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When I was $30k in debt…

  • December 13, 2018
  • 3 minute read
  • 1.7K views
  • Budget Girl
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A HELLA GOOD Throwback Thursday for you friends. Let’s take a blast into the past to a girl who SUCKED at money/ made no money and wanted to get out of debt when all the odds (and math) were against her. 

Thank you to the BG viewer (Xavia A, who is on an impressive binge based on her comments on videos deep in the BG archives – thanks girl!) who commented on this video from FOUR years ago today and reminded me how far I’ve come.

This was BABY BUDGET GIRL, just trying to START to figure this money thing out.

It was in 2014. I had $30,000 in debt. I was living in Louisiana making $26k a year. I still had both my student loans and was trying to pay off the small one. I was delivering pizzas at from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. at night for a grand total profit of $7 per hour ON TOP of my day job as a reporter.

I had only about $300 spare in my budget each month to work with to pay off loans and save to replace my beater car that could have crapped out anytime.

But I was hustling. I ran the scenarios and numbers a hundred times, and MADE A PLAN on how I was going to work with what I had. It involved sending a percentage of my extra money to a car fund and the rest to debt, trying to bet on how long I could keep that car alive so I wouldn’t have to go deeper into debt so I could work.

This was only four years ago. Now I’m that much in the positive. I have a great job, a whole new life and I never have to drink too much wine to make my money plan šŸ™‚ I’m not stressed. It only took a couple years to completely turn my life around.

But I needed a plan to make this happen. And I still re-up that plan every year. I hold a “Master Plan” meeting with myself every January and re-work my budget. I look over the past year’s budgets and see where I’m over and maybe underspending.

A budget is a truly magical thing. I’m not overselling it here. When you account for every dollar you make, you get to choose what your life is going to look like in the future.

I make a list of goals for the year and make a plan so I can afford to achieve them. If I wanna travel, buy new furniture, invest in my business or for retirement, the yearly summit is where I make those goals tangible, actionable AND make it so easy on myself to achieve.

I make a plan for what I’ll do with any windfalls, raises, or extra money I make. As you can tell, I’m a “set it and forget it” girl. It eliminates impulse or emotional money decisions. And anything possible, I sinking fund for.

That meeting with myself is coming up so soon (usually done over Christmas break from work), and if I have a glass of wine it will be to enjoy the process more as I dream about my future, not to calm my nerves as I try to anticipate the next time Murphy will hit.

If your money situation stresses you out, that means something is wrong. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. YOU are the only person who can take control of it, change it, change your future. Make your plan. Drink a few glasses of wine stressfully if you have to, but make it. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

BTW, I believe in you. You are powerful and strong and can make yourself a great financial future. It’s your year. You got this.

Cheers,
BG

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2 comments
  1. Steven McMillian says:
    December 15, 2018 at 3:24 am

    I usually revise my budget in December. Getting on a budget has helped me out tremendously. Your videos helped me do a better job with managing my money. Thank you for being an inspiration to me.

  2. admin says:
    February 18, 2019 at 4:12 pm

    Thank you so much for watching and reading!

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