real life with (very) real debt
I don’t want to be a millionaire.
That might seem like a weird thing to say but it’s the truth so I’m leading with it.
I don’t want to be a millionaire. Seriously.
I’ve thought about this a lot over the years. Not constantly but it’s one of those things that has always sort of lingered in the back of my mind.
And now, at 30 years old, I feel confident about my conclusion.
I don’t want to be millionaire. And here’s why.
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Whether you’ve been at it for years or it’s your first time, common budget problems can — and do — pop up from time to time.
It can happen to anyone but thankfully, there is good news: it does not need to be a major setback!
Are you struggling with your budget? The start of a new year is a great time to really dig into ways to make your system better.
To help with that, today I wanted to talk about some common budget problems you could be facing — and what you can do to fix them!
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Saving an emergency fund was the first things we did when we started paying back our debt.
The concept made a lot of sense to me: an emergency fund creates a cushion in your budget that helps you avoid accumulating more debt when unexpected situations arise. Sign me up!
But when I set out to start saving, I quickly realized there are very different opinions about the right amount to have in your account while you’re paying off debt.
For many, $1K is the standard and I can understand why. Keeping your emergency fund small means more money is available to pay off debt. More money to debt means you pay off the debt faster. It makes sense.
But, as the title suggestions, I don’t think $1K is enough for an emergency fund.
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A few weeks ago, the wonderful Onwardandupward tagged me to talk about the things I’ve turned down for financial freedom. Initially, I planned to respond in an Instagram post…but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might be a good fit for the blog.
After all, the pursuit of financial freedom is the reason why we’re working so hard right now to pay off the $55K of debt we have to our name. We have made a lot of progress toward this goal – in fact, I recently realized if we can stay the course, we will be all-but-student-loan-debt-free by November 2018!
What that means is that we will have paid off two credit cards, our car and the entire balance of our credit line. We’re talking more than $10,000 paid to debt in a year. I am so super proud of all the hard work we have put into getting debt free.
Because reality is it has been hard work. And we have certainly had to make some sacrifices to get where we are today.
I used to think more money was the key to financial freedom.
It makes sense, right? In theory, the more money you have coming in, the more equipped you are to cover your expenses — and the more likely you are to be able to do that and still have money in the bank after the fact.
That’s what financial freedom is about, right?
That might be true for some, but the more I learn about money, the more I am coming to understand that isn’t a universal truth.
More money can help. But financial freedom is bigger than that.