It's been a while... What Covid has done to my finances

 Spoiler- It's not been pretty. But, like anything, renewal and rebirth is always possible. I know a lot of people make New Year's resolutions, but this year, I am making a pre-New Year's resolution. I am working all this month (when work is extra slow and everyone has given up on 2020 completely) on setting myself up for success financially next year. I am 33 years old (YIKES) and it's about time that I start acting like an actual adult. Here are some of the reasons why I need to have this planning month - because psychological and emotional reasons still drive a lot of my spending habits: 

1. Eating out and with delivery services. Literally so much money. DELETED all delivery apps and started meal planning and shopping at the grocery store with my coupon strategy. Spoiler - I did this the other day and saved 52 dollars and ate the food all week for the price of 3 meal deliveries.  

2. Consuming WAY too much TV and the ads, OH THE ADS. I cancelled our cable today and switched to ad-free Hulu TV. Still ads, but $50 cheaper/ month. And the kicker: NO AT&T.

3. My mortal enemy: Buy now, pay later. Literally the bane of my existence in the last 6 months. It's cute when you order all of those things and pay in 2 week or month increments, but when all of those bills start hitting at once, those add up QUICKLY. No item is worth financing when you're broke. Please, take my word for it. The solution here is to stop shopping online for frivolous things. Also- I ended up going through my closet, with my friend Pinot Noir, and donating 4 boxes of items to givebackbox.com. There are so many other charities, but this was so easy and recycled several of the cardboard boxes from my previous shopping crimes. LOL. They give full tax receipts and send free shipping labels. SO EASY. 

4. My Amex literally has had a revolving $3500 balance. It took some guts to look though the charges- I bet you can guess what all of those were :) 

5. "I will start this tomorrow". Ummmm start today. There is no excuse not to. OK BYE. 


Between all of those things getting resolved this month, at the end of next month, I will be able to SAVE $2450 dollars. Just by behaving for 3 days. After that, I can save over 3k/ month. Granted, I am blessed to have a very good income- I have just made AWFUL decisions up to this point. 

My point with this post is not only to tell you that there is no time to waste in getting yourself out of the woods and to a better financial place. In the meantime, though, Remember these things: 

1. Be patient. Nothing financially good (unless you are very lucky) comes overnight. You may have to go without life's little luxuries for a few months, but imagine the freedom you'll find at the end of that tunnel. 

2. Be kind to yourself and don't let others pressure or talk down to you because of your situation. Guess what? Money does not define you. YOU DEFINE YOU. No one is perfect and everyone has struggles. If yours is financial, IT IS OK. You will be OK. 

3. Give yourself a pat on the back for wanting to fix it. You are doing this to empower yourself in YOUR life. There's really no other relevant reason that should matter to you. 

4. Drop dead weight. If something or someone is holding you down, let them go. It will literally improve your mindset and confidence immediately. 

5. If you haven't worn or used it in the last 6 months, LET IT GO. 


This post was all over the place, but as always, so am I. Let love and light fill your heart and live YOUR truth. People will hate, but who really cares. 

XOXO


 

Comments

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