Seeing that I will be turning 34 on Friday plus the fact that I have been listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio as I drive to work, I have decided that I need to get my "financial act" together. I have wasted a good portion of my life in debt and unless I change my ways, the remainder of my life will be spent in debt as well. If you have read my bio, then you will know that I struggle with depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. Over the last few years, my ocd has gotten me into a lot of financial trouble. The ocd cycle will start out with me going on a wild spending spree as soon as I got paid. After I spent my money I would have no money to pay legitimate bills. That lead me to using payday loans. That, in itself, is a big mistake. After a number of times doing this, I find myself in a situation in which I can't easily get a bank account because I am in the chex system. Last year, even though I could have gotten a checking account through Compass Bank, I chose not to. I decided to deposit my paychecks into a a deposit only account (Account Now) so it would discourage me from taking out payday loans. The one good thing about Account Now is that I can't overspend and overdraft my account. When I had a banking account, I found it very difficult to stay in the black. I was always ending up in the red because of the overspending. With my constantly having to pay overdraft charges I never had the money to pay all my bills which lead to payday loans.
As I listen to Dave on the way to work, I find myself wanting to change my life. My life could be better. I could be happier and for the most part worry free. During the last two or three weeks I have decided that I have had enough and that things need to change. So the first thing I decided to do was to save my change I got from every transaction. I have a jar at home in which I save all coins. Maybe if I start out small, then maybe I can gradually build myself up to bigger things such as saving dollar bills along with the coins. Right now, I have quite a few bills that I must tackle and don't exactly feel comfortable in saving the dollar bills yet.
Broke and Getting Old
May 1st, 2007 at 04:06 pm
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May 2nd, 2007 at 02:53 pm 1178117582
I have always had the worst trouble ever saving money and I'm older than you. One year ago I made just 1 small change in the way I handle money but it has been a huge help for my peace of mind. Here it is:
When I cash my $100 monthly check, the very first thing I do is to buy 2 rolls of quarters. 1: I'm "paying myself first, 2: I'm actually saving on a monthly basis because personally I detest spending coins;therefore those two rolls of quarters make their way home and into my home EF. I could count on one hand the number of times I've been broke at the end of the month now, and having money stashed back in this form saved my cat's life 3 weeks ago when he was shot in the face with a .22 short and had to be rushed to the vet's on April 2nd. I was able to pull $40 in quarters to give them, and my SO paid the reamining $210 the next day when he received his check.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving this a try. If $20 is too much to start with, try $10 or even $5. Even small amounts saved on a regular basis really do add up, and takes away a lot of mental and emotional stress, knowing that you have become pro active about finances. Sending you my best thoughts and wishes.
May 2nd, 2007 at 04:56 pm 1178125004
I wish you many financial blessings as a result of being here!
May 3rd, 2007 at 03:33 pm 1178206438
May 4th, 2007 at 04:17 pm 1178295445
I wish you well.