Blogging Away Debt

Today Jake has officially moved in with his dad, my youngest son, Gymnast. And I have passed off the financial responsibility on to him as well.

Jake moved in with Princess last summer when she got her solo apartment. I insisted on it as a security measure. And frankly, the two boys dogs just were a lot to handle together. All in all it worked out great for everyone.

Princess got some security as she settled in. Gymnast got the rest of the year to get his own place. And I shed some of the responsibility of physical care of another dog.

But I continued to contribute financially to his upkeep. When I bought food, I provided for him. I paid for the annual vet visit. Etc.

Now Gymnast will take on those responsibilities! We are all happy campers about this. Another right of passage for my growing kids completed.

On His Own Insurance

Gymnast made another leap into independence last month. He got his very own car insurance policy. He finished paying his car off in December. We completed the switch in car title while he was in Georgia in January. And then he shopped for insurance.

His monthly premium on the family plan was right at $458 per month. (He has had 3 wrecks since getting his license, including totaling his first car back in 2021.) That made our monthly payment $930 per month. Ouch!

: Wreck #1 – Gymnast totaled his and Princess shared car in Dec, 2021. He should not have survived this wreck, can came out with air bag burns and scratches. God was watching out for him!

: Wreck #2 – Gymnast was run off the road by a man in a rage. While there was a witness to the aggressive driver, no charges were filed so Gymnast was held responsible

I covered his insurance payment for the last quarter of 2024. And he used that time wisely to pay off his car. So proud!

Anyways, he shopped around, found full coverage for right at $800 for 6 months and made the switch last month. I am just so freaking proud of him. (All my kids, really.)

So while he had started covering the cost again in January. It does take some of the mental pressure off me to be on his own policy now.

New Insurance Rate

Beauty got her own policy last fall when she purchased a new car. (She was on the family plan as a driver since she drove my car regularly.) Gymnast moved to his own policy this past month. So it’s just Princess and I. And this month is the end of the 6 month policy. I’ve just gotten our new rate for the next 6 months…

$273 monthly payment. I about fell out of my chair when it came through. I know there are lots of factors with insurance. Princess turns 21 this term. Credit score has greatly improved. Clean driving records.

Grateful! Another step to improving my financial future.

March, 2025 Goals – Treading Water

by Hope

As of today, I now need to make $3,555 this month to pay the bills. It’s doable. I’ve got the work lined up.

I realize this gives many of the BAD community heartburn. I suppose it does me as well. But I am used to it.

With the work lined up to cover this month’s bills. These are my other financial goals for this month…

No or Little Discretionary Spending

As of today, I will spend the entirety of this month in Texas. I have budgeted $250 for food, gas, and dog expenses. (This is included in the total mentioned above.) It’s what I would have budgeted if I were at home. My goal is to spend as little of this as possible. Whatever is not spent, will go to a debt payment at the end of the month OR be put to next month’s bills should I not have work lined up by the end of the month.

Most if not all of my time in Texas will be spent with family. My sister wants us to go camping, car camping for me. I’m pretty sure she knows free places to camp. And my baby brother is having a house warming at his new place, so I’ll buy him a plant or something. But otherwise, I’ll be with my mom and dad. I don’t anticipate the need to spend much money. (I’ve explained before that my dad buys all the food while I’m here, and I do the cooking.)

Increase Income

I was able to capture the four ongoing contracts that I am working on with a very focused week of job seeking, rather contract seeking. I’m working approximately 20ish hours per week. It does fluctuate based on what each client needs. I’d like to double my contracts by the end of the month with an increase in hourly rate. (My current contracts range from $20-$60 per hour with the site taking 10% as a contract fee.)

Because I was starting over after almost 4 years off my normal platforms, I took on some lower budget clients to get started. Any work increases your stats on the platform. This has paid off in getting me ranked again which puts me in front of more clients. Now I need to be more discretionary with the project budgets I accept.

Am I explaining that well?

I plan to spend several hours each week focused solely on submitting proposals and following up on project leads. The goal is to increase my monthly income from around $6K to $12K.

Looking into the Past

Because of my illness for most of the first two months of this year, I failed to properly re-launch my consulting business. My goal is to complete the work on not 1, not 2, but 3 of my personal websites plus a variety of landing pages to do a proper re-launch including social campaigns, some small ad campaigns, and a very targeted email campaign to past clients.

Thankfully this is going to be enhanced, I think, by having completed a good handful of new client websites in the last 3 months. I’ll have a solid, recent portfolio to showcase along with new client testimonials. (At least, that is the goal. I actually have to finish a couple of the sites still, but they are on track.) If I have to use old portfolio sites, I will, but would rather use the new ones.

Looking Forward

I don’t know what comes after this month. So there’s no planning or prepping – a very weird place for me to be. It’s just a heads down month trying to tread water and dig out. No distractions.

Blogging Away Debt Our Journeys to a Debt-Free Life

One Less Dog to Feed and Son to Insure