Hey everyone, Long time no chat or update. First things first. I am still about 100K in debt. The one thing I have learned over my past 3 years is that it is tough to stay disciplined. Here are the major obstacles I have faced
1. I had a great job and then laid off.
When I first started this blog I was making about 75k a year. I was able to get a better job in 2022 and I started making 120k a year. I was overjoyed and emotional and life was good. However, instead of working on my debt, I was investing in different ways to make more money. The issue was, I would buy stuff I didn’t need, didn’t have a passion for or really had no clue what I was buying. Shiny object syndrome is very very real! When I was laid off in August of 2023, I was like OH CRAP. I did get a severance and I did get some unemployment and that helped a ton. However I was out of work for 5 months and that took it’s toll. Not only mentally but emotionally as well.
2. Debt and high interest keeps you on the debt treadmill and is very unforgiving.
I have never been scared of debt. I understand it and try to make it work in my favor. However, that is never something that has worked for me. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, moving things around and consolidating things just doesn’t work. It can, but it didn’t for me.
3. Moving to try and save money.
I had a few things that were not in my favor in my last living arrangement. I lived in a basement with no kitchen. So I ate out of the house a lot. Not only is that bad for my health, it is bad for my checkbook. I also had a 3 day a week commute over the past year. Not crazy, but still driving and gas adds up and then I also used a doggy day care. I moved to help fix these expenses that I was not as excited about any longer and 2 months in, so far so good.
4. My vehicle is a money pit.
The good news, I did pay off my vehicle this year. I was paying 300 a month in payments. Paid it off in about 4 years or so. However, over the past year, It has cost me 10,000 dollars to get a new transmission, new tipm unit, air conditioning fix and new ties. Needless to say, it’s been quite the money pit!! I did take on a little more debt because of that however for the most part I have been able to pay for all of that. Only negative is, it doesn’t help getting my debt down!
So where are we at technically?
I am about 93K in total debt. I rent a house so no mortgage or car payments currently. I have been working on a cash flow budget and that really has seemed to help me over the past 6 months. I also consolidated a bunch of accounts. I had money spread around and now I have 2 main accounts. 1 Business and 1 Personal
I have also been blessed to have a lot of DJ shows (one of my businesses is a mobile DJ company) and that has helped with my vehicle and moving expenses.
I currently have 15 active debts. All close to maxed out but I am not missing any payments. My day job is 105k and my DJ service is having a great year. I am still looking for a homerun with online marketing and will be doing some promotions soon.
Overall, I am happy, relatively healthy and focused on getting out of debt over the next 3-5 years. It is possible and I will make it happen. Feel free to join me on this journey and I promise to share and support you as I keep moving forward.
Thanks for reaching and as always…let me know if you see this. I feel like I am talking to no one some days! 😉
B
that guy in debt
