Archives for November 2018

To Buy Or Not To Buy. That Is The Question

November 30, 2018

There are a lot of things that many of us consider to be a central part of being a successful adult. Being able to find a job and live independently are some of the biggest and earliest milestones that we’re expected to hit. However, the most important milestone, for a lot of people at least, is the moment that you’re able to buy your own home. Being a homeowner is one of those things that many people consider to be one of the major signifiers that you’re finally a real adult and that you’ve entered the real world. However, that raises the question: how important is buying a house really? After all, it’s becoming more and more difficult to do in the modern world, so how necessary is it to 21st-century adults? With that in mind, here’s the age old question: to buy or not to buy.

Thinking long-term

When people think about finding a home that they can live in for a long time, buying is likely to be the most obvious choice a lot of the time. After all, rental is generally seen as something of a short-term option. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this, after all, sometimes you’re only looking for somewhere to live for 6 months or a year at a time. However, places like Glamour Apartments are actually a great place to look for some long-term rental options. Sure, buying is still the most long-term option out there, but it’s certainly not the only one.

Making an investment

One way in which buying a home is entirely superior to renting is in terms of being able to actually make an investment in your future. When you’re renting, you can basically think as your rent as the money that you pay for the privilege of having a roof over your head. However, when you’re paying off a mortgage, you’re building equity and investing in your ability to buy another home in the future. Not only that but it doesn’t matter how long you rent for, you’re always going to be paying rent. At least with a mortgage, you have the potential to pay it off one day.

Flexibility

One major drawback of buying a home is that it’s a serious commitment. After all, with all of the expense and complexity involved in buying a home, it’s hardly something that you’re going to be able to do every couple of years. If you’re the kind of person who wants to be able to move around a lot then there’s a good chance that renting is the far superior option for you.

Of course, the truth of the matter is that, as with just about any other major aspect of your life, it’s going to come down to personal preference and circumstance nine times out of ten. You can hear all of the advice in the world but in the end, you have to make the decision that makes the most sense for your life and who you are as a person.

Your Debt Diary – Jane Has Debt

November 28, 2018

When I first began following the Debt Free Community on Instagram I was drawn in by the stories everyone would share about their debt free journeys. I find it fascinating to read about the progress others are making and also reassuring to know that I am not the only one in my position.

Your Debt Diary is a guest blog series by money bloggers and members of the debt free community for My Debt Diary. Each week someone new will share their debt story. This week Jane from @janehasdebt shares their journey so far and the extraordinary challenges they have faced.

What stage are you at in your debt free journey right now?

I am stuck in a time warp. Look more like it. I have been trying to get out of debt for the past 10 years. Part of the problem is that I have ADHD – also known as not being able to rationalise anything because of getting into a space of being hyper-focused and also being impulsive. I have fortunately learned to curb everyday expenses both using personal finance tools like budgeting and using the cash envelope system. Critically stopping big purchases due to my ADHD is still a work in progress (like financing cars or buying concert tickets).

For the most part I was doing well but a few years ago life literally flipped me upside down and shook everything out of me within a year’s time. Divorce, passing of mein Kind, my own health issues, and my car was totaled at the other person’s fault. I had to draw my focus somewhere, so I went back to school by taking out student loans, I had to rent/deposit a new place, and I bought a new car to replace my just-paid-off previous now totaled car. Plunged myself into another $23,000 on top of my already 38,000 (total – $61,000).

Then I found Mr. Money Moustache blog and the forums. It was a godsend to me at the time I found it. The diversity of people available and their brilliant knowledge in personal finance saved me. I am still not in a good place with debt. But overall I am in a much better place with my finances – awesome credit score due to bills being paid on time, budget brilliantly, put 10% away in my retirement account, increased my income, increased my net worth and now craft my own cash envelopes.

What is your debt total?

Between health, education needs for my other Kind, and financing another used car (major mistake) – at my highest I have owed $81,120 (April 2018). I am now at $69,324.

What is your “why”?

The worst thing ever was not being able to take extended time off when mein Kind got sick. I didn’t have the family to help, I did not qualify for FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) and I couldn’t quit my job without sinking into homelessness. Twenty four hours a day I was working full-time, taking care of two in separate locations, attending health appointments and commuting hours at a time. I was exhausted and I was in a flurry of frustrating emotions at the lack of support every corner I turned.

I will never be in that space again.

Are you following a specific plan or method?

