It wouldn’t be right to move into 2020 without a brief recap of what went down in 2019.
Debt-Free Decision
I decided to commit to getting debt free and taking the steps – the baby steps – toward accomplishing that. With the amount of debt that I have, it may be a long road, but I took the first step. I came to terms with the severity of my situation and decided to do something about it. With this decision, I took a position of control. As an example of how out of control things were, earlier in the year, I was so disorganized that I paid $957 in overdraft fees during the period of January through June. That’s insane – $957! But, I turned over a new leaf.
New Awareness
In addition to acknowledging my tsunami situation, I also became aware that I have an “operating system” (this is what my coach calls it) that is keeping me from earning and building wealth at the level at which I’d like. This means that I have some mindset/limiting beliefs issues that need to be addressed. Since mindset is everything when it comes to success in any endeavor, I will be focused intently on fixing this in 2020.
This means that I have some mindset/limiting beliefs issues that need to be addressed.
~ Single Girl
Romance of a Different Kind
In 2019, I dated in a way that I hadn’t before. Dating Mr. Nice For Now offered consistent companionship and fun dating, without the requirements that I would typically impose on myself if I had the title of “Girlfriend.” That suited me in 2019, but won’t suit me, moving forward.
Ate Some Stuff I Wanted to Eat
I’ve written about being on a very restricted diet. I wrote about how being on a restricted diet and a restricted budget were quite challenging. In late November, I started researching some different eating plans and started experimenting in early December. By the middle of December, I decided that I was going to eat the stuff that I had cut out of my diet for the prior 3 years. I hadn’t had chicken, dairy or regular (i.e. non-gluten-free) bread in over 3 years. I was over it! I’ll write more about this in a later post, but, suffice it to say, I went HAM on the food and had a great time doing it.
The Budgeting Habit
For years, budgeting has been that thing that I wanted to do (and knew I should do), but didn’t actually end up doing consistently. Dave Ramsey says that it takes about 3 months to get the swing of things with budgeting. I’ve now been doing it consistently (albeit with errors and oversights) for 6 months. I can now say that I’ve developed the budgeting habit. Taking the time to prepare a budget and allocate how funds will be spent throughout the month is such a helpful process – one that I’ve come to really value and consider a critical part of my financial life.
Debt Payoff
Despite not being intentional or focused during the first half of the year, I reduced my total debt by $22,959 in 2019. If I include the Federal and state taxes I owed for 2018 (which didn’t make my debt snowball because I paid them off the month after they were due) and the loan I got from my mom for our family trip, I reduced my debt by a total of $28,610.
Despite not being intentional or focused during the first half of the year, I reduced my total debt by $22,959 in 2019.
~ Single Girl
What makes me most proud about last year is that it is the year in which I started along the road of what I know will be a hugely transformational journey. A life-altering journey. That’s not to sound dramatic; I really believe it to be true.
Goodbye, 2019.