Rebuilding

The most frustrating piece of paying off debt has occurred.  We had a setback that took pretty much all of our savings and a portion (albeit, incredibly small portion) also wound up on a credit card.  Ouch.

First of all, I am grateful that we had the savings to buffer the blow otherwise our credit would have taken a much bigger hit.  My biggest regret is not having more savings.  We had the $1,000 recommended by Dave Ramsey and the rest of our money was going straight to credit cards.  Sounds good in theory, but once put into practice, $1,000 disappears quickly in a bind. 

Another upside is that the amount that needed to be put onto a credit card was so small that it is a hiccup in the grand scheme of paying off our debt.  It will only take a month or for the evidence of that credit to disappear.

But now we are left paying the bare minimum on each of our loans until our savings is back up to snuff.  Personally, I want it more than up to snuff.  I want it to be twice what it originally was, just in case.  There will always be the possibility of extreme circumstances that can sap your savings dry which, short of being a millionaire, are unavoidable.  But I still feel a little gun-shy when it comes to using our credit cards, so taking a little extra time to bring the savings higher than we originally intended holding it at is well worth it to me.

Luckily I chose this month to really slash groceries, and it was a complete success.  Having that extra money has been a blessing.  I have also locked down another income source for myself which I am hoping will help as well.  I have been double-timing on finishing my second book and optimizing the monetization of my blogs.  All in all, things are moving forward.  One step back, two steps forward.  Staying positive is key and recognizing that my mentality is much different than the one that aided in our debt-laden lifestyle helps me to not feel as down on needing to use a credit card.

The month of November will be a hardcore savings month.  My goals are:

• Groceries - $350 (for a $200 savings)
• Eating out - $25 (meaning only one emergency eat out allowed for the month)
• Zero extra expenses
• Increasing my income by $100
• Finishing half of my book

I whole-heartedly recognize that I am asking a lot of myself financially, especially as we enter the holiday season, but having a strict plan is key to getting ourselves back to where we wanted to be. I am adamant that this set-back does not hinder our long-term goals and plans and that is going to require a lot of hard work. What was demolished can be rebuilt.