I try follow the Dave Ramsey baby steps 1 and 2. I keep a strong budget. Discretionary expenses are cash only (with pretty envelopes). But I don’t always have a full emergency fund. Actually it’s one of my pet peeves because I can never keep it filled up.

What challenges have you faced along the way?

Being in debt for so long…actually I have been in debt my whole adult life. But at the time of being mindful of my debt I have not been able to get my debt down! It’s so frustrating. I’m on a roller coaster without the ability to get off of it. Frankly it is tiring! The last stint was my car breaking down and deciding it was better to finance another than spend the $4,000 to fix it. That was such a bad decision.

I am kind of freaking out about my debt load because die hard planning for retirement is now coming into focus, Um, no bad nursing homes wanted nor do I want to be broke. With a problematic and expensive U.S. healthcare system, it’s a scary thought not having enough money available. Especially when I think of everything else I am concurrently financially managing and/or trying to save up for.

What are you doing to speed up the progress of your debt free journey?

The past few months I haven’t been able to snowball. The 4th quarter is when all my annual expenses come due and I didn’t have sinking funds available to cover them. So the snowball portion and payment plans covered these expenses. Fortunately, starting in 2019 my snowball will resume.

As for side hustles, it is not working out for me. I don’t much to sell off and side hustle opportunities are not coming to fruition. I plan on trying a couple of other side hustles in the new year. I’ve started saving my $5 bills to help me fund my emergency fund.

All extra money received (i.e. tax return, bonuses etc) will be thrown at paying down debt.

When do you plan to become debt free?

As long as I stay cash only with discretionary expenses and keep the credit cards out of the picture (because ADHD and CCs don’t mix), I will be debt free 4th quarter 2022. God help me.

I’d like to thank Jane for today’s post. Please make sure to visit their Instagram at @janehasdebt.

You can read last week’s post here. If you would like to share your story with Your Debt Diary please leave a comment below with your email address or Instagram and I will get in touch. You can find me on Instagram here.

Did I Achieve My Goals for November 2018?

November 26, 2018

We have reach the end of another month and it is time for me to look back at the goals I set and reflect on how I have done. So did I achieve my goals in November 2018? I feel like I could write the a very short answer here. No. No I didn’t achieve all of my goals. I have made some progress none the less.

My goals for November 2018 were as follows:

Boost my side income
Begin a sinking fund for next year
Clear another £500 of my second credit card
Finish saving my tax payment

Boost my side income.

My intention, my hope, was to make an extra £200 this month from side hustles in order to combat the lower amount of freelance work that I always get during the winter months. Well I am pleased to say that on the 24th I smashed this goal and I am still adding to it. Considering this has been quite an unsuccessful month goals wise I am so pleased that this one has gone well.

If you have debt yourself, or you have had debt in the past, you will know the stress of limited funds at Christmas. This £200, although it is not a huge amount of money, will cover my Christmas shopping and ensure that I can still pay my bills without even having to think about using my credit card. That is priceless. Both Ebay and Prolific Academic have played big roles in my success with this goal. I highly recommend both if you’re trying to boost your income!

Begin a sinking fund for next year.

With the help of my extra income total, I have also been able to add a small amount of money to my savings in preparation for next year. With our wedding, honeymoon, my hen do, a friend’s wedding and hen do, two big birthdays and many other things along the way I’m sure, there will be a lot to pay for.

Saving a small amount of money each month now is going to make such a difference to my debt progress and my bank balance. It also ensures that I won’t be panicking and scraping together money at the last minute. So far I have put away £50 which is a good start.

Clear another £500 of my second credit card.

Unfortunately I was nowhere near reaching this goal in November. In fact, I was only able to pay £100 towards my credit card this month. I’m definitely disappointed as I was hoping to clear the majority of my card before the new year. With £2277 still left on it, this won’t be happening.

On the plus side, I paid in more than the minimum amount and I was able to make the payments towards both of my loans comfortably too. This is a world away from the way I handled my finances when I began my debt free journey. At that time I was scraping together the pennies and pounds and in a constant state of panic. That difference alone is something to celebrate!

Finish saving my tax payment.

It hasn’t been possible for me to complete my tax payment goal either. My earnings just weren’t high enough. Thankfully I have been able to add a small amount to savings and don’t have too much further to go now. Another £250 in the pot and I’ll be ready to process my tax return, so this will be the focus of December. Once that’s completed I’m sure I’ll feel a big weight lifted as of course there is a deadline. Then I can return my attention fully to my debt free journey.

