Making the Internet My Accountability Partner

Featured Image credit: Avery Evans on Unsplash

As I mentioned in last weeks post one of my goals for this year was paying off my debt, specifically my credit card debt. A number of factors went into building the debt including being unprepared for the holiday season. I entered January 2024 with about $1800ish on my credit card. With interest and a recurring bill on my credit card I paid off $2045.66. A part of this was due to receiving my tax return, I paid off $595 from my tax return the rest was being stringent about not buying anything unless it was really necessary and sending anything left over from each paycheck to pay off the card. I get paid weekly so I was able to do this more frequently than many others would, but it also meant some weeks I had multiple bills come through and could only pay off $200, while others were less bill heavy and so I once paid off $500 from the left overs of a paycheck.

Besides this debt and the stress that came with it, part of my wake up call for focusing on my financial health came from my aunt. She and my mom were not taught many of the intricacies of personal finance beyond ‘pay your bills on time’. On her recommendation I have spent the last two months immersing myself in personal finance. I have read and would recommend books like I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T Shirt by Madeline Pendelton, The Clever Girl Finance series by Bola Sokunbi, and Get Good With Money by Tiffany Aliche. In fact Tiffany Aliche has a free 22 day Live Richer Challenge and many amazing resources to explore. I am doing the savings edition of the LRC and will make a post about my experience when it ends. I would also recommend Youtube channels like The Financial Diet and Hannah Louise Poston.