On July 14, 2019, my life changed drastically.
My mom was rushed to the hospital where she later passed away from a stroke and pulmonary embolism. She didn’t have any life insurance or savings and neither did I. That’s when it hit me, that I was broke!
I had been at the United States Postal Services for almost four years as City Carrier Assistant for two years and as a Regular City Carrier for a year. As a regular, I was eligible for benefits like a thrift savings plan, retirement funds, medical, dental, and life insurance, and some other postal benefits but I had no money in my personal savings account. I was literally living paycheck to paycheck.
At the end of the year, I pulled my credit report and saw that I was in over $60,000 in debt. That was more than my salary at the time. Knowing that, had me embarrassed and stressed out. I needed to figure out what I could do to make some extra money so that I could pay down this debt. Google became my best friend. I searched for different ways I could get out of debt and make money online and came across Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey taught me about budgeting and the 7 baby steps. I followed this method for a while until the pandemic started. I didn’t feel comfortable with only $1000 in my savings account, so I stopped with the Dave Ramsey plan and started my own plan. My plan was to save at least two to three months of bills and expenses while paying off debt. So, that’s exactly what I did!
Two years later, I manage to pay off all of my debt except for my student loans, build an emergency fund of three months of bills and expenses, invest 5% of my paycheck into a thrift savings account, build a retirement savings account, and purchase shares of stocks in companies that I use and love, like Nike.
After a few months of paying off my credit cards, I noticed that me not using them wasn’t doing anything for my credit score, so I’ve started back using them and paying them down every month. This has been helping me increase my credit score and hopefully one day I can use that credit score to purchase my first investment property. Stay tuned.
Check out this video of my debt confession on youtube: Click here to watch
Check out these books that taught me about money management: Click here
If you are looking for a simple way to get organized with your finances, then my budget workbook would be perfect for you. Click here