only lasts for a brief moment, then I have to wait again. Frustrating!

I know I’m making progress, and that’s the important part. If you’ve decided you need to straighten out your finances but don’t know where to start, I’ve included two links at the bottom that have provided direction and keep me motivated. This is definitely an exercise in patience, but it works out in the end. My goal is to be completely free of consumer debt in 5 years, which includes almost $30,000 in student loans. So you can expect to see more financial posts here between now and then.

Crown Financial’s Money Map – a guide through 7 destinations that will get you financial freedom
Get Rich Slowly – a personal finance blog that I find has lots of good tips and suggestions

-j