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Day 19: Go Crazy Get Ahead
I used to get nervous around the 28th of each month. Why? I knew that “the bills were coming in, and that “the paycheck was long-since spent”. So, I’d whip out the old credit card, promise myself that I’d “do better next month” and charge away. I was always a month behind, worried, and mad at myself for my lack of discipline. How can you stop this cycle and actually “get ahead”?
Go Crazy
For one (day, week, month, or year) go crazy. Cancel your television service, car-pool with a friend, get rid of the DSL, sell everything that’s not nailed to the floor, go a month without eating out, stop buying clothes for an entire year, work a second, or third, job, tell your friends “NO”, stick to a budget, walk – do whatever it takes to get a (day’s, week’s, month’s, year’s) worth of salary into your checking account.
Imagine if you had enough money in your bank account to pay all of next month’s bills – and you still had money leftover. Imagine waiting for the bills to arrive, instead of worrying about bouncing checks or missing due dates.
Think about things that you don’t need to buy, services you could give up, comforts you could do without, situations you could avoid – Are you willing to replace these “things” with the comfort of knowing that you have enough money in your bank account to cover your monthly needs? If so, go crazy and get ahead. You will feel so much better about your situation, your life, and your finances.
Have you ‘gone a little crazy’? Leave a comment and let us know. If you are a blogger, write a post about your own personal craziness, as it relates to saving money and getting ahead, and contact me. I’ll be more than happy to link to your post. Click here to read all of the 33 Days And 33 Ways To Save Money And Reduce Debt posts.
I went a little crazy a couple of years ago when I wanted to pay off the mortgage. I canceled digital cable, canceled the movie channels, canceled the cable modem, canceled the house cleaning service, stopped getting ‘high-end’ hair cuts, stopped buying brand name diet soft drinks, let magazine subscriptions run out, sold some stuff on eBay and Amazon, and stopped buying clothes for 11 months. It worked. That’s how I became debt free and plan to stay that way. Saving and investing is a piece of cake now because I owe nobody nothing.
Going crazy right now. Got a night job delivering pizzas, canceled DSL, got a roomate, no clothes, eating out, or bar.
I actually look forward to getting my bills every month. I love having control of my finances and telling my money where it’s going to go!!
It’s hard for me to work up the motivation to “go crazy” – I’ve always had enough money to pay the bills, with a little left over. My only debt is student loans (both mine & hubby’s), and the house we recently bought. Do I want to be out of debt? Yes. But I’m already “ahead”, so it’s hard to see how much of a difference additional sacrifices will make.