Dream Crushing Debt Podcast

Despite what some people might think, claiming unemployment was probably the best thing I did because it allowed me to focus on finding a job that was a good fit for me. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

It's very much a surreal moment, no matter how much you might have wished for it, as you mind catches up and begins to tell you all the ways in which your life has just been turned upside-down. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

After having been budgeting for a year and a half or more at this point, I was more than thrilled when I was accepted into the Unemployment program and that the money I would earn was nearly identical to the amount I was already budgeting and living within. This meant that my lifestyle didn't have to take a major hit, and I could focus on the more important issue of finding a new job or opportunity.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

It's not as big of a celebration of as actually paying off your loans, but it was pretty monumental for me to actually dive in and start paying off my loans, being committed to my new budget, and making needed lifestyle changes to make it happen. For me, this was a major turning point that is worth recognizing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

Earning extra money soon became priority-number-one. There are a lot of options out there when it comes to earning some extra cash on the side. What you decide to do needs to be conducive to your situation... for me, it was going after more side-hustle work. The part-time gig for whatever reason could not work out for me. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

This might be a whole other daunting task, but has the potential to greatly accelerate your end goal. My advice/suggestion to you is to evaluate what your talents and skills are. Try to make money off of it. If that's not an option, you can always find a second job or donate plasma or broadcast your video game skills on Twitch.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

It’s daunting, believe me, but once you’ve seen, you’ve gotta zoom back in and focus on the things you can control for that day, or that week, or that month. As much as you might wish the time to fly by and be at the tail end of your debt, it doesn't work that way. But the good news is that days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and the months into years. Don't get caught up in what might or could happen next year when you can simply worry about today. The rest will come, without a doubt. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

Find joy in the things you do have and have accomplished. Simple as good health, no car troubles, food on the table.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

These days will come, but you can’t forget to take a look back to see how far you’ve come. Just remember, we aren't going back or giving up, we are simply looking back to see how far we've come. To remind ourselves that we have made progress and that it is possible for us to keep going. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

 Autopilot is nice because we aren’t constantly stressing over details, but every now and again, we need to stop and readjust. We need to make sure that we are in fact staying with in your budgets, and if we aren't, make needed changes so that we can still be successful by living within our means. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

It can become extremely taxing on our mental selves to be constantly saying to different things or people all in the name of getting out of debt. It's difficult. Even more difficult when you're not feeling as if you're making progress on your debt. Remind yourself that your debt isn't a forever thing. That your sacrifice isn't a forever thing. Once your debt is paid off, you'll be more free to do as you please with your money.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

If your company offers a 401K program, plus a match to go along with it... you should be signing up for that right now if you haven't already. Getting a match on your own 401k investment is like getting free money. Ok, maybe not free but extra money from your company. Each company sets their own terms in which they payout out the match, so check with your HR department for more details if you're curious.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

There are a lot of suggested methods out there, however, for myself personally I like to find an average of what I spend over a period of time for that specific category.  This is often a much more realistic expectation of how much I'll likely spend in this category and can therefore make a better education decision to make any adjustments to it. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

While there are somethings I was able to justify spending my monthly paycheck on (Ie. Rent, Car, Gas, etc), but then... the remaining 50% of my paycheck goes unaccounted for. I couldn't tell you where it went or how fast it went or if there was something worth much value I spent my money. Until I started tracking my spending, I wasn't able to achieve any sort of savings goal or know how much extra I could put towards anything much less believe I had extra to save. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

There are a lot of categories in Mint to choose from to track your spending, but I feel as if it's too specific... to narrowed, when it needs to be a bit more board and more along the lines of where we spend our money and not what we spend out money on.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

Mint was created by Intuit - the creators of Quickbooks, TurboTax, and T-Sheets. So, when it comes to linking bank accounts, I think they've got it figured out how to handle sensitive information. Furthermore, with Mint, you can't do anything with your bank other than import transactions.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

I like to create goals in Mint because it's an easy way to account for the extra money in my paycheck that isn't being used for my budget. I also like that Mint keeps track of how long it will take me to achieve my goals based on how much is in the account I've linked the goal to. I don't create Mint goals for anything outside of my base full-time job paycheck.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

I have different savings goals with very different purposes for that money. To avoid getting things intertwined with different goals, I keep money separate so that at a glance I know how much I have available to spend on travel or for an annual bill that just came due.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

Get at least $1,000 or, 1 month's salary saved. Once you have that, circle back and focus on your debt until it's gone. Being debt free, you can work on building up your emergency fund to have enough for 3 month's salary and then 6 month's salary. You never know when life will happen and having something set aside will be a lifesaver. The time to save for this is when you have a job and things are, well... going okay. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support

When I was looking for ways to make some extra money every month to pay towards my loans, I wasn't too keen on the idea of working a second job because I wanted a bit of a social life and flexibility. So, I started donating plasma earning a few hundred dollars a month for just a few hours of my time a week. A lot less commitment than a second job and certainly no skills required and convincing job interviews. Not to mention, you're contributing to research endeavors designed to save lives through the use of plasma. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dreamcrushingdebt/support