Rolling the Debt Snowball Again

I’m still living with Jasmine. I have to park my car in the backyard because I don’t have city tags (my tags are for a neighboring state). Jasmine and her husband have been completely welcoming to me.

I started a new teaching job 3 weeks ago. It's 10 minutes from my house and I enjoy working there.

God continues to bless my decision to make smarter financial choices and to work for want I want. I was able to pay off one credit card today (that was hard because it felt so good to have money again, that I didn't want to let it go).

That payoff puts me back on track with my debt snowball (which was on hold since December when I got laid off).

I have been listening to a lot of sermons lately about stewardship and wise money management. I’m glad I got the idea to do that. I want to improve my Sabbath worship, but sometimes I don’t have interesting things to listen to, watch, or meditate on during Sabbath hours and I get bored. Since the topic of stewardship is really interesting to me right now, listening to and watching sermons about it fill up my Sabbath time when I’m not chilling with others.

Speaking of making wiser money choices, since I’m near a kitchen again (not my classroom kitchen), I need to start cooking more and eating less fast food and processed food. I’m going back to making a menu. This menu won’t be a daily menu. Instead it’ll have one lot for weekday breakfasts, one for weekday lunches, and one for weekday dinners. That’s easier than trying to take each day one day at a time. Then I’ll plan for Sunday and Sabbath separately.

I just finished “naming my dollars” for the next paycheck, which I’ll get in another 6 days. “Naming your dollars” is a Dave Ramsey concept which means telling your money where it’s going to go before or on payday. So, all money has a designated place to go and I don’t have any extra money. If I want extra money, I have to name it “blow money” – I can’t just spend money without thinking it through first. I have to decide where it’s going to go ahead of time. Dave says, “Tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”

Here are some other financial concepts I've learned over time that have changed my way of thinking.

1. Get good advice. In multitude of counselors there is safety – be careful who you hang with. You’ll make the same income as them.

2. No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he didn’t have money.

3. Learn the language of debt elimination - debt snowball, pay yourself first, naming your dollars, spending plan, blow money, life happens fund, gazelle intensity, real emergency, crisis mode, envelope system, "no," weird is normal, rich, baby steps, sinking fund, 4 Walls, stress test)