Back in July I decided to take the time to understand why I keep building more debt. I am on a mission to find out exactly what the underlying factors are when it comes to my accumulation of credit card debt and find a solution to each one. Here is what I have discovered so far.
Step 1: Unsubscribe from all store emails.
Step 2: Find a cure to my ESS.
And now I have discovered another flaw in my ways and have developed step 3.
Step 3: Never let my credit card be my only option.
On a previous post I shared what I had decided to do with any money leftover at the end of each month. In the midst of coming to that conclusion, I realized that I have been committing the same mistake every single holiday, birthday, and any other significant event where I would need to spend money.
I NEVER PLANNED AHEAD!
I knew that these occasions were coming up and that I would need to spend money yet I never thought to plan ahead. See this is what I didn't realize:
Dimples has always had somewhat of a budget where ALL her money is allotted for something. Every payday, she pays all her bills, transfers money to savings, and anything left over is directed towards debt. So when a birthday, holiday, wedding came along she had to resort to using her credit cards to fund the birthday party, wedding gifts, holiday meal, decorations, etc.
(ok enough of me speaking in third person.....getting lil eerie)
My credit card was my only option. I didn't plan ahead and save money. Even when I was paying bills I could have easily set aside some of that remaining money and just not applied as much to my credit card debt. If you count up all the holidays and birthdays and gifts that have been sponsored by my credit cards then you can see how much all that can amount to. Shoot, I did the very same thing with my sister's wedding two weeks ago. And yall saw how much my cc debt increased by. What if I had planned ahead and saved money for it.? Ugh! I swear, its times like this where I am amazed on how I can be an engineer and still not be able to figure out something so simple.
Well I plan on changing that trend. From now on I will always have a plan. Next big event for us is my daughter's birthday. I will get two paychecks by then. I plan on setting aside $25 each paycheck for a total of $50. Then I will add $50 from my miscellaneous budget for a total of $100 to use for her birthday. Next big event after that is Thanksgiving. I will be going home to my parents for that holiday. But I will set aside $50 to use just in case I need to help my mom buy food and cook.
I created a list of all upcoming big events up until my birthday in January and have "budgeted" a set amount for each. These are situations where I would be tempted to use my credit card and spend spend spend. Doing this I will be able to avoid that.
Anyone else in the same boat? Or were in the same boat?
Step 1: Unsubscribe from all store emails.
Step 2: Find a cure to my ESS.
And now I have discovered another flaw in my ways and have developed step 3.
Step 3: Never let my credit card be my only option.
On a previous post I shared what I had decided to do with any money leftover at the end of each month. In the midst of coming to that conclusion, I realized that I have been committing the same mistake every single holiday, birthday, and any other significant event where I would need to spend money.
I NEVER PLANNED AHEAD!
I knew that these occasions were coming up and that I would need to spend money yet I never thought to plan ahead. See this is what I didn't realize:
Dimples has always had somewhat of a budget where ALL her money is allotted for something. Every payday, she pays all her bills, transfers money to savings, and anything left over is directed towards debt. So when a birthday, holiday, wedding came along she had to resort to using her credit cards to fund the birthday party, wedding gifts, holiday meal, decorations, etc.
(ok enough of me speaking in third person.....getting lil eerie)
My credit card was my only option. I didn't plan ahead and save money. Even when I was paying bills I could have easily set aside some of that remaining money and just not applied as much to my credit card debt. If you count up all the holidays and birthdays and gifts that have been sponsored by my credit cards then you can see how much all that can amount to. Shoot, I did the very same thing with my sister's wedding two weeks ago. And yall saw how much my cc debt increased by. What if I had planned ahead and saved money for it.? Ugh! I swear, its times like this where I am amazed on how I can be an engineer and still not be able to figure out something so simple.
Well I plan on changing that trend. From now on I will always have a plan. Next big event for us is my daughter's birthday. I will get two paychecks by then. I plan on setting aside $25 each paycheck for a total of $50. Then I will add $50 from my miscellaneous budget for a total of $100 to use for her birthday. Next big event after that is Thanksgiving. I will be going home to my parents for that holiday. But I will set aside $50 to use just in case I need to help my mom buy food and cook.
I created a list of all upcoming big events up until my birthday in January and have "budgeted" a set amount for each. These are situations where I would be tempted to use my credit card and spend spend spend. Doing this I will be able to avoid that.
Anyone else in the same boat? Or were in the same boat?
Comments
Good luck with your early savings!