I am a numbers girl. You may not know that about me, but it’s one of my FAVORITE characteristics that I inherited from my Mimi. She was SO smart with numbers – able to add like 15 up at a time with no pen and paper. She was a wiz when it came to financials and she read the stocks page every day (still to this day, I have NO idea how she does that! Sorry, did that.) But no matter how good she was, I am thankful that I got a little piece of that part of her brain.
I was texting with a friend a few days about about a VERY familiar subject of mine – being broke. I said, “If I JUST had $10,000 I feel like my life would change. Not $100,000, not $1M. Just $10,000.”
That’s it.
That’s my dollar amount that if I JUST had $10,000, my life would be able to change course. I could pay off my car, I could end my credit card debt (which isn’t much…but still there!), I could stop teaching ALL the time for money and choose to teach which classes I want. And most of all, I would feel comfortable. I would have savings, and options. And in saying that, the fervent prayer and mantra for the past few months came FLYING into my head “What are my goals for 2013”. Really God – this is going to be one of those ones that is hard to swallow right? And here it is.
Goal 2 in 2013 – Save $10,000 in the bank account (completed by Dec 31, 2013)
So. That’s a big goal. That is a big lofty goal that I am going to have to sacrifice to make happen. And yet, I continue to make life changes towards this goal without specific plans (renting my house out, downgrading certain “necessities”, etc.). This is a goal that is going to stretch me mentally. But let’s be honest. I have a home. I have plenty of clothes and Lululemon and tennis shoes and heels and Tervis Tumblers. I have a car that is in great shape as long as I maintain it. I have all the earrings and bracelets and makeup that I could really need. And deodorant I mean, I am STOCKED UP on deo.
Obviously I am not writing this down so you can borrow money from me. Or know my finances. But know THIS. This is going to mean no big bar bills or eating out every weekend (I budgeted for like 4x a month). This means I will have to say no to somethings due to money. This is going to be a complete lifestyle change from the way I have been living for 5+ years. I unsubscribed from EVERY shopping email I get. I cancelled BirchBox and my fitness “monthly” expense. I have resolved that I will not order supplements for performance other than food. I will have to be content with the clothing that I have (umm. plenty) and how I look in it. And I am SO going to be ok.
But guess what kids – this chick is like freaky AWESOME at finding deals. I have 5 “free” movie tickets to the Edge. I have a $15 GC to Max’s and a $50 to my favorite Mexican restaurant for starters. My birthday is coming up March 4th, and instead of asking for something that i just WANT, I will be asking for what I need at that point (probably money for books for the summer semester! or tires. Ugg. always tires.)
So. Here are CLEAR ways to achieve this goal.
1) Cash basis. I budgeted out bi-weekly for gas and groceries with a tiny entertainment budget. Anything I don’t use from one week will roll into the other, but if I don’t have the cash, I won’t CANT DON’T spend it. The end.
2) NO shopping until the first quarter is over, which is March 26th. At this time, I will re-evaluate if I have a) hit $2,500 and b) how the rest of my finances will look. This is mostly about habits. I generally wear the same thing for weeks on end (outside of work) and no one really cares are work. Also, I have two additional closets of my sister and dear friend if something really does come up that I don’t have the correct clothing for.
3) Direct Deposit into a savings account that is not readily available or easy to access. See, things these days are SUPER easy. I opened up an account at another financial institution and then each pay period, it will just directly deposit it into the savings account. I opted for NO WEB ACCESS so I just can’t see it. I’m just going to pretend I got a huge pay cut. Seems feasible, right?
4) Couponing/deals for the grocery. Buying what is on sale, not letting it go bad and really paying attention to the grocery budget on a bi-weekly basis.
5) Selling my car. This is a 50/50 shot. It has been listed on AutoTrader for 5 months, I have shown it to 6 different families and it has not sold. I feel I need to stay firm on the price so that I am able to purchase something STURDY with cash. This is more of a praying for God to move on this type of thing. And like my friend always says, you only need ONE person to buy it. And I do believe that someone will. In selling my car, this will give me a little wiggle room for paying off things while still achieving my goal.
Fall Down Seven, Get Up Eight 