As the summer winds down and volleyball season comes into full swing, I want to take some time to highlight some of my favorite summer activities and share some things I’m grateful for!
This summer included:
- Paying down a large part of my debt by working my ass off at camps all summer (more on this later)
- Jade became pretty confident on her bike (with training wheels, thanks Uncle Ross)!
- Splash pad and water park fun
- Library trips and new parks!
- 4th of July fun in Prinsburg with family
- Como Zoo fun with Jade
- Plymouth Parks and Rec concerts and Kids Fest activities
- Lake time with Malissa (catching fish and using the water slide, boat and jet ski)!
- Puppy time with Malissa and Kim’s dogs: Millie, Sammie, & Harley
- Jade had so much fun at school learning new things - and a different summer activity everyday! (Bubble machine, water days, bike days, fire fighter and police man visits, etc). Shout out to Goddard!!
- I got to go to the P!nk concert at Target Field with some great friends! Shout out to the best boss for the surprise tickets!
And today I am grateful for:
*Friends who provided me with the ability to coach camps with them or for them so I could work to pay down the debt.
*Free and fun activities that we could do with friends and family to keep the spending to a minimum.
*A steady job (or jobs) that keep us fed, put a roof over our heads and allow us to have a little fun too.
Jade was born in Jan of 2019 - at the time of her birth I had perfect credit. Actually, it was zero credit card debt - I would put everything on my credit card but was really good about paying it all off each month. Looking back at it, I was likely dealing with some postpartum stuff, and I spent more because we had another human on our hands, but also, I did not adjust financially or think about how I was spending money. My balance was no longer at zero and I couldn’t pay it off each month. I kept telling myself that I would pay it off once I got back to “normal life” when Jade got older but then 2020 happened … and life wasn’t super normal. The amount of money that can accumulate on a credit card is actually pretty amazing.
I had a moment when I knew I had to make a change to how I was living my life and decided to do a couple of things that have helped me get my credit back to “good”, including:
- Telling people - I started sharing with close friends that due to no one's fault but my own, I am living life more frugally so I can finally get somewhere with my debt. I noticed this helped me to not to feel guilty when I had to ask my friends if we could meet up at their house instead of going out to eat2, for example. Talking about it with others also allowed them to tell me some of the things they do to help them save money (ways to shop on a tight budget or prioritize spending) and make money.
- I started listening to financial podcasts so I can learn about the best ways to save, spend, pay down, etc.
- While I have learned ways to save little bits of money here and there (have you ever tried Upside?!), I also started focusing on BIG ticket items- certain items at the grocery store are double what you would pay at Costco. This is true for many things if you just do a little research.
- Find the items that are non-negotiable. For me, I really wanted to stick with my chiropractor but decided to limit my appointments at acupuncture (that’s now a treat to myself when I feel like I can afford it), but I no longer get my nails done and I wait longer between hair appointments; I’ve also dropped a lot of the memberships like Apple Music, Netflix, etc.
While it’s not over, I’ve learned and evolved a lot in this area l of my life, and I can see myself being a long-term thoughtful spender. I’ve just worked too hard to get it back and I know it interrupted time with my kid in the process of paying it down. While I have guilty feelings about having spent my summer working instead of spending more time with my kid, I also realize she is hopefully learning valuable lessons from me going through this as well. When we go to the grocery store; instead of buying everything we like, we take a picture of it and talk about how we can save up for it and get it next time. I’ve also had the opportunity to talk to her about the value of money - sometimes if she wants to buy something at the store she needs to chip in a little bit if her money that she has earned as well.
I’m definitely not perfect, but I’m trying to be better. My advice: make a budget and get serious about sticking to it. Find what’s important to you and treat yourself every once in a while,for your hard work. Do the research on all the things you can save money on (you don’t actually need credit card points to get perks in travel - just make sure to log every penny spent at Delta in the Delta app and you’ll get to fly first class at some point if you travel enough, for example). And don’t be shy about telling people what you are working on; you just never know what conversations you could be opening up where you could be learning more about yourself or your situation.
Much love,
Joy Tietz
