Personal Finance 4 The People: My Story Part 2

In the last episode, I spoke about how I got myself into a financial mess and what I planned to do to get out of said mess. Well, this didn’t exactly work out the way I planned, as plans rarely do, and I am in a deeper hole due to circumstances outside of my control. But in the bright side, I learned some valuable lessons and things can only get better from here.

At this point, I have added medical bills and a new car note to my financial mess. Instead of freaking out (ok some freaking out, but once I stopped freaking out and started looking at the situation) I have adapted my previous plan to include my new mess.

This is what my situation currently looks like:
Medical – A lot
Credit Card – You don’t even wanna know
Car Note - for that?
Student Loans – yes ma’am, Sallie Mae, what can I give you today? I have an arm left.

My new mess plan has changed a lot from the previous one. I have to spread my money further to pay off more. To do this I have to find ways to come up with that money every month. I am still using the Snowball Debt Repayment Method, something’s got pushed further down on the list. Sometimes this happens, but its ok you can still reach you goals. It may take longer, but WE can do it.

One thing I have always done is to track my debt on an excel spreadsheet. This allows me to see exactly how much I am paying off each month and when I do pay something off I get to mark that row Purple for being completed. The medical bill section is starting to look a lot purpler every month.
The cost of living is rising so fast and having less money from debt repayment, I have to find ways to still be able to live.

I mostly do my grocery shopping at Giant, not because I like Giant. But because Giant has a deal with Shell – the gas station – for every $100 a month you spend on your groceries, you save $0.10 a gallon off a tank of gas. Doesn’t seem like much and I don’t have to fill up very often, I’m still saving some money.

I just found out about this food share program that DC has called The SHARE Food Network. The SHARE Food Network distributes high quality, affordable nutritious food as a way to build community and strengthen families. Organized through 320 churches and community groups, participants perform two hours of volunteer service and pay $20.00 monthly to purchase groceries worth approximately $40.00 - $45.00. Last month was my first month doing this and I was amazed by how much food is included. I eat a lot of fruit so local farmers markets save me money there. And anything I need to buy from the grocery store, I try to buy on sale or with coupons. Actually I have yet to use the coupons I clipped but I will soon.

I am selling my old basketball, football, and baseball cards on eBay. I work overtime whenever possible and that helps. I have also started a side business.