I went on a four day vacation with my girlfriend to Chicago two weeks ago, and realized not only how much I was spending there (I justified this by saying I was on vacation, and also our hotel room was free), but how much I would spend on random stuff in general just in my normal life. So while I made a post and was working on lowering my bills, my real problem has always been discretionary spending.
Since I got back from the trip, I've made a commitment to spend as little as possible outside of my normal bills. This has amounted to eating out once (admittedly this happened before I really committed), going out to the bar once (I only spent $20) and making one Amazon purchase of "new necessities".
Today I received my paycheck and I was able to pay the statement balance on my credit card, put my planned amount towards my emergency fund and finally start funding my brokerage account (I've had it for a year and never used it!). AND I have some money left over, too, to securely fund my checking account in case of any emergencies!
If I keep this up, I'll have my emergency fund (6-10 months expenses) finished and have my credit card paid off in its entirety by Thanksgiving! After that I'll be able to put all of my money towards investing and saving for any future plans (schooling, moving, traveling, etc.).
This feeling is way better than all the stupid little sodas and coffees I used to waste my money on. I also used to say "I don't have anything to bring to work for lunch, I'll just go to Subway" somewhat often, whereas now I'm tearing my kitchen apart to put together a lunch if necessary haha.
I think this weekend I'm going to go over my credit card expenses so I can better predict how my balance fluctuates and have a more concrete plan in place to get it paid off and get my emergency fund saved up even faster.
I'm traveling for work for 10 days in October so a third of that month will be covered by the company. It will definitely help!
Since I got back from the trip, I've made a commitment to spend as little as possible outside of my normal bills. This has amounted to eating out once (admittedly this happened before I really committed), going out to the bar once (I only spent $20) and making one Amazon purchase of "new necessities".
Today I received my paycheck and I was able to pay the statement balance on my credit card, put my planned amount towards my emergency fund and finally start funding my brokerage account (I've had it for a year and never used it!). AND I have some money left over, too, to securely fund my checking account in case of any emergencies!
If I keep this up, I'll have my emergency fund (6-10 months expenses) finished and have my credit card paid off in its entirety by Thanksgiving! After that I'll be able to put all of my money towards investing and saving for any future plans (schooling, moving, traveling, etc.).
This feeling is way better than all the stupid little sodas and coffees I used to waste my money on. I also used to say "I don't have anything to bring to work for lunch, I'll just go to Subway" somewhat often, whereas now I'm tearing my kitchen apart to put together a lunch if necessary haha.
I think this weekend I'm going to go over my credit card expenses so I can better predict how my balance fluctuates and have a more concrete plan in place to get it paid off and get my emergency fund saved up even faster.
I'm traveling for work for 10 days in October so a third of that month will be covered by the company. It will definitely help!