Things I Wish I had known When I was in Debt
If there’s one thing I wish someone had told me when I was drowning in US$60,000 (R700, 000 then) debt, it was that - you can be strategic in how you pay off your debt.
I wish I’d known that listing my debt in descending order and focusing on paying off my smallest debts first so I was left with one large debt at the end was one of the smartest ways to pay off debt.
I wish someone had told me I could also choose to pay off the highest interest debt first, so I was left with low-interest rate debt.
But most importantly, I wish I had known that the trick (if we can call it that) was not to create any new debt when I was busy paying off existing debt and to have money set aside just for emergencies.
That last "trick" is actually the most important thing because it's what kept me recreating the cycle of debt and I didn't understand what was happening.
At times it seemed like I was bewitched - I'd spend months living on the bare minimum and paying off debt and things would seem under control but then suddenly an emergency would arise and I would be forced to use my credit cards to stem an emergency, setting me all the way back.
I couldn't figure out why even though I tried to change my spending habits, I struggled to build up an emergency account or really keep money in my bank account.
I really tried but sometimes the harder I tried and the more I obsessed about holding onto money in my bank account, the worse things got.
I'd get frustrated with myself and tell myself I lacked discipline and self control, which eventually made me dread money, budgets and my bank account.
I'd draft budgets and spreadsheets (I am after all a Finance graduate) and commit to sticking to them but that commitment lasted a few weeks at best and my emergency account never quite came together.
Eventually I decided to unlearn what I'd been taught about money - I ditched what I'd learned at school and started focusing on my emotional reaction towards money, healing my trauma around money and working with my nervous system to increase my money set points and that's when things started to shift radically.
I was able to start saving and putting aside money in an emergency account which is one of the things that helped me pay off my US$60,000 in debt in 4 years, because I actually had money saved for emergencies and didn't keep creating new debt whenever an emergency arose.
To this day, I still don't own a credit card and have been debt free for over 8 years.
According to Google Maps, I've been to 20 countries (I have lived in a few of those) and hundreds of cities in the last 7 years and I've done all that using cash (and savings )‼️
Traveling this way is something I could never have imagined years ago. I always needed a credit card as back up.
The best part is I was able to change my spending habits and pay off my debt without depriving myself of my wants and needs like weekend getaways, yoga and eating out.
This is why I created the 5 Day Fall In Love With Your Bank Account Challenge to help people start changing their spending habits with ease so they can start building up their savings.
IF YOU FEEL READY TO CHANGE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR BANK ACCOUNT AND:
🌟 Always know where your money is going
🌟 Save consistently with ease every month
🌟 Get your money right and produce tangible evidence of what you did with your money
🌟 Heal ancestral money trauma so you start feeling calm with money in your bank account and no longer fight yourself not to spend it
🌟 Work on your savings goal with a money tribe in a secret Facebook group, using the power of collective energy to reach your goals
I invite you to check out and sign up for my 5 Day #BankAccountChallenge course.
>>>Click here to register for the #BankAccountChallenge
You get access to all course worksheets, meditations and recordings of live I have done over the last year sessions.
❗BONUS: When you enroll in the course, you get access to a private Facebook group, where you get to do the challenge with a tribe once a quarter and I get to answer your questions and offer suggestions on lessons and exercises to do
