Blogging Away Debt Our Journeys to a Debt-Free Life

by Hope

As I am enjoying my weeks traveling and visiting with my family, I am starting to plan my next month money wise. Per my post earlier today, I have A LOT going on in my head as I try to envision the next few years of our lives both financially and life experience wise.  I am a big proponent of self-fulfilling prophecy, not that I think I’m all powerful, but that in order to accomplish something, envisioning it and planning for it and working toward it are key to success.

With that being said, I know the next month is going to be pretty tight financially as I have to:

1. Restock my cupboard as we were close to bare when we left and brought much of the remaining with us.
2. Prepare for additional travel next month (end of July.)
3. Equip my oldest son with everything he needs for his Navy Sea Cadet boot camp (hopefully he will make enough money to cover this, but I will pick up the tab if he is not able too.)

With this being said, I am VERY motivated to move this debt payoff along, so in addition to my regular contract work and part time job, I am looking for ways to increase my income.  I entertained the idea of going back into the corporate world, but after just a few short weeks back in part time, I KNOW that is not what I’m supposed to do on a full time basis.

So here are things I am considering:

1. Working more diligently on listing things on Etsy:  I have TONS of craft stuff as a scrapbooker and even before BAD, my year long goal was to use it up, get the scrapbooks updated and convert to digital rather than having all this stuff.  I could easily with some dedicated time create some sellable crafts, but haven’t really spent a lot of time on that as I’m sure really sure what kind of ROI I would get on my time.
2. Purging through donating: I am getting to the point that I HATE clutter, with a passion. If it’s not used, it should not be here is my philosophy.  As a result I’ve made great headway in cleaning things out of our home through donating.  While this wouldn’t net much money, it could lead to substantial tax write offs and there are definitely intrinsic values to not having so much stuff.
3. Project work: The one that comes most naturally is to attempt to find more work on an on-going or project basis.  Currently I’m contracted for 35 hours a week + 12 for my part time job so I could definitely take on 10 or so more hours with ease (much of my 35 hours is done in the wee hours of the night.

I would love to hear your ideas on this.  I know I can’t keep up my rate of work and intensity forever, especially with homeschooling the kids; however, this summer’s plan is pretty much set in place and with all I have in place for the kids, I am going to have more “free” time than I’ve ever had and I want to put it to good, productive use.

Note: Our home situation is significantly adding to my growing sense of urgency and with that my research into alternatives, but that will be discussed later this summer when I have a better idea of what my options look like.

Hope

Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.