Day 9| Paid: $1150.36 | Remaining Debt: $61998.08
My monthly Non-Debt expenses are approximately $1233. (This does not include my health/dental/legal insurance which are automatically deducted, and this takes into account all of the savings I calculated in my previous post.)
Now remember, my monthly income from my day job was $712 a week, so $2848 for most months with 4 weeks. That has actually up now to $752 without my $401k contributions, so $3008 for most months.
My minimum debt payment monthly is $2088.38
That leaves $919.62 for non-debt expenses
That means, even after potentially saving myself $538 my non-debt expenses of $1233 are still $313.38 over what I am able to afford per month, assuming I make all my minimum debt payments.
Fuck!
That is why I resorted to those shitty payday loans – I just couldn’t keep my head above water without an influx of cash. And now its coming back around to bite me in the ass.
That is why paying down this debt quickly is so important to me. I am currently living above my means with these debt payments… yet I am not even paying for my own housing.
But I also know that freedom will not come just from cutting expenses. There is only so much I can cut and still live. I already have almost no social life outside of my girlfriend and a few other close friends. My primary hobby (hiking) is fairly cheap, except for the expense of driving to where I am going.
I would consider cutting things like SiriusXM or other items…that would make a small difference, but they won’t fully close that gap of $313+ and right now I am just not willing to go that far just yet.
So I need to make more money. I have no choice in that. It is the only way I get out of this debt. Yes I will try to spend less money each month, and that will help tremendously, but the only true way out is to earn more.
I have already mentioned it a few times but the first step to that for me is going to be Uber. I already have been doing some occasional Uber, but not consistently and not with this mission to take care of debt. I will be talking more about that in the next day or so.