I meeeean, it's only fair.
Even though I don't feel terrible for slipping the other night at karaoke, I think the fair thing to do would be to extend my Spending Freeze an extra day, which means the last day will be July 22nd.
... Except that I don't really want to end the Freeze. I want to keep going. I'm doing so well and I don't want to lose momentum. I want to send a big fat message to the universe that I am HYPER SERIOUS about becoming debt-free. And that once I am, I will put at least $500 into savings every month so that I never have to go into debt to pay for a car or a medical bill ever again.
I am a spender at heart- I love to splurge on vacations and food- but I'm not an irresponsible spender. I try to remind myself of that.
My back story with debt:
This is my second time in debt in my life. Both times have been since I moved to KC in the fall of 2012. I moved here with a former boyfriend, for his job, and completely uprooted my own business in the northeast to start completely fresh here. It took a year and a half of networking and busting my ass to establish my business and my life in a town where I knew NOBODY except for my high school physics teacher, and the man I moved here with, who, it quickly became apparent, hadn't really meant it when he acted like he wanted me to move with him out here. (On night three of My New Life In The Midwest, I remember laughing/crying myself to sleep at the absurdity that I had moved to freaking Kansas for a guy who was blasé about my being there with him). Anyway, it took awhile to ground myself enough to make a living. Once I was doing that, I had my first spending freeze, in the spring of 2014, for one month- I had racked up about 2 grand in credit card debt from getting the business up and running. My savings was gone- I had completely drained it from the move/readjustment. But, after that freeze, I was able to be debt-free.
The next time I got into debt was in June 2016 when my beloved Toyota Avalon 2000 was so old that it was guzzling gas, and the repair for that would have cost 2 grand. I knew it was time for a new car. I bought a 2014 Prius 2 at Carmax- it only had about 17,000 miles on it. It was 19 grand with taxes, but with a killer credit score and a low interest plan, I bought it knowing 2 things:
... Except that I don't really want to end the Freeze. I want to keep going. I'm doing so well and I don't want to lose momentum. I want to send a big fat message to the universe that I am HYPER SERIOUS about becoming debt-free. And that once I am, I will put at least $500 into savings every month so that I never have to go into debt to pay for a car or a medical bill ever again.
I am a spender at heart- I love to splurge on vacations and food- but I'm not an irresponsible spender. I try to remind myself of that.
My back story with debt:
This is my second time in debt in my life. Both times have been since I moved to KC in the fall of 2012. I moved here with a former boyfriend, for his job, and completely uprooted my own business in the northeast to start completely fresh here. It took a year and a half of networking and busting my ass to establish my business and my life in a town where I knew NOBODY except for my high school physics teacher, and the man I moved here with, who, it quickly became apparent, hadn't really meant it when he acted like he wanted me to move with him out here. (On night three of My New Life In The Midwest, I remember laughing/crying myself to sleep at the absurdity that I had moved to freaking Kansas for a guy who was blasé about my being there with him). Anyway, it took awhile to ground myself enough to make a living. Once I was doing that, I had my first spending freeze, in the spring of 2014, for one month- I had racked up about 2 grand in credit card debt from getting the business up and running. My savings was gone- I had completely drained it from the move/readjustment. But, after that freeze, I was able to be debt-free.
The next time I got into debt was in June 2016 when my beloved Toyota Avalon 2000 was so old that it was guzzling gas, and the repair for that would have cost 2 grand. I knew it was time for a new car. I bought a 2014 Prius 2 at Carmax- it only had about 17,000 miles on it. It was 19 grand with taxes, but with a killer credit score and a low interest plan, I bought it knowing 2 things:
- It's a Prius. My gasoline bill went from $150-$200/month to $60/month because my 10 gallon tank only needs to be filled every 10 days or so.
- I would pay it off very fast, because I detest owing anything to anyone. And I have been- It has been 13 months since I bought it and as of this morning I owe $4,500 on it, down from $19K. I'm not effing around here.
Then I got my double surgery in March 2017, which was necessary. $6,680 surgery bill? Shit. I would have paid any price for the amazing upturn that my life has taken since surgery.
I'm not irresponsible with money. Which is interesting, because my upbringing didn't necessarily teach me many money skills directly (I learned indirectly by example, but also by doing a TON of reading/experimenting with budgeting and frugality), since money is seldom a conversation point in my family. More on this in a future post.
By the way, I do love Kansas City. I fought it and struggled with it for a long time, and I still don't love the state of Kansas, and I still have to dodge weirdos who try to convert me. But downtown KC is always a 10 minute drive away in my little environerd-mobile. As long as I have KCMO within reach, I'm happy. No regrets about moving here. I have found my people, I freaking love my job and my clients, and I have the best dog in the world. Midwesterners are the nicest. NJ/NY will always be home, and I will never give country music a chance, but I love and prefer living here now.
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