Steps to Financial Independence
It’s been over two weeks since I last wrote a journal entry. Here, I’ll share what I’ve been doing towards my steps to financial independence
I’ve been doing a great job of tracking my finances and using cash to pay for everything. I recently got back from a Portland trip with my oldest. We did pretty well with budgeting.
I bought my tickets with points, and her flight was also free because I used my companion pass on her. For the hotel, I used my credit card but plan to pay it off. I didn’t want to use my debit card because they put a deposit hold on it. I plan on paying it off this pay period. The total hotel bill was $291 for two nights. We stayed at Hotel Lucia. You can read about my 3 Days In Portland blog here.
During our time in Portland, I spent a little over $200. This included food, tours, and souvenirs. My daughter and I split some of the food bill. In total, our Portland trip cost me $578.25, which isn’t bad for a weekend in another state. I also worked some overtime while we were out there during our downtime.
I made the mistake of not saving my receipts when I paid for things in cash. If I had receipts or documented what I used cash for right away, it would’ve been easier to see where my money went when I was tracking my budget in the spreadsheet I created.
I’m happy that I’ve been keeping up with using cash and tracking my spending. This will just continue to become a habit for me which I let go of long ago when I was better with my finances. I’m realizing now that this will be a part of my life and not temporary.
Before, I thought that once I got good with money, that was it. I did it and didn’t need to do anything else, no maintenance or education, I was done. However, I was so wrong because I needed to maintain this good habit I created, and financial education is a lifelong journey if we want to be successful.
So far this month, I brought in $4150. $3900 was from my first paycheck of the month minus taxes and 20% towards retirement. This also includes overtime, which will be stopping in March. I’m hoping this gets extended, but in the meantime, I’m trying to work OT as much as possible.
Money out for the month is $1610. This does not include my regular bills. I’ll do a breakdown of that later in the month.
I’m nervous about when OT will stop because it has been helping me significantly. I’m hoping to generate different streams of income by then. I am trying to consistently write blogs, but this is a long process and hasn’t generated any income yet. Recently, I got approved for display ads, which I am looking forward to. I understand that these steps to financial independence are not going to be easy, but I’m here for it.
The past couple of days, I’ve been feeling a little discouraged and down. The stats on my blogs have been pretty low (but slowly increasing, thankfully). I’ve been feeling unmotivated. However, I am trying my best to stay consistent and share my experience here as well as learning how to generate additional income.
Let me share what I’ve done so far contributing to my steps to financial independence. Honestly, this step too, has been somewhat discouraging. As you may be aware, I have been tracking my money coming in and going out. This was recommended by Tiffany Aliche, author of Get Good with Money.
To be honest, that’s as far as I got in my audiobook. I do suggest buying a hard copy of books like this. It makes it easier to go back and reference the steps she suggests taking.
Regarding tracking money coming in and out, I created a Google Spreadsheet outlining dates, merchants, and amounts. Money In has its own tab, as well as, Money Out. I also created another tab called Balance Sheet. Each month has its own tabs. For example, in February, I have already created three tabs. They are titled, February Money In, February Money Out, and February Balance Sheet.
The Balance Sheet is where I can go to add up, subtract, and keep track of my expenses and balances without compromising the other two sheets I created. I understand that there are many steps to financial independence. These are just some small steps I am currently taking.
I continue to take a look at my debt, and although I said I sold one of my investments to pay it off, I took that balance and put it into a savings account linked to my checking to avoid any more negative balances.
When I created my Balance Sheet, I felt overwhelmed, anxious, and depressed. I felt like there was no way out of my debt. I have to remind myself that I’m just at the starting line and that this is a marathon. The key to finishing is staying on the path and being committed.
I have to take deep breaths and also remember to take care of my physical health. When I don’t get enough sleep, get enough vitamins and fiber, or stay active, I can feel my mental health start to decline as well.
I committed myself to paying off one of my smaller loans first. The one I have beef with, as mentioned in this blog. I am sick of its high interest rate and recently found out they had an address in Florida on file for me. I live in California! They also don’t share any history past one year, and you have to pay for hard copies of statements.
I really dislike this loan. I plan to pay twice the minimum every month. Meaning I’ll pay the minimum every payday, which is twice a month. Any extra money I have, I’ll use it to pay towards that loan. If I stick to paying twice the minimum, I can get rid of this loan in 14 months.
Here are the current steps to financial independence that I am taking:
Track all money in
Track all money out
Pay only with cash
Balance my checking account every pay period
Continue to grow my financial literacy
Stay consistent and committed
I am also thinking of opening another checking account. I think this was also a suggestion made by Tiffany Aliche. I’m not positive since I’m listening to her audiobook. I was out walking and couldn’t take notes when I listened to that part of her recommendations. Trying to find that part I missed is kind of impossible since I didn’t save it in my audiobook.
The purpose of this additional checking account is to deposit money so I can use it to spend on items I want. This checking account will be different from the checking account I use to pay bills. I haven’t opened another one yet because I still want to track my finances and have a better idea of how much I can deposit into this additional checking account.
There you have it, my steps to financial independence. I know as I always mention, this is going to be a long journey, but I am staying committed to it no matter how I’m feeling.
I’m starting to have more days of discouragement and fear (recently, when I was balancing my finances) versus motivation and optimism. But I’m telling myself on those days that the feeling is temporary, and as long as I stay consistent, only positives will come out of it.
As always, thanks for reading.
Love, Sutivi.
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