Bless Yourself, Change Course

There's a very simple solution

I woke up this morning with a desire to be in Chicago.  It's a vast land of opportunity, leisure, some of the best cuisine, and unbeatable scenery.  Since I'm not shining bright like a diamond in the financial realm, it was time to bust out the cellular and glance at my bank ledger.

New blog post about #Budgeting
"If the results aren't desired, your habits must be re-wired"- Me

— Ty Swank (@tswank99) August 2, 2016

 

Upon clicking on the banking mobile app, I held my breath in anticipation. The dollar amount seemed accurate but the figure wasn't very impressive, so this was a perfect opportunity to explore debits and credits (yay accounting).  It's looking like the backyard will have to suffice for the time being.

It took all of five minutes to find out that I had spent nearly $600 on miscellaneous purchases within the last 2 months. (Miscellaneous items are outside of the necessities such as rent, groceries, phone bill, etc.) None of these purchases were pricey items like a television or a new MacBook Pro either, so where did all that money go?

• eating out
• vending machine money for work
• gum
• Sobe LifeWater
• festivities
• shopping at thrift stores and Dollar General

Although in theory most of this could be relatively affordable to an impoverished person, I'm apparently lacking self control in the financial department because these things are expensive for my taste.  I go hard.

With this new found knowledge of a self-diagnosed "borderline stupidity disorder", it has never been more clear that I need to tame my inner child and focus on flexing that adulting muscle everyone has been raving about...

In the effort to bulk up my wallet and travel profusely, I have decided to do the opposite of the above list in bullets:

1. eating out       MEAL PREP
2. vending machine money for work      NO ATM ZONES
3. gum       ICE CUBES
4. Sobe LifeWater       H2O
5. festivities      BLOG/SNAPCHAT/VLOG/NETFLIX
6. shopping at thrift stores and Dollar General        GO FOR A RUN

What habits would you like to get rid of or create?

Is there anything specific that helps you through this process?

How does one stay the course?

Until next time.  Stay blessed