Life Rehab in Motion — How I Lived on a Shoestring Budget — Part 3
After I settled into my new life as a 30-something, single dog mom living with her parents, the reality of my situation began to sink in. Was I really doing this? Was I really living with my parents and giving up the beautiful, hard-earned freedom that I thought I once had (Insert freaked-out-face emoticon)? Am I really going to have weekly meetings with my parents to go over my budget and literally have to run every single penny by them before I spent it? Why, YES, that is EXACTLY what I was doing! It was this very honest, painful, and humbling process that got me to where I am today; debt-free and actually saving and investing for retirement!
My new life was simple: going to work, helping my parents, learning how to manage my money wisely, and stay on a budget. What is a budget, you ask? According to Merriam-Webster, a budget is defined as a plan for the coordination of resources and expenditures. I prefer to define it as a written plan of how resources will be allocated within a certain income level in order to both successfully pay for current expenditures and to save for future needs. In addition, when this plan is followed correctly, it will be the single best way to achieve ANY financial goal. Think of it as a step by step, CLEARLY DEFINED road map to financial success.
Budgeting was a HUGE factor that helped me become debt-free but it is only ONE factor. In upcoming articles, I will discuss other key factors that helped me on the journey to becoming debt-free.
This is part three of seven that outlines exactly how I paid off $25K in debt in less than a year and a half and as a single woman who was working a minimum wage job.
