Simply a Matter of Time
I’ve been budgeting and working my way out of debt for nearly 5 years now. A major lesson that I’ve learned, and one that I try teach to all of my clients, is that some things are simply a matter of time.
You can manage money better than 95% of this country by living on less than you make, controlling your spending, and paying extra towards debt every month, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get out of debt (or accomplish whatever goal you’re after) within 1 or 2 years – if you’re really cool, like me, it might even take 5 or more!
In our fast-paced, never rest, instant gratification world, anything taking longer than 5 minutes is out of the question. So sacrificing for 2 years (or more) is a daunting thought, and that’s really why people want no part of managing money well, building wealth, or working to get out of debt.
Regardless how long things take, all that matters is you do your best, take care of what little you can control, focus on making progress every day and month, and the rest will take care of itself…it’s simply a matter of time.
Less IS More
The less that unexpectedly happens to us each month, the better we’re able to progress.
That may be obvious, but with the way we budget, we literally plan and prepare for EVERYTHING that happens in a year. So unexpected for us is much different than it is for most people. For instance, Christmas presents are an expected expense. The same goes for car repairs, personal property tax, semi-annual life insurance premiums, etc.
I will get into this in next month’s post when I review our progress for the year, but Holly and I have had a pretty rough year as far as finances are concerned (for our standards). We’ve been hit with numerous unexpected expenses and it has really stalled our progress.
However, November was a relatively quiet month for us, and because of that we were able to take some great steps forward!
We only paid off $163 of debt this month, but we were able to save an additional $850 more than we normally do. On top of that we were able to pay two medical bills that weren’t really planned for.
While we would prefer to pay down more on the debt, our current focus is paying cash for a car here in the next couple of months. So until that happens the majority of our disposable income will be going towards that.
Lastly, for the month we stayed within our budget by about $50, and the only other money that came out of savings were expected expenses: a 6-month car insurance premium, our annual personal property taxes for our vehicles, and another wonderful car repair bill.
The Big Struggle
As most people know, there was some annual spend-all-of-your-money and go-into-debt day during November. Some people call it Black Friday. I call it stupid.
While I typically have no interest in going out on that day, we decided to look through some of the ads and look for a few deals.
Well, I’ve REEEALLLLYYYY been wanting a new TV this past year, and if you’re going to get a bargain there really isn’t a better time to shop then on our annual go-into-debt day.
As FATE would have it, we found a good deal at Sears for a 55″, LED Samsung TV. So we went.
As we pulled into the parking spot at the mall, we noticed the guy parked next to us was loading up his brand new 60″ Samsung.
I needed no other sign: this was meant to be!
We went in. We looked.
We stared for about 15 minutes. It was just sitting there in all of its glory. Bright, shiny, crisp colors. Internet capable. 3D.
In all seriousness, the Tigers are very good this year and I won’t be surprised if the Jayhawks lose a game (or two) to them.
We smiled at each other, both knowing what the end result would be.
I’d like to believe that I was close to making one irrational decision…a rarity as far as spending money is concerned over the last 5 years.
But we left.
Dang me and my discipline! I was so close!
My day will come though…it’s simply a matter of time.
Without further ado, here are the rest of the charts:
About Jason
Follow Me!