by Hope
I recognize the whiplash of my thinking. My apologies for not responding to the individual comments. It’s been a really challenging month with “busy-ness”.
However, I did sit down this week and read through many of them during some quiet times of reflection. And I am so grateful that you as a community keep hounding me. I need it.
Big Change of Plans
I recognize that you all only see the smallest sliver of my life here. There is so much more to it. And it’s just as much of a roller coaster. As much as I love the “adventure” my life has been, you are very right that this time of stability has me struggling more than I do in times of high stress.
Sitting down to write about my failures was hard. But what is worse is that even in recognizing my biggest failure, I didn’t do anything about it.
I’m still spending down to the last penny every month. I have done NOTHING of significance to prevent the biggest challenges that I have faced over the last decade…a couple of times. By that I mean, losing my largest source of income and having no real cushion to tide me over.
Here I am in a season of feast. And while I am paying down debt. And getting things of importance accomplished. I am not focusing on resolving this, my biggest failure.
And failing to do this seriously contributes to my high level of anxiety, fear, and lack of self confidence. I have to change this NOW.
Priority Change
I realize that this blog is Blogging Away Debt. But I feel like it’s important to switch my focus for a few months. And I need to focus on Building a Significant Emergency Fund. The recommended $1,000 just doesn’t cut it.
And I’ve learned this the torturously hard way over the last decade. But I didn’t really learn, because I didn’t change.
I have to change now. This will allow me to be more confident that if something happens with my income, I have time to replace it. (Goal = Peace of Mind that I can’t remember the last time I had)
SAVINGS GOAL: $36,000
I came up with this number by adding my forecasted monthly output for the next months outside of my aggressive debt payments and current savings plan.
Meaning, if I lost the bulk of my income, this is what I would need to meet all financial obligations for 6 months. (With a bit of wiggle room since I used averages.)
So my thought is, instead of pushing to pay off debt. I push to save, thinking 5 months to hit this goal. Then turn my eye back to the aggressive debt payments.
Thoughts? And if this is a good idea, what is the best place to put the bulk of this savings? I’m assuming high yield savings, recommendations? This is a I’m asking post, not telling. Guidance requested.
Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.
But life has a way of rewriting your plans.
A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.
Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.
Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.
She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.
