Money seems to be the root of all evil. Seriously, no matter how hard you work, how frugile you are, there is never enough money to make ends meet.........and forget about saving!
This has been a battle that I have watched my family members fight for as long as I can remember. Don't get me wrong, we've always had food on the table and shoes on our feet, but we also scraped many months just to make ends meet.
I always wanted to be able to do what I wanted when I wanted without worry. In college, while racking up a loan balanced out of this world, I felt like I was doing pretty well for myself. I could run through a drive-thru if I wanted or go out for a few drinks with friends every weekend without worry.
One day, reality set in, I called to transfer money from savings to checking for rent and there wasn't enough there. I was in complete shock! I'd always had enough money for my bills and then some! In tears, I called home and asked for help.
I soon realized the depletion of my funds was due in large part to a love interest that wasn't worth the time, money, or effort in the end. Now, I can't go back and change the past, so I dust myself off and go at it again. This time, with flying colors.
Two years plus removed from this toxic situation, my financial status isn't perfect, but I make ends meet most months without too much trouble. However, I'm still paying on those outrageous student loans, the credit card balance from the heart of this bad situation, a health loan from well after I started moving forward, as well as a good-faith loan from my grandparents for a trip to the city where I once believed 'real life' would start. Needless to say, Carrie Underwood's "Don't forget to remember me" kept me from making the move to Chicago, but I still had to pay for the experience of checking out the city and searching for an apartment that I never took.
Now that the laundry list of my debt has been put out for the world to see, I need to get this to disappear....like now! I want more than anything to be debt free. I also want to have a savings account. More importantly, I want to know how to make this happen without making me crazy or forcing me to eat bread and water for the next 10 years.
So, we begin, I have always tried to dumb my change into a piggy bank, one that was once being depleted by someone else as quickly as I was filling it. At the present time, I have $37 in piggy funds...my hope is to get to $100 by the end of the summer.
When I was in high school, I used to save all change and dollar bills. To date, $7 of that $37 is one dollar bills I have managed to stash into the jar. I hope to continue this trend as well as expand upon it.
Being 30 minutes from home, it is so easy to run out for lunch rather than bringing something from home and eating in the office. I am going to try to pay myself for eating in. I think if I give myself $5 each day I eat in, I will be able to save a ton in a little amount of time. When I do decide to go out, I can use this little fund to do that. I could save $25 a week right there.......sweet!
What else though, how do I find extra money to pay of debt such as a credit card bill without creating more. It''s easy to write a $200 check each month, but it doesn't make much since if I'm charging $100 back to it. So far I've done really well at not using my card; however, with that I'm only paying minimum or just above each month. My new credit card goal is to pay the minimum payment plus that month's finance charge. Hopefully this along with not using the card will help me to make progress more quickly than I am now.
Aside from that, I'm not sure what other tips or tricks to use for myself to save more money. I'd love some ideas.
By the way - rounding up your debits in your checkbook register doesn't work well for a person who likes to balance the checkbook regularly. I tried.
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