First Month Progress

Here is the progress report for one month into our revitalization. 

There has been progress I am happy to report. Let’s begin with the more mundane but often more compelling statistic; finances.

I recently read a report about how that they have officially declared that 50% of the world’s wealth is in the hands of 1% of the population. A sickening thought even for those who love free market economy. It also went on to say that Millennials (such as me) are in a position where we make up the majority of those who are in the poorest categories, having more disadvantages toward increasing our wealth. I am 32 and I have been living paycheck to paycheck for all the time I have supported myself completely. I have tried to change this fact, but due to circumstances and poor decision (yes, I admit I have made poor decisions due in part to ignorance and lack of experience) I never seem to stop slipping up. During this year, I have worked very hard to begin to change this.  Starting in January of this year, I began the best paying job I have had along with having good benefits.  I have very good health insurance in an age where health care is not only expensive, but health insurance is mandated.  I have been able to consolidate my considerable student loan debt and have begun to pay this back. So last month I geared up to start saving and having more income leftover so that I could pay toward debt. We started by making a budget and trying to cut our spending where we could. Fortunately for my wife and me, we can carpool to work most days, which is a 35-40 minute drive one way for each of us. This basically cuts the amount of gas we use each day in half when we are able to do this. We started clipping coupons and buying groceries based on sales. My wife and I are looking at ways to make extra money on the side. We created a budget using Mint.com and I used it to keep track of our purchases. I am happy to report that our money management efforts for this month were very successful. With the exception of our Netflix bill (due to odd months having different amounts of days, our bill has moved from being at the first day of a month to the last day of a month), we have paid all our bills for the month of November. 

When the month started, we had only a little bit of cash that I had not already put toward debt. I put the remaining amount toward credit card balance. I paid my bills upfront for the first half of the month, and figured a small percentage of my income (starting at 5%) that I would split between savings and paying toward debt. I was able to do that and still had quite a bit left over due to the savings efforts my wife and I have put into effect. I was able to give more toward my church than I have in the past with additional left over. I had always been taught that in my faith that if you put your faith in God and trust Him, he will take care of you. I am seeing it first-hand. My goal is to increase that percentage by one percent each month. Now, we didn’t cut spending in certain categories as much as we could have, but that will be our goal for next month.

I have been trying to increase the amount of time I spend studying the Bible and trying to do be more prayerful. I have found that this has helped my emotional awareness and helping me to be more loving to others. This is probably the most helpful thing I can suggest to those who are looking to improve themselves. There is a Christian song that paraphrases an old Gandhi saying: “If I want to change my world, I gotta change me.”  I am open to God working in and through my life.

I have been reading more often than I had in the past. With the increased focus on saving, I have been reading a lot about personal finance and investing. I have also been trying to read more for leisure as well. When I don’t have time to sit down and read print, either physical or digital, I put on the  audio books (a note to all you haters who turn their nose down at audio books, I can read the same books you can while doing laundry, washing dishes, and even driving to work – beat that!) I have found that I am not watching as much television as I used to due to reading or listening to books. Conventional wisdom tells me that this is a good thing.

At work, we had a health fair where they tested my cholesterol level, my sugar levels, my blood pressure and made recommendations on them. Now, a year ago I had a migraine and went to the doctor. My blood pressure was so high they gave me medicine and kept me there until it had come down. The last time I went to a doctor’s office (January of this year) I had high blood pressure. Now when they checked it this time, they asked if I had taken a decongestant that morning, which I had. They said that the higher than normal reading for BP could be explained by that and that it was not much higher than it should be. Yay me! Going from a less stressful job has already paid off on my health. My glucose level was low and they asked me if I had eaten anything that morning. In fact I ate a fruit rollup about an hour and a half before going on top of the breakfast I had that morning. My cholesterol levels where perfect. I was in good shape. I am down 35 lbs from what I was at the end of summer, so things are good.

So this is the progress made so far.