I’ll be setting my goals for December on the first of the month so keep an eye out for that post!

Preparing for Christmas | Five Frugal Things for November 2018

November 23, 2018

In an effort to pay off my debt as quickly as possible, I’m looking beyond simply making extra money. I have been assessing all of my spending habits, adopting a more frugal lifestyle wherever I can. Each month I will be sharing Five Frugal Things that I have done to help improve my finances and ensure I can reach my goal of becoming debt free as soon as possible.

One

Low cost Christmas. If you have read any of my posts about preparing for Christmas you will know that I am cutting right back this year in order to help my debt total come down further, even over the festive period. We won’t be hosting Christmas Day this year and that will save us a lot of money alone. We have also suggested a pot luck style dinner and drinks at ours with friends on the 23rd, saving us the expense of a night in town.

Gifts do tend to take up most of the budget though. Secret Santa’s, lots of price comparisons, cashback and affordable hampers are all going towards my efforts for a frugal Christmas. Doing a secret Santa with siblings in both of our families has been particularly helpful in reducing the number of presents we will be buying this year. It will save us all a lot of money and it actually means that we will all receive something that is more thoughtful instead of something cheaper and silly.

Two

Ditching the coupons. HUH?! Aren’t coupons supposed to save you money? Well yes…if you are planning on spending money in the first place. For a while we ordered our weekly shop online from Tesco and it worked really well. We’d have it delivered on a Monday ready for the new week and the new meal plan. It would stop us from picking up things we didn’t need. We would even get regular coupons through the door saving us a lot of money.

The catch was that we had to spend £40 in order to get free delivery with many of the coupons having an even higher minimum purchase requirement. On the way home one day my better half decided to try Aldi, our old favourite. As he had no set total to reach he ended up spending a lot less than we would online.

Now that Christmas is on its way the high value coupons are coming through the door. The latest one was £10 off when you spend £70 or more. That’s great if you have a big shop planned but they won’t be enticing us. The fancy catalogue looks beautiful, don’t get me wrong. This year however, we’ll be sticking with Aldi and spending on just what we need and not a penny more.

Three

Drawing the curtains. As the nights drawn in and it gets colder and colder we’ve been closing the curtains in the evenings. I’ve just checked the temperature outside today and it is 1 degree. Brrrrrrr! Normally we would just close the blinds for some privacy but the living room feels so much cosier when the curtains are closed as well. Of course, this has the added benefit of keeping the room warmer too. I’ve written a post about saving money on your heating bills and I’m sure you know this already, but even pulling that small bit of fabric over your windows can make all the difference.

Four

Buying soft drinks. This month I’m making a lot of effort to be healthy, both to help my weight and in preparation for an indulgent Christmas. As part of this I’ve not been drinking alcohol at all in November. Honestly, I thought this would be a bigger deal in terms of the old FOMO and struggling with having a soft drink whilst friends were enjoying some wine. Honestly, the impact it has on my waist line AND my pocket has been a much bigger shock.

If, like me, you’re in the habit of having several drinks over an afternoon and evening spent with friends you will know how quickly that bar bill adds up. Often I’ll come home on a Saturday at least £50 lighter and that’s with both myself and my better half contributing. This month however, I’ve been opting for water mostly. This past Saturday alone I saved around £30 as a result. In ONE day. Whilst I will be drinking again in December the quantities will be a lot smaller than usual and I know my health and my bank account will thank me for that!

Five

Simple and affordable home decor. For a while now I’ve felt like we needed to do something with our living room. It was decorated last year a few months after we moved into the house, frugally of course, but it has always felt a bit unfinished. The cushions we had on the sofa were a bit of a mish-mash and the amazing 50s unit we have in the corner just looked a bit empty. We took a quick trip to Ikea, predictable but reliable, to look for some inspiration.

One hour, lots of walking and two portions of Swedish meatballs later and we had our answer. We came home with five cushions in a mix of dark grey and a really deep green colour which finish off our sofa and chair perfectly. We also picked up an ivy and a fern, both in simple pots which match the decor. They add a bit of life to the room and tie it together so nicely. The cherry on the cake? We spent no more than £25.

There they are, my Five Frugal Things for the month of November. You can read last month’s post here.

I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s Five Fabulously Frugal things I’ve done this week linky.

Your Debt Diary – Light at the End of the Debt Tunnel

November 21, 2018

Your Debt Diary is a guest blog series by money bloggers and members of the debt free community for My Debt Diary. Each week someone new will share their debt story. This week Amy from Light at the End of the Debt Tunnel shares her mission to become debt free by Christmas 2020.

