“Dear Steve,
Working full time and also an adjunct college instructor-made some terrrible money mistakes and I don’t know how to fix! Make enough money to pay bills, but that is it. Not getting anywhere
I need someone to put me on a budget, and help me figure out how to get out of debt-scared
Sharon”
Dear Sharon,
For the most part, budgets feel restrictive and fail. Frankly that’s because people make budgets the wrong way. Rather than tracking their cash and figuring out how they spend their money, they make a list on how they wish to spend their money and then give up when it doesn’t work out.
Not everyone is cut out for budgets either. I personally hate them. Others are addicted to tracking every penny. I think my parents would have withdrawals if they could not enter their daily spending in their tracking program.
I would suggest we start with an online tracking program many love. It’s called Mvelopes*. Take a look at it and see if it’s something you might use. If so you don’t need to use it forever, but at least a few months to figure out where you cash is going.
Once we have good data we can then make good decisions. You can then use a free service like ReadyForZero to automate your debt reduction.
Based on what you’ve said I think that will do the trick to get you headed in the right direction.
Just don’t beat yourself up over this. Not everyone is a penny tracker and not everyone is an artist. We are unique and special in our own ways.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
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