I have debt. Not the oh, it’s a little debt. But the, oh sh$t I totally messed up all my repayment progress debt. It’s a bit humbling, demoralizing, and quite frankly a little embarrassing. For those of you who aren’t regular readers of my blog you missed all of the time that I spent agonizing over what to do next with my life. It was painful (and thanks to all of my lovely long-time readers who supported me during that process).
My debt had me by the metaphorical balls. So, when I was projecting what I needed to earn as a freelancer I also took into account my goal of accelerated debt repayment. And, I created a long-term plan…again.
My Debt Repayment Plan For The Next 6 Months
Will be similar to what was successful before:
- First, make focused and deliberate payments no lower than $500 a month on the smallest bill to largest.
- If it’s free, it’s for me! I will continue rocking my frugal habits. I already: do my own hair, have stopped shopping, watch movies for free from the library, going hiking with my friends, and every free cultural event I can find.
- Bike life baby-Thankfully it’s getting warmer (except of the snow on Sunday) so I will continue to ride my bike, walk, or take public transit where I need to go. I have some free rides with: Uber and Lyft and will use those for nights out.
- Cook At Home-I love to cook so this isn’t a hardship
- Switched to A Cash Only Budget-I can’t believe I’ve only spent cash for the past month! And trust me-I didn’t have a lot of cash. This was huge.
- Work Smarter and Harder!-Let’s be honest. In order to pay off my debt I have to make more money. In fact, that was part of the reason why I quit my job. I couldn’t scale up my side hustle money and work more. I was a salaried employee and was unable to earn more despite working crazy hours!
I knew this would work because I had tremendous success with this process before.
Yes, my goal is to earn enough to begin repaying my debt as fast as possible 2 months after starting my freelancing business from scratch. It’s audacious and a little bit crazy. Did I mention that I also switched to a cash budget? Things are getting “real” in the Jackson household.
I recently came to a startling realization about my previous employment situation. I took the job and the money for granted. Every month for 10 years on the last business day of the month money would magically appear in my bank account. Yes, I worked hard for that money…but, I think that it felt like the money would always be around.
In fact, even though I was upset about my debt and trying to pay it down, my job was a buffer between me and the fact that my debt was and is a problem. Somewhere along the way the way I thought about my job, job security, and my feeling about my debt changed profoundly.
I Started Dreaming Again
About the life that I wanted for myself and in the new life that I allowed myself to imagine-debt had no place in it. I want to get married, have teeny tinies, and travel. I don’t want debt to be a part of the new life that I am manifesting for myself. When I began to dream again I began to really, really understand what the debt has cost me.
Surprisingly, Freelancing’s Instability Is The Key
Why am I saying that? The very nature of freelancing’s instability brings home the precariousness of owing debt. Freelancing is the key for me to make more money (hopefully) and stay focused on getting the debt paid off. I like that I can work as much as I would like AND BE COMPENSATED for the work that I do. I actually feel excited about each day’s work. In fact, I feel like I did when I first started my old job-I loved it and I thrived.
Don’t get me wrong, the past 3 weeks have NOT gone as smoothly as I would like. I will be writing a post about everything (and my earnings…keeping fingers crossed) at the end of May. But, despite everything my business is still growing.
I find it ironic that I am 10x more motivated to accelerate my debt repayment and move on now that I’m working for myself.
Did A Change In Your Work Circumstances Change Your Feelings About Your Debt?
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Every day I read about your journey, I think I’m going to up and quit my job… I didn’t realize it, but yes, I have grown lazy because I have a great paying job. I work as hard as I can there and the money comes. And the. We spend it. And the more comes. As much as I’d love to have a buffer and to KNOW I have the income to provide for my family, maybe that day won’t come until I make myself really uncomfortable. And make it work. Keep up the honest reflections!
I actually read on a FinCon Facebook comment thread that a commenter paid off his debt faster once he became a freelancer. I think that happens because the security is gone, and it becomes super clear that the debt is REALLY a problem. And, you just want it done. I am so done. I can’t even tell you. But, I was maintaining everything so there was very little pain just moments of irritation and “oh-I should pay off my debt” Now, it’s a different ballgame AND I can scale up my work and make more money to pay everything off (after accounting for taxes)
I got out of debt and continue to stay out of debt just because of the feelings of burden you have described. I’m not a high income earner, but having no debt still offers a level of flexibility on many levels. Keep going! Having NO DEBT is worth it!! 🙂
Debt is awful! It’s amazing to me how different I feel about it now vs. before I quite. I was frustrated with it before. Now-I hate it and have become scary focused about kicking it to the curb.
Michelle,
I’m still rooting for your freelancing business to succeed over here, so you keep it up!
Best of luck getting rid of your debt as soon as possible.
Cheers,
NMW
Thanks for your support from across the sea! I am just plugging away and trying to make things happen. I know that I just have to focus on working hard and staying focused. The snowy weather helps! Will keep you guys posted.
Good luck with your plan!
Thanks Tre! I’m just going to work the plan and hopefully avoid spending when depressed!
It definitely is a gamble to pay off debt faster when becoming a freelancer, but I agree it would certainly keep me motivated to keep on hustling. I have faith you can and will find a way!
I made a slight adjustment to my plan which was inspired by your post from the other week. I can’t help but succeed with all of you rooting for me.