give thanks.

quince

give thanks.

Fall 2018

Debt Check – 100%

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Hey Everyone.

As a heads up, this is going to be a LOADED post.

No excuses this time. I was supposed to write this back in September, but I honestly didn't feel debt free LOL. I didn't feel any different once I walked into the bank on Friday, September 7, 2018 at 3:58pm and made the final payment on my 2013 Honda Accord Sport aka The Black Pearl (Spoiler Alert...May She Rest In Peace. Story Below.) I felt broke. I felt like I still hadn't "won with money". I felt like it wasn't worth all the sacrifices over the last 2 or so years. I was waiting on a magical moment where the heavens would open up and sing to me that I was amazing and just so inspiring.... *Reality Check* - It didn't happen. Nothing happened.

With that said, I forged on for the next couple months in the same fashion, budgeting every month, not spending money on anything outside of the necessities (food, housing, utilities, basic clothing and transportation), waiting to feel that special moment where I could have a BIG monthly allowance to spend on whatever I wanted (within reason). The moment when there was NO guilt behind any of my purchases; past, present or future.

So to celebrate my accomplish and put this notion to the test, I threw my mom (read: ME) a 60th birthday party to celebrate her life and in a way celebrate me becoming debt-free. I was on a high that I couldn't explain. Not arrogant, but proud of myself nonetheless. I had this big elaborate plan to throw my mom a party and surprise her with a trip to Las Vegas the next day. We were gonna party with all her closest friends and family and then during my toast, I was gonna exclaim for her to pack her bags because we were leaving for Vegas the next day!! Let me just say that it's funny how life will find a way to humble you REAL QUICK.

My mom's party and birthday was on Friday; the Vegas trip was Saturday to Wednesday. On the Monday evening before the party, I was in a major car accident. Pearl was totaled and I hit my head on the steering wheel during the impact causing a concussion. In the blink of an eye, my life was turned upside down. I was supposed to be celebrating my mother in 4 days and instead I was laid up in the Emergency Room trying to convince my mother and myself (but mainly myself) that everything was okay and life would continue as planned. In my mind, I would take Tuesday off and be back to work on Wednesday. If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

The adrenaline from the accident wore off the next day and those concussion symptoms were on another level. My brain was not having it. I struggled with basic tasks and was extremely fatigued all the time. A trip to the grocery store would wipe me out. I just couldn't operate at the same speed that I had been for the last few years. I couldn't drive or focus on anything. So much so that I was back in the ER that Friday (day of the party) because of the pain. Imagine my distress when I had to admit to my mom on the morning of her 60th birthday that I was in the ER. Ya'll, the guilt alone from that conversation would have been enough to push me into depression. Add on top of that the following:

- Having to cancel the trip to Vegas (and losing a bunch of money) because I couldn't fly with a concussion;

- Having to tell my mom the trip was cancelled AFTER she packed her suitcase;

- Not being able to work at my full time job and not knowing when I can go back;

- Losing the opportunity to secure my promotion to manager. Before the accident, I was managing my first client from start to finish to show that I was ready for promotion;

- Having to COMPLETELY stop teaching Zumba (my therapy to combat depression and anxiety) and all major physical activity until the New Year;

- Losing the opportunity to apply for the coveted "ZJ" position within Zumba because no major physical activity is allowed until after the application deadline;

- Losing my dog Graham a week before the accident while out of town at the client site. I wasn't able to be there when it was time for him to go to heaven so I know I still haven't properly grieved him; and

- Losing my car! It hadn't even been 2 months since I paid it off.

I went from the BEST summer of my life to the worst fall of my life. I'm actually still struggling with depression from all these events. I now have to buy a car and potentially have a note again! WTF. Of course it will be used, but for anyone who has ever had their car totaled, you know they never give you enough to actually replace your vehicle. So now I'm carless and frustrated that I have to figure out how I'm going to do all this without going back into debt. Do I buy a piece of crap and then trade up in a few months when I've saved a few dollars for my beloved Honda obsession? Do I get a used Honda now and get a note for a year? I know one thing, I, for SURE, ain't buying another new car again.