What stage are you at in your debt free journey right now?

We have budgeted and tried to pay off debt for years – at least since 2014. Somehow, though, our debt continued to increase. We started with new focus in January this year but found the debt free community in August and are now going “gazelle intense” as the Dave Ramsey community says. We’ve finally stopped adding to our debt and are aiming to start sinking funds in January.

What is your debt total?

£12,431. All on credit cards, all (thank god) interest free at the moment.

What is your “why”?

We want to buy a house. We’d just love to own our own home. We also have a daughter and we want to stop the cycle. My parents were always in debt (still are) and constantly spent more than they had on credit cards. I don’t want my daughter to ever experience this stress.

Are you following a specific plan or method?

I take inspiration from Dave Ramsey but I haven’t followed his baby steps. We are paying our cards off in the order the 0% interest ends. We will also use the sinking funds method because a big part of our debt was car repairs and other unexpected expenses.

What challenges have you faced along the way?

Not having sinking funds has made it difficult to pay down debt. Our debt has actually gone up as well as down since August but I’m working hard on paying it down. I always used to say we didn’t have enough money to put aside for unexpected expenses but something has to change so I’m going to give it a try. Even £50 in a sinking fund will help when I need new tyres or something else!

What are you doing to speed up the progress of your debt free journey?

We plan a budget together every month to stop us having to out anything on credit. Our sinking funds will also stop our debt increasing again hopefully. I am listing lots of items for sale that we don’t need anymore, doing surveys and I’ve also recently started matched betting.

When do you plan to become debt free?

Based on our current payments, we are about 21 paydays away! Hopefully Christmas 2020 will be a debt free one! My goal is 18 months though as I’m factoring in our childcare reducing when our daughter starts school as well as my annual wage increase. I’d love to reduce that even further because the long term goal is to save for a house deposit and the thought of it being nearly two years before we can even start to save is so depressing. Here’s hoping we can be in our own home in 3-4 years time!

I’d like to thank Amy for sharing her story in today’s post. Please make sure to visit her Instagram at Light at the End of the Debt Tunnel

What Goes Into A Credit Rating?

November 19, 2018

(Image Source)

There are a lot of important metrics to consider when it comes to your money. The number on your statement is one of the most crucial, but there are plenty of others which come along with it. A lot of people are aware of their credit rating, having a good idea of what it is, but most don’t really know what goes into this mysterious number. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the factors which are considered when deciding where you sit in this area. Some people have much better ratings than others, but they are all built in the same way.

Current Debt

Most people have some sort of debt against their name, whether it’s in the form of credit cards or a mortgage. This plays into your credit rating as one of the main factors, with those who have loads of loans in their name finding it harder to improve their score than those with very little debt. There are loads of companies out there who can help you to reduce this part of your life, providing you with tips, advice, and products which will make debt easier to manage.

Late Repayments

When you owe money to someone, there will usually be an agreement in place which dictates how much you have to pay them back, along with a specific date for each repayment. If you fail to meet these requirements, your credit rating will take a noticeable hit. To avoid this, you should always factor your loans into your budget as the first area to think about, as they are much more important than your luxuries.

Credit Searches

When you apply for a loan or other financial service, you will often have to go through background checks. Other lenders can always see when these checks have been made, effectively lowering your score. Avoiding this is one of the most common answers you’ll find when trying to figure out how to build credit. A lot of people ignore this, though, making their own lives much harder.

Types Of Debt

Finally, as the last area to consider, there are several different types of debt available to most people. Some are better than others, and this is more than just their interest rates, as some will impact your credit in different ways to others. A mortgage, for example, won’t be a negative mark on your checks. Several credit cards, though, will be seen as bad money management, as this is something worth avoiding.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time which goes into your credit rating. It can be hard to improve this part of life when you don’t know what makes it up, and a lot of people find themselves struggling with this for a very long time. Of course, though, even if you need some help, you should be able to do this for yourself, and you will start to notice the benefits very quickly.

Financial Book of the Month – The Slight Edge

November 19, 2018

As I make progress towards becoming debt free, I am making it a priority to educate myself more about money. I want to have a better understanding of handling finances, financial mindsets and many other useful topics. My favourite way of doing this is reading. This is a part of my journey that I’m particularly keen to share with you as I believe you could get a lot of value from it. This month I would like to share The Slight Edge.

