Saturday, April 13, 2013

FINANCIAL GOALS UPDATE

We started our spending diet {term explained and inspiration here} in January 2013 and I am proud to say that it's a success {so far}.  We cut our monthly spending allowances down to less than a third of what they used to be. Crazy, I know! It has been an adjustment and we don't get to go on spending sprees as much as we used to but we are pumping up our savings which is really nice. 
Peacefulness is this Cherry blossom tree on a Sunday walk.
We were able to meet one of our spending goals which is to pay off my credit card earlier this month!!!!!!!!

When I made that last payment in early April, it was incredible. I have had credit card debt ever since I graduated from high school (10 years now). It was never anything too crazy. For a long time it was under $1,000 but it was just a burden. At the highest balance, I had over $6,000 in debt at one point and I just knew it had to stop.  Part of the problem was that I relied on it after I "ran out of money" at the end of each month and I used it as a crutch to get me to the next paycheck and I just felt like it was a cycle that I could never get out of. But now that it's paid off, I don't even have the urge to charge anything! Because I don't want my balance to be anything but 0.00. I am pretty proud of us for being able to save and pay off my credit card so quickly.

My credit card never looked so good.

From this post in September 2012:

My Financial Goals for the next 2 years:

1. Pay off my credit card debt   ACCOMPLISHED 4/2013
2. Start a savings account and put money away each month  {{IN PROGRESS}}
 
Now, how do I reward myself? As far as shopping goes, I have never been much of a bargain shopper.  Most of the time I make myself decide if I like something before I look at the price tag so it doesn't sway me either way. Sometimes I set a limit for how much I think it's worth.  I try to spend "smarter" which means thinking about things for a couple days before buying them but doing that got me into trouble when my size was sold out the very next day. So sad!!!! Like most things in life, I think spending money is all about balance.
 
Now that tax season is {almost} over, I am going to start having a lot more free time on my hands. This is where it will get tricky with the spending diet. But if we can keep up our plan, we will be in a lot better financial shape now than we were just 6 months ago.
 
If I can do it, you can too!
 
Cheers,
Kim

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations! That's a huge thing to overcome and you deserve to feel accomplished for squashing that debt.

    I've been working on our budget lately too. If you're interested, I can send you a bang up excel worksheet that has been helpful as a base for monthly budgeting and allowance tracking.

    xx,
    Eileen

    www.leanerbythelake.com

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    1. thanks, eileen! i would love for you to send me your budget. i have one but am always working on improving it! how can i send you my email address privately?

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