But I know you all didn't come here to read about all that so let me get to answering your questions on how I completed my debt-free journey.

First let's start with the good, the bad, and the ugly...

The Good: Overall, having structure was the best part of this journey. I had a finite goal and a detailed plan to reach it. This journey required me to develop a ridiculous amount of discipline and determination. I learned a lot about what I was willing to sacrifice to reach the goal and what I wasn't willing to give up.

I was okay with stopping the shoe purchases and the spontaneous trips every single month. These purchases became planned and carefully calculated to fit within the budget. A good friend and travel buddy of mine was always there to book a flight in case I saw a great deal, but the difference this time was I had to financially plan the entire trip within 24 hours or I would cancel it. If I couldn't sit down with my budget, after booking the ticket to make it make sense financially, the trip wasn't going to happen. And the best part about this was if you cancel any ticket within 24 hours that originates from the US, you *will* receive a complete refund per the FAA regulations. (Make sure you read the fine print though...some airlines allow a 24 hour hold versus a 24 hour risk free cancellation.) My mindset changed from do it now and pay for it later to pay for it now and enjoy it later.

But the one thing I wasn't willing to give up was FOOD. Period. I was not about to be sacrificing everything else and not eat out. Yes I cook, but I hate leftovers and I hate meal prep. I don't want to eat the same thing every day. I even tried hiring someone to meal prep for me. I couldn't do it. I mean the food was really good but mentally I just can't do leftovers after one day. 24 hours to eat it or it gets thrown out. Add in the fact that I work longggggggg hours and 7 days a week, I don't have the time to cook every night. After working 2 jobs in one day, I'm not about to attempt to do anything in the kitchen. I don't like cooking and I'm not going to force myself to do something I don't enjoy when I don't have to and I'm already giving up other things I love plus working 12 hour days. Nope. Not happening.

The Bad: I can't tell you how many times I wanted to quit this journey and just live my life. I kept seeing people's highlight reel on Social Media.... Vacation this.... VIP that.... Let's not forget all the home purchases...It was so depressing. Here I am with a VERY good job and I haven't been anywhere or done anything fun in the past 2 years! An exaggeration considering I had traveled for work and had pockets of fun. But a true bonafide vacation or splurge just hadn't happened in 24 months and I was MISERABLE. After the student loans were paid, I strongly considered giving up this notion of being completely debt free because I had already accomplished something that not many people had done and I had done it BEFORE I turned 30 while on a single income. Don't get me wrong, I had a LOT of help along the way from my family by renting a room from them to save on housing costs in the DMV area. Ya'll know how it gets with these crazy prices. Plus the thought of buying a house was basically like it's more debt so why not just enjoy life now. Not to mention the original plan was to be done in 18 months not 2.5 years! I was so done with the road blocks and having to "reset" after life kept giving me lemons. I don't know what made me keep going. Honestly, it was probably the fact that I knew if I "slipped up" that it would only add to the time it would take for me to finish paying everything. I credit my little sister for keeping me grounded when I wanted to quit. BB I love you!

The Ugly: Mannnnnn I gained so much weight during this journey. I refused to make any concessions when it came to food. If I wanted ice cream, I ate ice cream. If I wanted pasta, I ate pasta. I figured if I'm miserable in every other aspect of my life, at least there's food to cheer me up. Ya'll, don't do this. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to grab the reigns on this out of control eating I have going on right now. Now I gotta pay for a trainer and eat like a bird just to lose a few pounds and I am NOT here for any of it. You can see by now that I don't do things half-heartedly so I guess I'm just going to trade one misery for another.

Q&A TIME!!!!!

Question: Why did you decide to become debt-free?