Finance book of the month – The Slight Edge

This month, I’m sharing a book with you that is not specifically based on finance, however it has everything to do with each of our financial journeys. Let me explain.

The slight edge is not just the title of Jeff Olson’s book; it is an attitude to life. It encompasses the principle that small daily habits, both positive and negative, have a long lasting effect on our lives. Throughout his book, Jeff conveys the importance of having an understanding of these daily habits and the power they have in determining whether we are each on the road to success or failure.

As an example, consider eating habits. An individual can make the decision to eat healthy food or unhealthy food. If they make the choice to eat a healthy diet for one day, this may have no real impact on their weight or fitness. However, if they eat well every day for a year we all know that this will have a very positive impact on all aspects of their health.

By the same note, if an individual chooses to eat a very unhealthy selection of food one day they will see no instant impact. Eat an unhealthy diet every day for an entire year however and they will definitely witness it having a very negative impact on their health and wellness.

Daily Debt Habits

We can of course apply these same principles to debt. Say we decide one day, to pay £10 towards our debt. It feels like it has very little impact. What if we turned that into a positive daily habit and paid £10 towards our debt each day? We might not see much of a difference in our totals after a week or even a month. However, one year down the line our debt total will have been reduced by £3650. You don’t need me to tell you how incredible that would feel.

For the benefit of your debt journey, I think it is also healthy to recognise the negative daily habits which have led us to this moment in our lives. For myself, it was snap shot borrowing decisions and the “oh I can pay it off later” attitude which resulted in my debt total. Instead of looking to the future and the impact that those decisions would have, I put more emphasis on my need for money now, in that moment.

Maintaining Progress and Success

Whilst many of us are able to grasp the importance of positive daily habits at a basic level, it is the next point that Jeff makes that has really stuck with me and that I will be taking forward in my own financial journey once I become debt free. Jeff explains that in life the majority of us sit on a sort of rollercoaster of success and failure.

As we work towards a goal we adopt positive habits that we know will help us to get there. Using a budget, tracking spending and using the debt snowball are all great examples of this. Once we reach our goal we celebrate our achievement, as we should. Then, however, we fall out of practice. When we do this, we are at danger of going backwards and falling into negative habits once again. There is a key point here in our journeys where we need to remind ourselves of the incredible impact our positive habits have had on our lives, and keep practising them despite having already achieved our initial goal.

I could go on for many more paragraphs talking about The Slight Edge and it’s incredible message. I encourage you to read it, absorb every page and really take on board Jeff’s advice. You are entirely capable of reaching success. It just starts with one positive habit today.

You can find The Slight Edge here on Amazon. (This is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to use it. Thank you!)

I absolutely encourage you to begin reading (or listening to audiobooks) as part of your debt free journey. Not only do you learn something as a result, but it also allows you some time to switch off from your debt and all the other goings on in life and just focus on the book in hand.

You can read my previous Finance Book of the Month post here.

Why Do You Keep Getting Into Debt?

November 17, 2018

Nobody plans on getting into debt but it happens to a lot of us. Once you’re in debt, it’s so hard to get out of so you want to avoid it where possible. In some cases, people get into debt because they’re reckless with their spending and they start borrowing money for things they don’t need. They don’t realise they’re doing it at the time and before they know it, it’s too late. If you’re going to avoid getting into debt in the first place, you need to know the most common reasons that it happens to people.

Image Source

Unexpected Bills

This is one of the easiest ways to land yourself in financial trouble. If you get hit with a bill out of nowhere and you don’t have the money to pay it back, you might end up borrowing money to cover it. But that should be a last resort option. First off, you should be putting money into an emergency fund every month so when this does happen, you have the money there to pay that bill right away. Even if you don’t have an emergency fund, you shouldn’t resort to borrowing right away. The first thing you should do is challenge the bill because there’s always the chance that it might be wrong. If it is correct and you owe the money, ask them for an extension so you’ve got a bit of time to get the money together. A lot of companies are more accommodating than you think.

Low Earnings

If you don’t earn enough to cover all of your monthly bills, borrowing money is inevitable. But that doesn’t help the situation because you’re just adding another payment onto the pile. That’s how you become reliant on credit cards to get by and get stuck in a cycle of debt. If you’re going to avoid getting into debt then you need to find a way to earn more money. Getting a new job or asking for a raise is the obvious choice but that’s not always possible. If you’re struggling to get by, there are plenty of quick ways to make money on the side. If you can spend your evenings earning a little extra cash by filling out surveys online or driving a cab, you can avoid having to borrow money and getting yourself into debt. However, this is only a short term solution while you find a better way to earn more cash.

