My Personal Finance Journey
A lot of you might know my personal finance story by now, but if not, here’s the Cliff Notes version. I’ve taught in public schools for 18 years. During my first few years of teaching, my best friend and then-co-worker had her first child. That first year of motherhood was tough on her. She went back to the classroom when he was about 6 months old. However, because of some minor health problems, she was getting calls every week (sometimes a couple of times) that she had to be at the daycare within an hour to pick him up. (Because of her husband’s job, he was often out of town.) She was a super-conscientious teacher and she was about to loose it.
I decided watching her that year, that I was going to do everything I could to give myself options. I wanted to make sure that I could take some time off of teaching if every my family needed me. My first step was to pay off debt and make a habit of saving something every single month. Step 2 was to take charge of my income, which a lot of people think you can’t do as a teacher. However, through the years I did an MLM, sold real estate, and managed my own rentals. I knew that WANTING to make my family my first priority was a pipe dream unless I had the money to choose whether or not to work full time.
The Payoff
Well, it was worth it all. And not just one in my life, but twice so far. When my daughter was born and we had just relocated, I was able to stay home with her for an entire year. Then, just three years ago, it all got to be so much I thought I was going to blow a gasket. Three kids, two jobs, a side business, and lots of out-of-town travel for my husband. So my husband and I talked it over, and I resigned from full time teaching. I got to spend two whole years building a side business and enjoying the time before my two youngest started school. What a gift!
None of that would have been possible if our money was a mess. THAT is why I started this blog. I wanted other teachers to have the same options that I did to take care of themselves, their mental health, and their family.
Your Personal Finance Journey
Now, let’s get to the nitty-gritty. If improving your financial situation is important to you (and I hope it is), and you desperately want to have options in your life, it is incredibly simple (not necessarily easy) to do so. All you have to do is increase the gap between what you spend and what you make. And there are really only two ways to do that – if you are moving in the right direction.The first way is to increase what comes in and the other is to decrease what goes out.
Offense – Your income vs. Defense – Your expenses
Most personal finance blogs will focus on one of the other of those. Trent Hamm from “The Simple Dollar“, Dave Ramsey, and the frugality-focused blogs tend to hit that side of the equation hard. Some others, like Ramit Sethi’s “I will Teach you to be Rich” or Michelle Schoeder-Gardner’s “Making Sense of Cents” lean toward the other side of the equation and help you increase your income.
The truth is, neither one will get you where you want to be if you totally ignore the other. If you only make $12K a year, you’re not going to make progress no matter how frugal you are. On the other hand, we’ve all heard of celebrities who make an obscene amount of money and still – somehow – manage to go bankrupt. Of course, these are the extremes. But let’s not forget that even less obvious issues can really keep you from making progress.
With that said, I hope to cover both sides of the equation. We’ll talk a lot about some side-hustles and small businesses that can increase your income. (For some side hustles that bring in over $20/hour, check out my post on High-Dollar Side Hustles.) We’ll also talk about ways to decrease your spending. Some of you will relate more to reducing what you spend. Others will want to increase your income. But please, PLEASE don’t allow yourself to ignore either one long term. You might want to START with a single focus to help you make some quick progress. (For most people that would probably be cutting spending.) Once you’ve made some progress on that, though take a look at the other side, too.
My wish for you
My goal for every one of you would be to have a financial life the affords you options. To go to sleep at night knowing you can easily pay your bills, even if an emergency arises. To be able to shed some of the emotional baggage that surrounds personal finance. To feel confident and knowledgeable about your money.
During the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a Personal Finance 101 series. Based on Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps and my own personal finance journey it will cover the first steps to getting finances in order. For some of you, this might be too basic, but if money totally isn’t your thing, this is ALL about you. Leave whatever shame or embarrassment you have about past decisions at the door. (Well, there’s not really a door to a blog, but you get the idea, right?) Lao Tsu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Take that first step, and let’s go.