Hi Friends,
I haven't been around here for a while but I'm back and soaking up your inspiration.
5 months ago I did something radical, I decided to live on a BUDGET. Holy cow, it has made a world of difference. Complete with cash envelop system. And regular YouTube videos if you're curious about the deets:
https://www.youtube.com/user/AKileyful/videos?view_as=subscriberI went from paying about $400/month towards my debt to over $2,000. I've paid down $14,000 of 36,000 in debt in 5 months, and I'm on track to pay it all off by my January 2019 goal date (if I keep my hustle on high). The YouTube updates have really helped me stay accountable. Because I don't want to embarrass myself by suddenly having a bad month for all to see.
Because I teach yoga & meditation for a living my income is highly variable, but I have found that since I committed to getting out of debt FAST, I have been more motivated to create more teaching/earning opportunities, and the world has definitely responded with new private clients, classes, workshops, even some more prestigious stuff like teaching at Yale and going to London to do a talk this May.
Perhaps the thing I'm proudest of is just realizing that I am actually a total financial nerd. And letting myself just be that. I love to try to save $2 here and there... Limit going out to eat... Avoid silly little luxuries. My only gripe is that I want it all to move FASTER. It's so fun when I have that moment of getting to submit payment to my debt at the beginning of the month. Then I have to wait a WHOLE OTHER month to do it again. Sigh.
Small wins:
Switched from Verizon cell service to MetroPCS, $80/mo to $40/mo.
Negotiated lower home internet and lower newsletter service.
Dropped subscriptions like Netflix and HBO and haven't died of boredom.
Pre-plan all trips to find best possible deals on AirBnB, grocery planning, etc.
Okay then, that's all. I hope I have a lot more to celebrate in months to come. Thanks for being badass.
xoxo
