I love money and I love shopping. It can be for clothes, furniture or even groceries, i don’t care I love to buy. When I turned 27 I took a long look at where I was in life, then decided I needed to make a change. Since graduating from college I have spent thousands of dollars but have nothing to show for them. Sure I’ve had experiences, I’ve looked amazing, I’ve eaten at great restaurants and made many memories, but I don’t really know where all of my money went. So two years ago, at 27 years old, I set out to get rid of my debt. I thought the journey would be much shorter. Little did I know I hadn’t really begun…
In January of 2016 I turned 27 years old. I was working at a job I hated with people I love, was grossly underpaid and living paycheck to paycheck. I was extremely irresponsible, couldn’t hang out the way I wanted to, couldn’t look the way I wanted to and was stressed by all of it. A good friend of mine told me how they were once where I was but managed to , I came up with a game plan. I moved some debt to interest free cards, got a loan for other debt and promised myself I’d be better now. I made a bullshit budget and even got a new job with a 20% raise! But I didn’t do better.
A few months after being at my new job, I moved. For 2 years, I’d lived in a shitty Lakeview apartment with way too many water bugs, too many parking tickets and too much chaos. I had to go! So I moved to a nicer apartment with parking, cable, a pool, a gym, doormen and a view. Although it was a 28% increase in rent, it was, and still is, worth it. My quality of life improved. With that improvement I begin to spend more money. I bought new furniture and things for my home. I began going out, having people over and really just enjoying that 20% raise. I completely dropped the ball. I wasn’t focused, I was racking up more bills and missed hitting my goal in 2016.
By Winter 2016/2017 I realized I hadn’t accomplished a d*mn thing. I was still in debt, still stressed and still not appreciating my money. So that is when I really set out to get my sh*t together. I knew I needed to make MAJOR changes. That’s when the journey truly began…
TO BE CONTINUED…
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