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| Black Princess Coat Steve Madden (here) | Black and White Stripe Top (here/ similar here) and Rose Print Skirt (similar here) Kate Spade New York | Black Leather Cross Body Bag Rebecca Minkoff (similar here) | Black Suede BB Pumps Manolo Blahnik (here) | Le Rouge Rose Perfecto 209 Lipstick Givenchy (here) | |
It’s been a few months in progress, but I am excited to share a life update that’s taken me a while to grasp, but something I am proud to have worked towards.
Every year for my birthday, I try to set some goals for myself so that I can reflect on how far I’ve come on a specific aspect. I prefer setting goals on my birthday over a New Year’s resolution because to me I feel like I can really reflect on the progress and not feel like it is tied to a resolution that might be broken a month in. One goal that has been recurring has been to be better with money and my personal finances.
It’s no secret I like clothes and that I like to shop, but the frequency that I was shopping was getting out of hand. As you saw in my last post, I lived in a tiny studio with my significant other, now husband, and it was basically a walk-in closet. Now, I do shop primarily second-hand items and l look for deals so I don’t pay close to retail, but the reality I was treating the savings on not spending full price as extra spending money. Reading that should be confusing because it didn’t make any sense. Overall, my living expenses were relatively low for living in the Bay Area, and I don’t own a car or have anyone depending on my income. I was always able to pay my living expenses, and I was not digging myself into $10,000 of credit card debt, but I wasn’t setting aside enough for an emergency fund or savings and I was paying interest each time I didn’t pay down my credit card.
I’ve learned some hard lessons when it comes to personal finances, particularly as I’ve tried to join my finances with my husband. It definitely was a point of friction in some conversations, but at the end of the day, the only one who had control over the credit card debt I was in or lack of savings was me, myself and I.
I’ve definitely used blogging as an excuse for buying a cute pair of shoes, or having a bad day to treat myself to a new dress, but since taking on a new job and moving into our home, my perspective really took a change and it really propelled my desire to pay off my credit card debt. I am really good at convincing myself to treat myself, but the biggest problem with that is you begin to lose what it really means to treat yourself and really enjoy it. I was not an adult with a credit card, I acted like a kid with it and felt defensive with how I spent my money.
This shift in my relationship with money did not happen overnight. I’ve wanted to make a change but I was not putting in the work to make the changes to see a difference. Making more at work didn’t get me out of debt and magically solve my problems, it’s how much I was spending that has made the biggest difference. Having the responsibility of a mortgage payment each month is definitely a reality check, but it has made me aware that there is so much I want to do that it is not worth being in debt over. I want to be able to have extra money saved up to renovate parts of the house, to be able to travel or to be able to help family members in the event they need some extra money. My parents were able to loan me money for our down payment, and while I am grateful for that, I feel like I should have had a lot more saved aside to have made a bigger contribution.
When I started, I had about $5,000, which is not the worst, but definitely not something I’d recommend for anyone. I was making payments each month, but I was paying interest by not paying them down fully and that was not something I was proud of. At the beginning of this month, I fully paid off my credit card debt, and am now on track to be able to pay it off in full each month. I also am on track to pay back my family for their help because I have accounted for that in my monthly expenses.
I’ll be happy to share some of the tips I followed and changes I made to make better financial decisions, but today’s post is entitled “Stop and Smell the Roses” not just because of the rose print skirt, but also because it is important to stop and appreciate what you have in life. I feel like I made a small win into a better financial future and even though it isn’t easy, I am facing my impulse shopping with a different perspective. I am working towards being more intentional with my purchases and what I welcome into my home and life. It took a while to get to this point, but every day is a good day to start something new. You just need to make the first step.