Blogging Away Debt Our Journeys to a Debt-Free Life

by Hope

I recognize the whiplash of my thinking. My apologies for not responding to the individual comments. It’s been a really challenging month with “busy-ness”.

However, I did sit down this week and read through many of them during some quiet times of reflection. And I am so grateful that you as a community keep hounding me. I need it.

Big Change of Plans

I recognize that you all only see the smallest sliver of my life here. There is so much more to it. And it’s just as much of a roller coaster. As much as I love the “adventure” my life has been, you are very right that this time of stability has me struggling more than I do in times of high stress.

Sitting down to write about my failures was hard. But what is worse is that even in recognizing my biggest failure, I didn’t do anything about it.

I’m still spending down to the last penny every month. I have done NOTHING of significance to prevent the biggest challenges that I have faced over the last decade…a couple of times. By that I mean, losing my largest source of income and having no real cushion to tide me over.

Here I am in a season of feast. And while I am paying down debt. And getting things of importance accomplished. I am not focusing on resolving this, my biggest failure.

And failing to do this seriously contributes to my high level of anxiety, fear, and lack of self confidence. I have to change this NOW.

Priority Change

I realize that this blog is Blogging Away Debt. But I feel like it’s important to switch my focus for a few months. And I need to focus on Building a Significant Emergency Fund. The recommended $1,000 just doesn’t cut it.

And I’ve learned this the torturously hard way over the last decade. But I didn’t really learn, because I didn’t change.

I have to change now. This will allow me to be more confident that if something happens with my income, I have time to replace it. (Goal = Peace of Mind that I can’t remember the last time I had)

SAVINGS GOAL: $36,000

I came up with this number by adding my forecasted monthly output for the next months outside of my aggressive debt payments and current savings plan.

Meaning, if I lost the bulk of my income, this is what I would need to meet all financial obligations for 6 months. (With a bit of wiggle room since I used averages.)

So my thought is, instead of pushing to pay off debt. I push to save, thinking 5 months to hit this goal. Then turn my eye back to the aggressive debt payments.

Thoughts? And if this is a good idea, what is the best place to put the bulk of this savings? I’m assuming high yield savings, recommendations? This is a I’m asking post, not telling. Guidance requested.

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.