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Hope’s Debt Update – April, 2024

Lessons I learned the last two months as I’ve started receiving income again:

Paying everything at the beginning of the month can leave you struggling at the end of the month.
Even with money coming in regularly, it feels much better to have a buffer in your checking account and at least a small emergency fund.
After a year in “starvation” mode, even a little splurge right now feels too much.

Overall, April has been a great month financially. (You can see last month’s debt update here.)

Debt Description	October, 2023 Total	Interest Rate	Minimum Payment	Current Total	Payoff Date (Est)
CC - Sams	$1,106	29.99%	$0	$0	April, 2024
CC - Amazon	$1,497	29.99%	$53	$1,462	May, 2024
CC - Wander	$1,630	29.24%	$75	$1,605	June, 2024
Personal Loan #1	$2,500	0%	$500 (beg April)	$1,500	June, 2024
Personal Loan #2	$2,500	0%	$500 (beg April)	$2,000	June, 2024
CC - Frontier	$3,857	29.99%	$131	$3,566
Dad - New Furnace	$2,600	0%	$500 (beg June or July)	$2,600
CC - USAA	$5,000	19.15%	$135	$4,996
Car Loan	$19,581	12.69%	Gymnast Pays	$16,623
Student Loans	$22,121	2.875%	In Deferrment	$22,505
CC - Apple**	$500		Paid off every month	$0
CC - AMEX	$894	29.24%	$0	$0
Total	$61,186		$1,622	$56,857

Updates

The Sam’s Club card is paid in full. Woot, woot! But I am not going to close it. The kids and I use that membership very regularly for food and gas. The girls and I even got our eyes examined there this past month – only $67 for an eye exam. (If we buy our glasses there, we get 20% off. Princess has already taken advantage of this. I’m holding off at least one more month before spending that money.)

I have rearranged the table (again) to show the order I am focusing on the debt. With my current forecast, here are the next anticipated payoff dates:

Amazon CC – May, 2024
Personal Loan #1 – June, 2024
Personal Loan #2 – June, 2024
Wander CC – June, 2024

I’ve not yet purchased a lawn mower. Still dreading that completely. Thankfully, Beauty’s boyfriend graciously volunteered to cut our grass last week, buying me a few more weeks. I will have to address the need in May for sure. I did purchase a edger/trimmer thing. It ran me $131 and is electric. The downside is that it will only run 25 minutes per battery charge. The upside is it’s the same brand as all my other tools so I will have 3 interchangeable batteries so can get the yard done with quick battery changes. At least in theory! So I can start doing some of the yard with that.

Moving along the right direction steadily. I am working 3-4 12 hour days weekly between my two jobs. And loving every minute of it.

Hope

Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.

Be Wary of These Potential Finance Issues as an Industrial Business Owner

by Semify

From the point at which you start your business, it’s important to know the best ways to safeguard your money. With research, you can learn what to do and what not to do so that your business is not exposed to unnecessary risks. You can make better money decisions in this case, so take a look at some of the potential financial issues that you could come across as an industrial business owner and make the best decisions.

Failure to Keep Your Business Safe

One of the biggest issues that you could face as an industrial business owner is not keeping your business premises safe. This predisposes you to issues such as ending up with either an employee or a customer injured while they’re at your place of business. In such a case, you may end up having to make compensations that will depend on the specific outcome of an incident at your workplace. You could even end up with a wrongful death claim, which is a lawsuit that’s filed in civil court as opposed to a criminal court. It claims that a person or a company is to blame for the death of another person, and it can leave you with financial and legal issues, as well as have an impact on your business reputation.

Not Having Proper Insurance Coverage

As a business owner, you need to find out the right insurance coverage so that you can safeguard your business from a number of issues, including damage. With the right coverage, you may not have to pay out of pocket to fix damage that occurs to your business premises. You can also be safe in case you’re faced with a personal injury claim. Note that under Ohio Revised Code §2305 10 (A), according to Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules, you have to bring your personal injury claim within a period of two years from the date on which you were injured, with a few exceptions. The amounts that are paid out in such cases can range from reasonably low to high, so it’s best to have the backing of reliable insurance for your business that will step in in scenarios like these.

Failing to Comply with the Law

If your business fails to comply with the law, you cannot be granted any exceptions even if you simply didn’t know. This makes it mandatory to learn about the laws that apply to your industry, something that you can figure out with the help of the right professional. For example, you may not be aware of the details that go into safe and proper waste disposal, which is something that attracts a significant fine if it’s not adhered to. This is an effort that the government makes to help safeguard the environment, with about 70% of industrial waste dumped into water bodies where it pollutes the water supply. To keep the occurrences of this to a minimum, there are laws in place that govern industrial waste disposal.

Poor Marketing

Last but not least, poor marketing can cause your business to suffer. That’s because you won’t be able to reach your target market and inspire them to convert to paying customers. A business that doesn’t grow is not going to be in operation for a long time, and that’s why it’s a good idea to hire the best marketers that you can find. The money that you spend on marketing is sure to be earned back when you win over more customers, especially if you work with a team of capable professionals.

Stay aware of these and other issues that could lead to a loss for your business. By doing so, you can be assured of helping your business to prosper and make good profits. Don’t hesitate to hire professionals to help you make decisions, especially where money is concerned, since this can save you a lot of trouble down the road.