Holidays

Christmas is a time for friends and family but it also involves spending a lot of money. Sometimes, people go overboard and end up spending way more than they need to during the holidays. But the money isn’t the most important thing and you can still have a great time without maxing out your credit cards. Why not consider having a debt free Christmas this year instead? Your friends and family will still be grateful to you either way, you don’t have to spend loads of money on them to show them that you care.

Now that you’re aware of how people get into debt in the first place, you can avoid it a lot easier.

Debt Payment Progress Report 10 – 16/11/18

November 16, 2018

Every two weeks I will be sharing my debt payment progress report with you. I’ll share my new debt total and some of the things I have done to make this happen. It will help me record my journey and it will also help me to stay motivated!

Debt payment progress report – my new total!

As of November 16th 2018 my new debt total is £14,707.43 (My starting debt total was £16,814.29)

That means that in the last two weeks I have paid off £163.13. My new total debt payment to date is now £2106.86, which I have calculated to equate to 12.5% of my debt total. (I should note that I have paid in more than this, however some money has gone straight to interest). The following debts now remain:

Loan One £6723.67
Loan Two £5706.35
Credit Card One £0
Credit Card Two £2277.41

Although I have had another slow fortnight with regards to my debt payments, I am in no way disappointed. If you read my goals update post on Monday you will know that I had to revise my focus a bit. Whilst I would love to pay off my debt as quickly as possible, work tends to slow down for me in the winter months and I have to adjust my budget to suit.

Instead of ploughing every spare penny I have into my credit card I am choosing to be a bit more conservative with my money, keeping some aside just in case my freelancing work drops dramatically. The most important thing is that I am able to afford all of my minimum payments and bills. Then of course there’s the added cost of the Christmas period to consider!

As I have said countless times before, the amount I pay each week, month or year isn’t the focus. The important thing is that I continue to pay off my debt piece by piece. Even when progress is slow, the small payments I am making add up so quickly and make such a big difference over time. If you’re finding that your debt free journey is moving slowly at the moment, stick with it. As long as your total is going down, even by pennies, that is what matters!

You can find my previous reports here.

Your Debt Diary – The Penny Pinching Js

November 14, 2018

Your Debt Diary is a guest blog series by money bloggers and members of the debt free community for My Debt Diary. Each week someone new will share their debt story. This week The Penny Pinching Js shares their journey so far and the extraordinary challenges they have faced.

What stage are you at in your debt free journey right now?

We are in baby step 1 – snowballing our way out of debt.

What is your debt total?

Our debt total is $89k+. Mine alone is $52k and my husband’s is $37k.

What is your “why”?

To improve our credit score and save for a house without worrying about other debt.

Are you following a specific plan or method?

We follow Dave Ramsey’s steps and have taken the Financial Peace University.

What challenges have you faced along the way?

Challenges to date? Oh my, where do I begin! We are actually on attempt number two. During our first attempt I lost my husband’s car keys and used part of the emergency fund to replace them. Recently, our kiddo went into surgery so I had to exhaust my leave since I do not qualify for FMLA until December 2018 and ended up taking leave without pay for a total of 24 working hours. Our home island was hit by a super typhoon and we made the mutual choice of donating half of our emergency fund to relief efforts and using the other half to buy items for our family members still on the island. My car was in the shop for a week and with our emergency fund exhausted, I had to use a credit card that was paid off during our first attempt. That caused us to start all over again from baby step one.

What are you doing to speed up the progress of your debt free journey?

To speed up the progress I’ve been working overtime when I can. Thankfully my career pays for my commute hours so I work the usual work day and get paid for my travel to and from the work site which pushes me into 5+ overtime hours a week. My husband doesn’t have that luxury because his salary is fixed since he’s military. I have a small side hustle of teaching dance and I’ve been looking into driving for Uber and Lyft.

When do you plan to become debt free?

We have honestly not established a “debt free date” for the purpose of getting a hold on anxiety and causing meaningless tension in our marriage. We just take it month by month and apply the method we’ve learned. We’ve got a total of twelve debts since I broke the group of my student loans out to individual loans and we’ve paid off debts 1 & 2. Now onto debt 3!

I’d like to thank the Penny Pinching Js for today’s post! Please make sure to visit their Instagram at The Penny Pinching Js