Financial Challenges Support Group
This community is for people who are struggling to meet financial obligations of any kind. Financial challenges include everything from the day-to-day challenges of making ends meet to managing credit card debt to bankruptcy. Get support from others who are going through similar obstacles on the road back to financial stability.
So I am bad with money. There it's out in the open. I suck at budgeting, I'm an impulse purchaser and I have allowed others to take care of me for a very long time. I'm a screwed up individual with low motivation to take care of myself. And now I'm having to pull up my big girl pants and suck it up and figure it out. I lived with my mother almost all of my life. And I'll be 44 next month. It's ridiculous even reading it as I type I know it's ridiculous. But there it is. I took care of her the last 10 years of her last 11 years. I used that as a reason that it was ok that I was living in her house, with barely any bills and no reason to save. And now I'm starting over, again. I moved out when she moved to the nursing home cause our house was falling apart and the money used to take care of it was going to the nursing home. I got a roommate, by luck, and got a good apartment with a 13 month lease and relaxed. I paid the bills, sometimes late and without always having input from my roommate but it got done. And I procrastinated when I found out he was moving in with his girlfriend elsewhere. And I waited, and then my mother passed away and I shut down for awhile and finally I couldn't wait anymore and I researched and I discovered that on my own I was up s***'s creek without a paddle. Now I am faced with the understanding that at almost 44 I am living as a 20 something and am starting all over all over again. Someday, I keep saying someday I'll have a good job and I'll have a nice place and I'll be independent. Someday is further and further away and now I know that my someday is going to have to wait until I fix the wreck that my life has become and pull my big girl panties up and suck it up and make the decisions that will bring my someday closer.
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So mad at Xfinity! They're trying to charge me $115 per month for the same service I had been paying $50 the last four years. I took the equipment to UPS for shipping and cancelled my subscription today! Next door was a cookie shop called Crumbl. I had heard of it before but never went in until today. I don't need one more sugar fix, but maybe it will help with my sad) grieving heart....$15...
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I know this is stupid, but after not being able to find a job after graduation for almost two years, I ended up just taking an online teaching job because I couldn't find anything in my field. I was trying to get out of teaching and I feel so devastated. I felt this crushing feeling when I signed the paperwork and when I was in the meetings. I know that sounds so dramatic but it is how I felt. It...
The hard part, at least for me, was that it can be so overwhelming. To honestly look at all the debts and come up with a plan to pay them off.
After you start though the feeling of being in control quickly comes and with each debt paid, more pride and self-worth return.
I didn't start my dreams of getting out of debt until I was 52, so you are still very young and can do it.
Is it easy? No, not at all, but in the long run it is so worth it...
Recording your spending and income to the penny is paramount when seeing exactly where your Money is coming and going.
We start when and where we start. The important thing is to start.
There are several options available to you. The first is a consumer credit counseling service that may help you to come up with a financial plan. Dave Ramsey is another source. Debtors Anonymous or Underearners Anonymous are 12 step groups that can be helpful.
I am 58 years old, and I think that I am just getting started. I made 2016 the year I get our of debt and I think it will happen.
It is so karma like that you post because I just recently realized that I have a childish way of looking at finances. I always need someone else's permission or approval to spend money and if I don't have it, then I cannot plan how to spend my money so I don't plan or don't follow my plan.. Talk about childlike...
But I am so glad for that realization because now I can move forward to a better way of life.
I have found a lot of help from a book entitled "The Financial Wisdom of Ebeneezer Scrooge" and I highly recommend it to you.
Taking care of your mother was a very kind, generous, and loving act and you will forever be thankful that you did that for her. But, because it occupied your life for so long, you were left with an emptiness, I suspect. What to do after that loss? We only get one mom and one dad and when that loss happens is very hard to deal with. Grieving takes awhile and it perhaps manifested in your financial life. So, like Messenger said, don't beat up on yourself.
You are fine just as you are but it sounds to me like you want to make some changes so go forth and do just that.
It is good that you posted here and I suggest that you decide upon just one change and that you do that one change daily.
Keeping records of every bit of money that you spend and earn is a very helpful tool. It shows you were your money is coming from and where it is going. Do it faithfully for one month without judgement and you will be amazed.
Spend every dollar you have on paper and ear mark it so that it has a place to belong.
I am in kindergarten when it comes to money management. So, stay here, share, and we shall grow up together.
Donna