Answer: When I first considered this goal, I was living in a 2 bedroom apartment with my line sister. I was depressed, miserable, and unfulfilled with my life. My job was the culprit. I had spent 4 years of undergrad, 2 years of grad, and 1 year of CPA studying to be set for the world of accounting. And honestly, once I finished everything, I HATED my job. I hated everything about it. But I couldn't leave the industry free and clear with all these loans related to accounting. It would be a constant reminder of the major life mistake I had made by choosing the field of accounting. So I said, Teonna - pay off the loans, then do some soul searching to find your passion and change career paths. So that's what I did. I sat on the couch in the living room and created the most DETAILED excel spreadsheet I had ever seen. It listed all my debts one by one and had sections for monthly payments, interest, and monthly balances. I did some soul searching and found my passion, then interestingly enough, I changed companies and I'm actually kinda liking accounting again. It's weird because 3 years ago I was legit ready to risk it all to join the circus and then the circus said "Nah." It's weird how I discovered what I need to be happy during this journey. And it has nothing to do with an industry. Your job isn't there to fulfill you. You're there to fulfill it. Start with you and then no matter what you do, you can be happy.

Question: How did you do it? Did you Dave-Ramsey it?

Answer: To put it plainly, yes I Dave Ramsey'd it. I created a monthly budget using his zero based budget and then I created a Debt Snowball excel spreadsheet that would allow me to work on one debt at a time. I stuck to a monthly budget and started working 7 days a week to make extra money. I had a garage sale and sold as much stuff as I could. Basically, I became a maniac to pay off the debt.

Question: What side hustles did you have to become debt-free?

Answer: I became an online sales chat representative through Needle.com, an online accounting tutor through Tutor.com, I worked retail jobs on the evening and weekends, and I also tried to be an errand runner through TaskRabbit.com. I taught an insane amount of fitness classes including private birthday parties which is actually pretty lucrative! I didn't do every side hustle all at once. I tried them all then ultimately ended up sticking with teaching fitness classes.

Question: Did you use 100% of your side hustles towards your debt?

Answer: No; it was actually the opposite. I used the side hustle money to live and the CPA money for the bills and debt.

Question: How difficult was your journey? Did you eat PB&J sandwiches for lunch everyday?

Answer: It was difficult, but mainly because it was longer than anticipated. There's nothing worse than having your mind set on a certain amount of time to reach a goal then having to extend it over and over again. It feels like your plans aren't working and that you aren't really making progress because you didn't meet your own expectations. I probably could have finished this way sooner if I didn't eat out all the time. And it wasn't like I didn't see the money I was spending on food. I budgeted every dollar, but I just wasn't willing to give that up. I cut back on it sure, considering I wasn't eating steak and lobster every day, but I was definitely eating $10 worth of California Tortilla tacos every day. Seriously, I ate out for lunch like EVERY DAY. I can count on my fingers the amount of times I actually brought my lunch to work. I mean I like PB&J but I like CalTor WAYYYYYY better. It's so bad the manager knows me and my order.

Question: How did you maintain your budget? How strict was it and what did you cut out?

Answer: I maintained my budget by constantly resetting whenever I slipped up. I didn't and don't have a perfect budget. Things come up. But I knew that if I messed up, I needed to fix it right away. The best way to get out of a hole is to first stop digging. Me resetting my budget whenever I broke it was the equivalent of me putting down the shovel. It was strict in the way that I gave myself a set allowance and said "That's It!", but it honestly never really worked LOL. I would blow through my allowance on food and have to figure out how to squeeze a few more dollars from some other category. I always pulled from the entertainment category which is probably why I never went anywhere or did anything...

Question: What advice do you have for someone who wants to become debt-free too?

Answer: Remember why you're doing it and reward yourself along the way. Celebrate the little milestones and find different ways to stay motivated. I used construction paper and chain links to visualize the debt. Each link was representative of a certain dollar amount. Every time I made a payment, I would remove the corresponding link until they were all gone.

Question: What's next?

Answer: Well I have to buy a car so probably that first. Then I'm going to save and buy a MacBook Pro. I also have some trips planned for 2019. Kenya and South Africa are on the list. Plus I'm turning 30 so I'll probably plan a Spa Day for myself and a birthday trip somewhere. Oh yea, at some point I'll probably buy a condo or a townhouse. Who knows?

There you have it. That's how I paid off upwards of ~$60,000 in 2.5 years and ~80,000 overall.

I'll continue to write this blog because there are other financial goals I want to reach. I'll likely have a post about my car-buying experience and another about life after debt.

Until next time,

Teonna