GOALS
AND WHY THEY ARE SO IMPORTANT
In the last year, my life has become a series of goals, I truly deeply believe that goals are the foundation of change. I have three type of goals.
Financial
-
Physical
-
Mental
This post is going to focus on financial Goals
Financially; I have always been the type of woman, to want what I want, and to buy it when I want it. Unfortunately that means a lot of the time I spent out of my budget. In the Fall of 2014 I was $11,000 in debt, living in a place that was far out of my budget and barely making enough to feed myself and to top that off, I was car-less. I was paying out $1,400 a month in bills. I put everything I could on my credit cards, forgetting that eventually I would have to pay that off. I had $5,000 on my credit cards, $5,000 in student loans, and $500 owed in utilities. I dug myself a hole. I sat down one day and asked myself what could I do, I wrote a plan. I started with leaving my $850 a month apartment that only included water and garbage, and moved in with a family member. the important fact of moving in with a family member was that I made sure to pay not only for my food but the inconvenience of housing me while I got back on my feet. Giving them $250 a month. I transferred my job to the new city I moved to. While with the family member I was lucky enough they had an extra car, I constantly made sure the tank was full, while paying for any oil change/ maintenance needed while I used it. The last thing I wanted was to be a burden. the first few months I worked on paying off the highest credit card. This was $1,500. I would pay $250 a month instead of my $40 minimum payment with in 3 months, I had knocked that baby down to $0. I felt thrilled. the biggest and baddest was gone. at that point I felt motivated. with in three months, I spent every waking moment trying to work. thinking about work. for every $500 I put on my credit card I'd take a $100 and reward myself. I genuinely looked forward to it.
After 7 months, I paid off $5.500 it felt great. I felt like I accomplished so much. but I was still without a car. consciously I wanted a nice car, something I wouldn't have to put loads of money in, make payments. I even told myself payments would only be $160 a month, If I put enough money down . But wait. wasn't paying off my bills to help make my monthly payments lower? Not owe so much money? Did I really need a 2014 car? as I started saving it was a constant battle of wanting nice things and saving money. I started working a second job, mornings at Applebee's and nights at a local restaurant. at the time I was bringing in a good amount of money, but working 75 hours a week. it was rough. and i would never recommend it. But I was succeeding and succeeding fast. with in three months I had put $3.700 in the bank. It was time to make decisions. as I looked at cars, I had this gut feeling, this feeling that I didn't need insane luxury's, I decided to settle with a pre-owned car. after looking at the shop I found a beautiful 2002 Toyota Camry XLE. 155,000k miles, they started at $5,000 after long negotiations we got them to lower it to $4,000. I was short $1000 (including fees), but after having $3.700, the bank gave me an extra $1,000 making my payments $50 a month. to me that was a piece of cake, one extra month of working extra hours. I felt AWESOME. I had payed off $5,500 in credit cards, bought a car. Its been one year and two months sense buying my Toyota, she not only runs strong, she hasn't broken down or been a hassle sense we pulled out of the lot.
I have sense then moved out on my own, Instead of renting an apartment I settled in renting a room in a house with one other roommate. My rent is still $250 a month. Although sometimes I miss having my entire apartment, I realize that eventually with the way I'm going I will own my own home soon enough. Since then my bills have been lowered to 587 a month.
How to meet your financial goals
Set monthly / tri monthly goals.
This is extremely important. Every month / 3 months I have goals of what I want to save.
The important thing with this is having FEASIBLE goals. If you are bringing in 2k a month and paying out $1400 its going to be hard to put away $400 especially when there are necessities.
I always try to put away at least $100 a month, If you are like me, you have little things you like
your Starbucks coffee, your snacks, going out to eat, buying makeup (my worst habit)
you wont believe it, but spend one week adding up all the small things, your $3 coffee, $2 snacks
that NYX lipstick that is only $6. I promise you'll be shocked at that $30 - $50 you spent. Try and cut it in-half. Go to the store and buy your snacks, I promise its cheaper. pack them and bring them with you.
Look to pay off things for an extended period of time
In the food industry its fairly easy to pick up hours, as a single woman with no children my bills are not fairly insane. but they still exist.
I'm always looking for ways to cut my bills lower. I looked at my car insurance recently and decided to do the five hour course. They offer 10% off if you take the $24.99 five hour course (can be done online) I found a coupon at the time that lowered it to $19.99. Taking this lowered my Insurance (GEICO) $22 a month. Then I called GEICO and asked about any offers, they asked me about school, I said I attended and they offered me another discount for good grades. (at the time I didn't know my grades) they told me they didn't need the paper, they take the customers word. (awesome huh!?) This lowered my insurance for a 22 year old woman with two accidents, to $118 a month with full collision.
708$ plus a 20$ discount If I pay it off for six months,
find yourself a second income
I once read a quote that said "Most Millionaires have 7 sources of income" I truly think it is extremely important to have multiple trades, knowledge is Money.
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